Montagu’s harrier conservation program

As part of the conservation efforts, every year ornithologists put up fences around the nests to prevent agricultural vehicles from harming them during the harvest period and other agronomic processes. The birds were also provided protection against predators by surrounding the area with a certified fragrance repellent, completely safe for humans, animals and the environment. Observations have proven that young birds from successive broods (in 2014-2020) left the nest safely. All the birds were ringed.

After the active protection program for the Montagu’s harriers was popularized, the history of our birds from Modlikowice and Łukaszów wind farms can now be tracked:

• a male ringed in 2014 as a hatchling was identified in Germany, approximately 210 km from Łukaszów;
• a male ringed in 2018 as a male was identified in May 2019 in the vicinity of Brno in Czech Republic.

Since the inception of the of the Montagu’s harrier’s active protection program, 60 young birds have been saved.

All the activities related to the protection of the Montagu’s harrier will be continued in 2021.

Active protection of Montagu’s harriers is a very important measure supporting biodiversity of Poland’s agricultural land. In the summer, the birds inhabit nearly the entire Europe and wintering sites are located in eastern Africa, south of the Sahara desert (the north- and east European population), in the eastern Africa and in India. Harriers arrive at their breeding grounds in Poland in the second decade of April or in the early May and leave them between August and October.