The mural is an expression of cooperation between the scientific community and the State Forests as well as emphasizing the actual contribution to research on that species and the black stork protection programme in Poland. The mural’s project was created based on the photo by Hubert Gajda and Maciej Bielewicz is responsible for its making.
A black stork (Ciconia nigra) is under protection. It is a very rare inhabitant of Polish forests (about 1600 pairs). It leads a secretive lifestyle. The project implemented since 2016 is to reveal the secrets of life of these forest loners. Online broadcast from the nest of these rare birds is a pioneering project in Poland and one of the few of its kind in Europe. The goal of the project, the broadcast implemented from March/April to September, i.e., from the arrival of the male to the departure of the young storks, is to educate about nature conservation and to raise more ecological awareness among the public.
Professor Piotr Zieliński from the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection of the University of Lodz is a scientific consultant of the project. The project has been created and is being implemented thanks to the financial support from the State Forests Information Centre. In 2020 and 2021 GPS-GSM locators, thanks to which we are able to observe the birds after they have left their nest, are financed by the Regional Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Lodz.
The Black Storks Online project also includes ringing and putting on loggers – GPS devices for young black storks. In 2021, prof. Piotr Zieliński together with dr Bartosz Janice ringed and equipped with locators as many as 18 chicks of the black stork in the forests of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lodz.
The loggers were put on in nests in the following forest districts: Grotniki, Piotrków, Poddębice, Bełchatów, Złoczew, Kutno and Kolumna. In 2021, more black stork nests were found on the premises of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lodz and they joined the locations monitored by foresters and scientists from the University of Lodz.
In 2020 we installed 15 loggers on black stork chicks from the forests of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lodz. Twelve chicks flew out of Poland. In July this year 7 of them were spending the summer in various parts of Europe. One in Hungary, 2 in Romania, 1 in Moldova, 2 in Bulgaria. One of the birds from Bulgaria is our Finezja (it flew out from the nest that we broadcast from). Observation of one young black stork is interesting. After arriving in Europe it headed east and is now in Russia on the Don River, 1700 km from its mother nest in the Złoczew Forest District. We wonder whether in autumn it will bypass the Black Sea from the east, flying straight south to Africa, or whether it will choose a route known to it, but much longer, and will bypass the Black Sea from the west.
prof. Piotr Zieliński, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection
The fascinating, scientifically and educational valuable material from the observation of nests is available on an ongoing basis on the profile of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lodz on Facebook.
Black Storks Online (live broadcast from April to September and archival films) is available directly on YouTube, including archival fragments from the nest, reports.
More information on the project can be found on the website of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lodz.
The mural was made in 2021 thanks to funds from the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lodz, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection of the University of Lodz, State Forests Information Centre and Bank Ochrony Środowiska S.A.
Source: Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lodz
Photos: Maciej Bielewicz
Edit: Promotion Centre, UL