The Idea Team

Our team consists of members of various university initiatives (Blätterlaube, Unigardening, Blühender Campus, etc.). Our love of nature has brought us together and we want to strengthen our sense of unity with our project. There is a constant need to inspire students and staff at Freie Universität to get involved in sustainability and to identify with the university. The technical part of the project idea contributes to this: the live transmission of the animals via a webcam.

About the Idea

The overarching aim of this project idea is to install a nesting box for kestrels, including a webcam for live transmission of the animals.

There is a need for action on the part of the university and local people to increase biodiversity on campus. After all, the more "biodiverse" an ecosystem is, the more resilient it is to climate change. Experiencing an intact environment also contributes significantly to the health and well-being of university staff and local residents. Experiencing urban wilderness and native wildlife is a need for many people who live in the city.

The live broadcast gives interested parties a direct insight into an otherwise hidden world. They can observe the "cycle of life" using a living and exciting example and follow it in the long term. To create a community feeling of care and compassion for these animals, we will organize various activities, such as a naming ceremony for the kestrel couple and their children.

There are buildings on the three campuses of Freie Universität Berlin that are suitable for this. We are currently working with a kestrel expert, employees from the Technical Department and the departments to find a suitable façade on a tower or a multi-storey building. This must be exposed within a radius of a few hundred meters (as the tallest building) and close to large meadow areas. Once the perfect place for a kestrel has been found, we take care of the technical part, raising awareness through public relations and education.

We want to implement the project outline this year so that the kestrels (or other birds) can start breeding next year and we can be there with the "live" transmission.

Outlook

We look forward to exchanging ideas and networking with other project groups and other aid initiatives (e.g. SUSTAIN IT!). But also beyond the university boundaries in the context of citizen science projects. We want to actively contribute to a sustainable university.

We are also looking forward to presenting the project as part of the University Days from 20-22 June in order to reach as many people as possible. The birds lay 3 - 6 eggs in a breeding season and we are looking for names for the falcons. (e.g. Falko)!

P.s.: Recommended reading "Turmfalke: Falco tinnunculus" (February 11, 2008), ISBN: 978-3894323769 and "Der Turmfalke: Lebensstrategien eines Greifvogels" (January 1, 1993), ISBN: 978-3891045312

Contact

Tobias Schober: Tobias.Schober@fu-berlin.de 

Benjamin Haak: bennyhaak@gmail.com