INCREASE THE POPULATION OF PROTECTED BIRDS WITH NESTING BOXES

Nocturnal birds of prey play an essential role in maintaining ecological balance in many of the planet's ecosystems. In recent decades the population numbers of some of these species have fallen drastically, due to several reasons, among these the lack of suitable places to build a nest.

In 2012 ACCIONA began the project "Nesting boxes for protected species in ACCIONA facilities" in order to help certain species of protected animals: nocturnal and daytime birds of prey. Since then around 500 nesting boxes have been installed in different Company facilities (facades of buildings, water treatment plants, renewable energy installations, vineyards, etc.) suitable for these species to build their nests. Throughout 2016, 22 new nest-houses have been installed in the surrondings of the WWTP of Atotonilco, Mexico. These nesting boxes add to the already installed in the previous year inside the plant, reaching a total of 36.

During the last three years, their occupation during the reproductive season was monitored, in order to obtain information on the species and their distribution. The results have been very satisfactory, 100% of the target species have nested. Thanks to this project over 200 chicks of birds of prey were born, such as barn owls, European scops owls, little owls, common kestrels and lesser kestrels.

One of the main additional benefits of the project was the contribution towards biological pest control, as evidenced by the cameras installed by ACCIONA to monitor the nesting boxes, which showed that a pair of barn owls can capture around 20 small rodents a day during the breeding season. This means that during the reproductive period a single pair can eliminate around 2.000 rodents, contributing to balance the ecosystem.

In addition, 10% of the nest-boxes have been occupied by bee hives, which is very good for the environment, because their population has been greatly reduced in recent years, and they are essential to pollinate crops and to the preservation of ecosystems.

In all the countries  where nesting boxes have been installed (Spain, Mexico and Portugal), the construction of them has been done in collaboration with Special Employment Centres, in order to promote the social and work integration of people with intellectual disabilities..