Three falcon fledglings from Palace of Culture named and ringed

Three little falcons hatched at the end of April in a nest above the viewing terrace at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw.

Warsaw eco patrol officers were invited for the bird ringing procedure, which is a very important event for falconers.

"Now that they've grown up a bit, a time for ringing has come - this is a simple procedure that helps to identify the territorial (depending on the colour of the ring, it tells if a falcon comes from a forest, mountain or urban area) and "hatching" origin" - Warsaw City Guard explained in a press release.

The fledglings from the Palace of Culture and Science have been marked with blue and yellow rings, which mean that they are wild urban birds. The rings also include individual codes which denote each bird's country of origin.

This year's fledglings are not the first children of Franek and Giga. The pair of falcons from downtown Warsaw settled at the Palace in the autumn of 2015. The new residents attracted a lot attention right from the start, because the male Franek used to show up at two locations, downtown and in Bielany, and at one point as many as three females were competing for a place at the Palace.

Falcons have been living in the nest at the Palace of Culture and Science since 1998. City Guard say that it is a part of a reintroduction of the peregrine falcon into the natural environment. This species was almost nearly extinct after the WWII.

The last falcon nest in Poland was found in the mid-1960s. Since that time, these birds have been spotted only sporadically in our country. It wasn't until the end of the previous century, that the reintroduction of falcons began across Europe.

In Warsaw, the falcons have several nesting places. Some of the locations are monitored and can be watched online - among them is the nest at the Palace of Culture and Science.