For more than three decades, Melbourne’s famed Collins Street peregrine falcons have treated a CBD skyscraper ledge as home.

Now, the cameras that made them a social media phenomenon are again rolling for a new breeding season, with the first egg laid this week.

There are high hopes for this season. Last year’s eggs were unable to hatch after the female stopped incubating, likely due to a territorial dispute.

Dr Victor Hurley, the lead researcher of the Victorian Peregrine Project with BirdLife Australia, told Guardian Australia that a different female falcon had taken up the nest on the ledge of the Collins Street skyscraper this year.

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“The markings are a little bit different on the chest. So I think it’s a different individual that is starting breeding a bit older,” he said.

“Hopefully she’ll also be able to hold ground if another one tries to usurp her.