More than 60 specially designed platforms were installed before the spring arrival of storks in ten priority project settlements. Each platform, fixed to the pylon, holds the nest construction at a safe distance from electrical wires.

The White Stork is one of the most famous birds in Europe. White storks nest in a variety of structures, traditionally preferring straw stacks. New practices of straw conservation, however, have made these breeding sites scarce, and storks have turned to rooftops and electricity poles for nests in recent years. The number of nests on electricity poles has increased throughout the Carpathian Basin as small-span wires and poles are selected by birds as ideal for supporting heavy nests. A third of all white stork pairs in the Serbian province of Vojvodina breed in such niches.

The risk of breeding in such nests is high. Birds, as well as nests situated on wires, can cause a fatal short circuit, if they complete an electric circuit between the live and grounds wires. Even more frequently, death occurs for birds when spanning the gap between a wire and a grounded power pylon. Bird-related accidents and short circuits also cost the electric company time and money, and removing the nests after the breeding season, while banned, doesn't prevent birds from returning the following season.

Designed to project.
The Bird Study and Protection Society of Vojvodina, working with provincial power company Elektrovojvodina, have developed a solution. Experts installed 61 specially designed platforms to support stork nests at a safe distance from wires. Results from the project, which is supported by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Serbia and Montenegro, have shown that since being installed in spring 2005, storks have occupied 87% of the new platforms and bred in safe nests. "This project has solved two problems," said Dragan Babic , Development Director of Elektrovojvodina. "Endangered birds will benefit from this conservation action and our costs caused by their activity will be minimal."

BREEDING BOXES ENSURE SURVIVAL OF DECLINING ROLLER IN VOJVODINA
To support efficient and timely flood forecasting and flood warning the European Flood Alert System (EFAS) is also being developed by EC JRC in Ispra for the Danube River Basin. During floods in summer 2005 the EFAS team sent external information reports to partners in Germany, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. The historical discharges at the alpine streams on August 23, for example, were signalled by EFAS from August 20 onwards. The performance of EFAS during these events demonstrated the benefit of using a combination of deterministic and probabilistic flood forecasts.

Marko Tucakov,
biologist, is project manager of the Bird Protection and Study Society of Vojvodina,
responsible for the project "Safe Nests for White Storks".