Wild neighbours & urban wildlife

Birds and other wildlife are our neighbours in human settlements. Despite their close proximity to us humans, little is known about their occurrence, distribution, behaviour and health status. Together with the public, we close gaps in knowledge in the projects "Wilde Nachbarn (Wild Neighbours)" and "StadtWildTiere (Urban wildlife)".  We invite you to become part of a research project and report your wildlife observations on the websites of StadtWildTiere ² and/or Wilde Nachbarn ³. 

The return of a forest dweller

Since 2009, the team has been working to bring the rarest owl in Central Europe back to our forests. Once locally extinct, the ural owl can now again be found on the northern edge of the Alps (more about this on the Habichtskauz website ⁵). Thanks to the commitment of numerous partners, this project has become a success story and shows how research can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity.

Monitoring of Saker Falcons in Austria

Since 2010 we have together with BirdLife Austria regularly surveyed the state of the Austrian saker falcon population during the breeding season. BirdLife checks on the natural breeding sites, while the AOC team focuses on the artificial nesting aids on high voltage power line pylons. This way, the AOC and BirdLife form a strong alliance for the saker falcon in Austria. Together we keep track of the population across the entire Austrian distribution range.  More about the project on the  external project website ⁷.