It’s two girls and a boy for San Jose City Hall’s resident peregrine falcons, Clara and Fernando El Cohete. But biologist Glenn Stewart warns this may be the last year people can watch the birds’ behavior online unless the aging webcam gets some serious help.

Stewart, from UC-Santa Cruz’s Predatory Bird Research Group, rappelled down city hall’s tower Friday morning to place bands on the falcon eyasses and determine their gender. While there were four eggs produced this season, only three hatched — and one of the chicks appears to already be having problems.

“One of the females looks like it has some neurological issue,” Stewart said. “It’s having trouble staying upright. It’s a wait-and-see thing. Not every egg hatches, not every baby survives. That’s part of the deal.”

Over 11 years, Clara — along with four mates, including her longest-running beau Fernando — has produced 36 young, which Stewart says is great for one female peregrine. And over that time, watching the falcons on the city’s FalconCam has been a favorite pastime for fans in Silicon Valley and around the country.

But the webcam, which has been in place since 2006, has started deteriorating and has become harder to operate as it plummets toward obsolescence.

Related Articles Timeline: The falcons of San Jose City Hall “If you had the same cell phone you had in 2006, you wouldn’t want to be using it,” Stewart said. “This camera is going obsolete. It’s going to go dark by next year.”

Stewart hopes that an individual or corporate sponsor can be found to install a new camera and equipment to bring the FalconCam back to state-of-the-art status.

“It’s been a wonderful educational tool for me at the university, for our elementary school teachers, for people all over the country and actually the world who watch these falcons,” Stewart said.

Unfortunately, there isn’t money in the budgets of UC-Santa Cruz or the city to upgrade the camera, which could cost about $25,000 for a full upgrade, Stewart estimates, conceding, “I’m a biologist, not a camera guy.” The camera itself would probably cost a couple thousand dollars, he guessed, but there’s also installation and equipment to make sure it can be broadcast to a mass audience. Stewart said he doesn’t see any reason why a company, working with UC-Santa Cruz and the city on the job, couldn’t have its logo branded on the image. “As a community service, it would be a big deal,” he said.

The new baby falcons are expected to start taking their first attempts at flight beginning around May 11, just in time for Mother’s Day weekend. Fans can keep track of their progress at www.sanjoseca.gov/falcons, which has links to the FalconCam — at least for as long as it’s working.