Peregrine Falcon Nest Box - Orange, New South Wales, Australia

Thirty-five metres up a concrete water tower on the Charles Sturt University campus in Orange, New South Wales, a wooden box has housed the same peregrine falcon dynasty since 2008. This camera sits inside it, looking down on the gravel scrape where the eggs are laid, with the tower window and the farmland beyond visible at the edge of frame.

The resident female is Diamond, who has held the box for a decade, paired with a younger male named Gimbir, after the Wiradjuri word for spring or fountain. Breeding follows the southern hemisphere calendar, so eggs usually appear from late August, chicks hatch through October, and the young fledge in November, often staying around the tower into autumn. Outside the breeding season the box is used as a feeding post, and prey remains and feathers accumulate on the gravel.

The FalconCam Project began in 2007 when staff noticed peregrines hunting over the campus and mounted a box to encourage them to stay. It runs as a research project approved by the university's animal ethics committee, studying breeding behaviour and diet, with the live feed shared publicly. New South Wales runs ten hours ahead of UTC, eleven during daylight saving, so peak daytime activity falls in the European and American night.

Did You Know? The peregrine is the fastest animal on Earth. In a hunting stoop it has been clocked at over 300 km/h, and it survives the dive using bony tubercles in its nostrils that slow the incoming air, plus a third eyelid that wipes the eye clean without blinking.

Explore more live cameras by country, browse the full interests directory, or open the interactive world map to find nest cams and wild habitats elsewhere. You can also see every feed on our all cameras page.