There is drama going on in the life of the #PeregrineFalcons in #OrangeNSW.

Cockatoos have been assertively hanging around on the tower and in the nest box. They have been around for a week, maybe more now. Time will tell if they oust our pair of PFs and take over, or whether the falcons reign supreme.

I haven't been checking in on the #PeregrineFalcons in #OrangeNSW as much since fledge as I did last year. I just can't warm to Gimbir as much as I did the beautiful Xavier. But I popped in today, and there is news!

There hasn't been any sign of Girri for the past couple of weeks, so she is finally on her way.

Females fledglings usually move further than males once they are independent, so it is expected that she will travel about 50 - 100 or so km away before starting to look for her own mate and territory.

Mating rituals will begin again either late May or early June, with courtship prey gifts being brought by Gimbir for Diamond during winter, with matings and gifts increasing in mid-late August when eggs are usually laid.

We don't know yet whether Gimbir will meet Diamond's approval as a provider for her next offspring, but it seems likely at this stage.

Baby Girri fledged this morning! She did a great job, and likely got a reward of a big galah to eat afterwards, since Diamond brought it to the box very shortly after, only to find the box empty.

Here's a video from the CSU falcon project showing her fledge from all 3 cams, plus Diamond with the galah afterwards (weirdly low-quality, but you can scrub back to 8:46 this morning on the live streams to see it in HD also): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9FTby1yfB4

She's been looking keen to go for the past couple of days, jumping and flapping like mad, and spending a lot of time right on the ledge of the nest box staring out at the world, so I'm sure she's happy to be out there exploring, finally.

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"Sons of bitches, won't give me food, why I oughtta...." *mutter* *mutter*

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Girri is definitely female—she's as big as her mum, Diamond, these days! And bigger than dad Gimbir. Still very fluffy, though.

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Baby peregrine falcon Girri, at CSU in Orange, is getting big quickly now, and starting to get curious. She still sleeps a lot but she's standing and walking and flapping more when she is awake.

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