Saving storks during the war: DTEK energy workers helped ornithologists ring over 70 nestlings in the Dnipropetrovsk region
On June 17-20, ornithologists with the help of DTEK Dnipro Grids energy workers have ringed 74 stork chicks in 23 nests in the Tsarychanka community of the Dnipropetrovsk region. This is the second ringing of birds in cooperation with the Western Ukrainian Ornithological Society within the framework of the international project of the Polish society Małopolskiego Towarzystwa Ornitologicznego on preserving the white stork.
“Despite the war, we continue our projects directed at protection of the regional ecosystems, white stork population in particular. During the 11 years of our project #EnergyWings, we have already installed more than 220 protective platforms for nests. And now, we help Ukrainian and Polish ornithologists to better study the storks and their needs. This is the second time that we are engaged in ringing the stork chicks, which purpose is to create a unique international base for studying and preserving this bird, totemic for Ukraine,” – underscored DTEK Dnipro Grids CEO Andrii Tereshchuk.
Ringing is a method of studying the wild birds by attaching a tiny marker to their limbs. For ornithologists to ring the chicks, DTEK Dnipro Grids energy workers de-energize the grids and climb to the nests. The ringing procedure is absolutely painless for the stork and helps getting important data about their migration routes and further identify them in other countries.
“We register size and other parameters of the nestling. And we fix 2 rings on the limbs – a metal one and a colored plastic one, which helps the scientists get data about the bird’s place of ringing, wintering and migration routes without interacting with it. This way, the scientists can find out the percentage of the birds that return after migration. This is highly important now, as the ornithologists are unable to carry out accounting of stork population due to the war,” – tells ornithologist Oleksandr Haidash.
The scientists will be able to collect data from the first ringed storks in 3-4 years, when the birds, we hope, will return to Ukraine from Africa.
A number of Polish and Slovakian energy companies take part in the project of the Małopolskiego Towarzystwa Ornitologicznego, PGE Dystrybucja SA in particular. DTEK Grids DSO are one of the first ones in Ukraine to join the European colleagues in preserving the white stork. In 2023, DTEK Dnipro Grids energy workers have ringed 21 stork chicks in the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time. Overall, it is planned to ring 250 birds with DSO help within the framework of the project.