30 Mar Special platforms for storks nests within the project LIFE4DELTA.
In the southern part of Umianowice, naturalists with the help of power engineers are installing special platforms on which storks will be able to build nests. The bases are attached to the utility poles with a lift that reaches 12 meters.
In the southern part of Umianowice, naturalists with the help of power engineers are installing special platforms on which storks will be able to build nests. The bases are attached to the utility poles with a lift that reaches 12 meters. The platform, is a sturdy and weather resistant galvanized steel structure with a diameter of approx. 120 cm. It also has a wreath woven from thinner branches. The whole thing weighs approx. 30 kg.
Marcin Słoma from the Complex of Swietokrzyskie and Nadnidziański Landscape Parks explains that the platforms are mounted in the place where white storks have been nesting for years. It turns out that there are fewer good nesting sites than there are stork pairs looking for a nest. Hence, birds are often observed fighting or nesting in places that are dangerous for them.
They make nests on power poles, which pose a threat to them. Occasionally, they died electrocuted and the nests ignited. Birds also cause grid failures and power outages, which generate additional costs for utilities, he explains.
With the platforms in place, storks gain a safe haven and residents will no longer have to deal with power outages. Marcin Janus, one of the workers servicing the electrical networks, emphasizes that in addition to assembling the socket platforms, they also participate in the care and maintenance of the nests.
This involves removing or trimming branches that overgrow the nest inlet and outlet. In addition, we reinforce and stabilize the structures,” he adds.
Marcin Słoma adds that Umianowice is an ideal base for storks. Ultimately, 10 such nesting platforms are to be installed in Umianowice.
There are 50 thousand nesting birds in Poland. pairs, which is ¼ of the population of these birds. The apogee of their arrivals will be in the first half of April.
source: Radio Kielce
https://m.radio.kielce.pl/wiadomosci/energetycy-zakladaja-platformy-dla-bocianow,155961
