As we head towards spring, peregrine falcons are returning to their nest boxes to start their courting season and raise a new generation of these critically endangered birds of prey. In cooperation with the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation, ornithologists have prepared nest boxes in five production sites of the ORLEN Unipetrol Group. Two nest boxes are for the chemical premises at Litvínov, and the sites in Kralupy nad Vltavou, Neratovice, and Pardubice will get one box each. The life and nesting of peregrine falcons can again be watched online over a bird cam at starameseosokoly.cz.
“We have been supporting the nesting of peregrine falcons with the ALKA Wildlife Association since 2011. Boxes fitted on the chimney stacks at our production sites are a popular nesting site for them. Peregrine falcons use them from March to June. Last year, our peregrines raised nine chicks – three in Litvínov, three in Kralupy nad Vltavou, and three at Paramo Pardubice. Peregrine falcons have raised a total of 58 chicks at our sites,” says Zbigniew Pawłucki, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation.
The courting season of the peregrine parents usually starts at the turn of February and March. Until then, the peregrines live at their customary pace. They fly around their territory but do not use the nest for living. The female typically lays one to four eggs, on which it sits for about 30 days until the young hatch. With the arrival of the chicks, the parents start a fledging period in which they take turns to secure food and warm the young.
Ornithologists ring the chicks about three weeks after hatching. The tapes help to clarify the origin of peregrines in the future and to monitor the number of endangered peregrines in Czech territory. Young birds usually leave their nest in June to acquire experience. After two to three years, they seek their own territory to provide for and bring a new generation into the world. Peregrine falcons can live up to 20 years and keep returning to their popular nesting locations year after year. For instance, ornithologists have observed that a male from Záluží has nested with an untaped female on the chimney of a glassworks in Teplice since 2018. They also have information about a male which nested at the Trmice heating plant with a German female in 2022 and 2023.
Since 2002, falcons have also been nesting on the chimneys of ORLEN's production plants in Poland, namely in Plock, Włocławek, Żerań and Kaweczyn. In total, 64 falcons have already grown up on the chimneys of the ORLEN Group in Poland. The most famous is a pair of peregrine falcons nesting on the premises of the ORLEN refinery in Płock. Werwa and Rafik falcons have already started their breeding season. On Friday 28 February, the female Werwa laid the first peregrine falcon eggs recorded in Poland this year. Currently, there are already four eggs in the nest, which are being cared for by these raptors.
Nature lovers can continuously follow the life and habits of the peregrine falcon for 9 years on the websites of the ORLEN Peregrine Falcon Population Reconstruction and the SOKÓL Wildlife Association. The public can follow them on the Orlen Group's website.
About the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation
The ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation launched its activities in 2017. Its primary mission is to support education and popularise science, primarily natural sciences and technical disciplines, as well as corporate social responsibility, emphasising local communities and the environment. The Foundation has long been engaged in supporting schools, teachers, and students with grant programmes. The educational project, ‚Plastík a jeho kouzelný kufřík‘, provides schoolchildren from the first to the fifth grade with an excursion into the world of chemistry through entertaining experiments. Educational support and the associated Foundation’s activities gave rise to many educational materials and outputs in the form of tutorials available at www.nouonline.cz. Beginning in 2024, the Foundation is also committed to corporate social responsibility related to the environment, support of local communities, and volunteering. Such activities include championing volunteer and community projects, fundraising, fish releases into rivers, nesting of endangered peregrine falcons, and beekeeping. The Foundation cooperates with many non-profit organisations on a long-term basis but also reacts to current events in society and emergencies. More information about the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation’s mission and other activities is available at www.nadaceorlenunipetrol.cz.
Contact details:
Lucie Pražáková, director of the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation
E-mail: nadace@orlenunipetrol.cz
Telephone: +420 736 506 939