
ProteggiAmo l’ambiente: discover the project of Acea School
Rome, 1999. A phone rings in a room in the Acea building.
"Hello?"
"Good morning Claudio, this is Giacomo Dell'Omo, president of Ornis Italica, an association of volunteers and researchers who have been safeguarding birds for years. I was told you were in charge of environmental sustainability at Acea and I wanted to propose a joint initiative: to place our nesting boxes on top of your power pylons."
Claudio Puliti, Chemist - Acea Ato 2 Water Knowledge Department, gives his version of the beginning of the collaboration between Acea and the Association Ornis Italica to protect and safeguard the Peregrine Falcon and wild birds: pylons are actually an excellent nesting point, as they are inaccessible to predators and if the surrounding habitat is unpolluted, they can become hospitable nests.
The initial project focused on the nesting of the Kestrel, a small falcon found in the countryside and in our towns where it has had considerable success, judging by the rapid increase in the population nesting in Rome and the surrounding area.
A few years later, Acea hit on an idea for an even more challenging objective for environmental protection: to encourage the Peregrine Falcon to nest, as until the year two thousand, the species had been on the verge of extinction.
The project wanted to exploit the above ground, water storage tanks scattered throughout Rome, to position some nesting boxes. Peregrine Falcons prefer high, inaccessible places with a clear view of the horizon; therefore, it was likely that these water tanks, rising 90 meters above the level of the surrounding countryside, would be the perfect place for the Peregrine Falcon to nest.
For ten years I spent all my winters searching for that restless brilliance, for the sudden passion and violence that peregrines flush from the sky. For ten years I have been looking upward for that cloud-biting anchor shape, that crossbow flinging through the air.
J.A. Baker, The Peregrine
The first attempt to encourage the nesting of the Peregrine Falcon was made on the surge tank of the sources in Acqua Vergine on the Salone estate, a green area to the east of the city of Rome. In January 2010, a nesting box was placed at a height of approximately 80 metres above ground level. Ornis researchers were surprised and delighted that after only a few days, the box was occupied by a young couple of Peregrine Falcons, which had been flying around the area for some time and found the nesting box a comfortable, protected place. Thus began the beautiful story of Alex and Vergine, followed by thousands of people all over the world via www.birdcam.it: a webcam giving intriguing details of their daily life filmed inside the nest. And one moment in particular, when the eggs were laid.
The falcons chose the two towers of this imposing steel structure as a strategic point, from which to scan their surroundings in search of possible prey, especially pigeons and starlings.
The rise in the number of Peregrine Falcon nests recorded by scholars is a formidable indicator for the city of Rome: after coming close to zero for many years, in 2019, their number has now reached 10-12 couples and represents the most important, urban nesting area for the species in Italy and probably in Europe.
A significant piece of information which, together with the story of the Salone nest, teaches everyone how sustainable technological development and progress can live side by side with nature.
The falcons' glossary
Ringing: this practice enables a tiny, plastic or aluminium ring to be placed around the wild bird's foot, in order to be able to identify it later on.
Hatchling: "helpless young", i.e. the newly hatched chicks, which need their parents to look after them for several days before they can fly.
Ornitology: a branch of zoology that studies birds.
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