A couple of peregrine parents have met again on their nesting spot on the boiler house chimney in the Litvínov Refinery. They raised four chicks there last year. Their story, including feeding or the first flying attempts of the chicks, can now be watched online at starameseosokoly.cz. Peregrine falcons nest at the ORLEN Unipetrol Group sites each year. Forty-nine chicks had hatched on the Group’s premises since 2011 when they started monitoring them in collaboration with ALKA Wildlife. Beginning this year, the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation will also support peregrine falcons and eagles by partnering with the Czech Union for Nature Conservation.
“We get ready with the ornithologists for the peregrine nesting season that starts halfway through February. We want the peregrines nesting on the chimneys at our production sites to have as suitable conditions as possible. Besides, during the nest box maintenance, we can check the technical condition of the camera that monitors the entire nesting season. The public can thus watch all actions, from incubating the eggs to the first flying attempts of the eyasses from the chimney’s gallery,” says Katarzyna Woś, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation.
Peregrine falcons usually return to their regular home at the turn of February and March, which is also the start of the courtship flights. Until then, the peregrine couple lives at their usual pace. They fly around their territory but do not use the nest for living. If the courtship flight is successful, the female typically lays one to three eggs. Then she incubates them for about 30 days until the young hatch.
The entire process – from courtship flights over incubation, hatching, and chick feeding to their exploration of the nest’s surroundings and departures – can be watched online at starameseosokoly.cz. The website also contains valuable information about the life of peregrine falcons and the latest news from the nest.
Besides supporting the nesting of endangered peregrines at its sites, the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation is also engaged in many other CSR projects. Twice a year, it releases fish, together with children from local primary schools, into the rivers Bílina and the Elbe. Also, it organises an infotainment project in the Neratovice production plant that focuses on honey harvesting. The Foundation intensively supports education, grant and scholarship programmes, employee volunteering, and charity collections. In 2024, the Foundation has partnered with the Czech Union for Nature Conversation, which, among other things, provides treatment of eagles and peregrine falcons and returns them to the wild.
Contact:
Lucie Pražáková, director of the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation
Telephone: +420 736 506 939