International cooperation: DTEK energy workers helped ornithologists ring 56 white stork nestlings in the Dnipropetrovsk region

Thermal power generation02 July 2025

Within the framework of the #EnergyWings project, DTEK Dnipro Grids energy workers helped ring 56 white stork nestlings. This is important, as it helps scientists-ornithologists track bird migration.

International cooperation: DTEK energy workers helped ornithologists ring 56 white stork nestlings in the Dnipropetrovsk region

Ringing of storks in accordance with the #EnergyWings project is implemented in the Dnipropetrovsk region for the third year in a row in cooperation with the Western Ukrainian Ornithological Society and is a part of the international initiative of the Polish Ornithological Society “Małopolskiego Towarzystwa Ornitologicznego” directed at preserving this bird, which is symbolic for Ukraine.

Over the course of four days, June 23 through 26, ornithologists together with specialists of DTEK Dnipro Grids covered 21 nests in 9 settlements of the Tsarychanka community.

International cooperation: DTEK energy workers helped ornithologists ring 56 white stork nestlings in the Dnipropetrovsk region. 1

“This is not the first ringing that we perform together with DTEK energy workers with support of our Polish colleagues. Our task is to study migration routes of the storks. If our ringed birds will be seen, let’s say, in Bulgaria, Romania or Greece, we will receive feedback and will have a better understanding of the population’s dynamics,” – explains Oleksandr Ponomarenko, candidate of biological sciences, senior staff scientist at the “Dniprovsko-Orilskyi” natural reserve.

Ornithologists would climb each nest together with energy workers using aerial platform, while de-energizing the grids in advance for safety. They wait for the adult birds to fly away, and only then, they carefully take the nestlings to register parameters and place special numbered rings on the limb. All information is entered into the international database. After ringing, the nestlings are carefully returned to the nest.

International cooperation: DTEK energy workers helped ornithologists ring 56 white stork nestlings in the Dnipropetrovsk region. 2

“These marks help ornithologists from various countries find out, where exactly was the chick born, where it spends winter and which route it takes for migration. Today, in the conditions of war, when scientists do not always have an opportunity to conduct full-fledged bird census, such cooperation is especially important. Therefore, for the third summer in a row, we join this process, adding to a unique international database of white stork observations,” – notes Andrii Tereshchuk, CEO at DTEK Dnipro Grids.

Prior to ringing, it is mandatory to carry out monitoring of nests, to check how many birds have returned to the Dnipropetrovsk region and whether there are offspring in the nests. This year, it showed impressive results – up to 90% of storks returned to safe nests, mounted by the energy workers, which is the highest figure in recent years.

International cooperation: DTEK energy workers helped ornithologists ring 56 white stork nestlings in the Dnipropetrovsk region. 3

Energy companies from Poland and Slovakia are also engaged in the project of the Małopolskiego Towarzystwa Ornitologicznego, PGE Dystrybucja SA in particular. DTEK Dnipro Grids is one of the first to actively support the initiative in Ukraine. In 2023-2024, 95 stork chicks have already been ringed in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Overall, it is planned to ring 250 birds within the framework of the project. Scientists expect first results of ringed storks return from Africa in 3-4 years.