Peregrine falcon chicks in the lift tower of the Mellach district heating power plant

A success story at 90 metres: two young peregrine falcons are getting ready for their first attempts at flying

A pair of peregrine falcons has found an unusual breeding site at a dizzying height in the 90-metre-high lift tower of the VERBUND district heating power plant in Mellach, Styria. Two chicks of this strictly protected bird species hatched in early May. The youngsters, a female and a male, already weigh just under a kilogram. Every day, the bird family eats a few of the pigeons that roam the area in large numbers. The youngsters will probably make their first attempts at flying in a few days’ time and have recently been officially ringed, i.e. two rings have been attached to their legs to make them clearly identifiable. This makes it possible to track the wider movements of the birds.

Ornithologist Leander Khil is in charge of the “Peregrine falcons on Styrian buildings” project (www.leanderkhil.com) and knows one of the parent birds from Mellach well. “Othmar comes from the very first brood of the peregrine falcons that have been nesting in the tower of the Herz-Jesu church in Graz since 2021. He and his siblings were the first peregrine falcons ever to be tagged in Austria. It was a great pleasure to find him here again in Mellach.” Othmar’s partner, a young female, is not ringed and therefore unnamed. “Peregrine falcons usually stay together for several years and stay at their breeding sites all year round.”

Peregrine falcons are rare and endangered

In Austria, they were on the brink of extinction in the second half of the 20th century, but the population has recovered and stabilised at a low level. They mainly breed on rock faces but have also taken to settling in tall buildings in recent years if they find safe, undisturbed breeding spots there. These sites have crucial advantages: brooding on buildings is more often successful and therefore provides important support for the survival of these rare birds.

"With the VERBUND power plant site in Mellach, Othmar and his female mate have chosen an ideal quiet and safe site for rearing their offspring!” says Christof Kurzmann, Power Plant Group and Site Manager at VERBUND Thermal Power in Mellach. “Our employees are closely watching our heraldic birds in the lift tower and are already looking forward to the young peregrines’ first flights.” Suitable names have also been chosen: Lise and Ludwig, in reference to the two Austrian physicists Lise Meitner and Ludwig Boltzmann.