Bad Tölz - The Tölzer Stadtwerke and the Bad Tölz community foundation, together with the State Association for Bird Protection (LBV), take the local swifts under their wings.
A special species of bird that spends its life in flight.
However, it has been classified as "endangered" on the red list for a few years.
Some are already on their trip to Africa again.
Others just take care of their young before they set out for their winter quarters in mid-August.
We are talking about swifts, "probably the most persistent and perfect flight acrobats in the bird world," explains Walter Wintersberger.
314 days non-stop in the air
The chairman of the LBV district group Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen knows some interesting information about the common swift.
For example, the bird hardly touches the ground until it returns in spring.
The feathered journeyman, who is around 18 centimeters tall, spends most of his life in the air.
They feed by catching insects in flight and even sleep in the air.
"A swift equipped with a mini transmitter could be proven to have spent 314 days non-stop in the air," says Wintersberger.
Of course, swifts also have to make a stop to breed and raise their young, explains Wintersberger.
Incidentally, the bird species owes its name to the fact that it prefers to build its nests in crevices in the wall.
“A truly admirable species of bird, but like so many other birds, its populations have been declining significantly in recent years and decades,” emphasizes the LBV chairman.
In 2016 the swift was placed on the so-called Red List as "endangered" in Bavaria.
Breeding places are niches and crevices
According to the LBV, the reasons for this are varied: in addition to the decline in insects, the loss of breeding grounds also plays a major role.
“Common swifts, as building breeders, look for niches and crevices in the roof area of our houses as breeding grounds,” says Wintersberger.
The problem: "Due to the demolition of older buildings and building renovations, the very local swifts lose a large number of breeding grounds year after year."
And this is where the joint action of the district town and the LBV comes in to provide the common swifts returning next spring with new breeding opportunities.
Expert advice from the LBV, financed by the community foundation and implemented by the Bad Tölz municipal utility, four special nesting boxes for swifts were attached to the municipal utility's administration building.
