The "Frankfurt Swift Initiative" is an association of various independent organizations united by their interest in actively helping swifts in the greater Frankfurt/Main area.
In addition to NABU and BUND, it also includes the State Bird Protection Office, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, and the German Society for Swifts.
The goal is to record and preserve existing nesting sites, as well as to create new nesting sites.
Further information and the annual reports can be found on the NABU page of the Swift Initiative.
by Ingolf Grabow
In Frankfurt-Niederrad, in the Mainfeld area, there is a group of high-rise apartment buildings from the 1970s, with up to 20 floors. In the adjacent old district of Niederrad, there are many swifts, including in the rental apartments from the Ernst May era. Michael L. asked our initiative: Does it make sense to settle swifts on the 14th floor?
He told us: the rapid flights of swifts would very often take place directly in front of his balcony. That gave us courage to try.
Between the concrete parapet and the tubular railing there is only a clear gap of 17 cm. Therefore the nest box turned out quite flat and had
only an inside height of 13.5 cm. We only used 15mm thick coated plywood for the roof and back wall. The boxes were attached to the square tube with custom-made stainless steel clamps and firmly clamped with furniture wedges.
After the swift breeding season, the boxes can be easily removed.
The back walls of the boxes are easy to open. The floor interior surface of 31x20 cm provides enough space for the development of the young birds.
Michael L. wanted to lure the swifts flying by "into the nest" by playing the swift calls "sri,sri,sri" with a CD player.
We were curious to see if it would work to make swifts into high-rise residents.
Update from June 12: It worked. Distinct nestling sounds can be heard from two of the boxes.
