Country: Azerbaijan

Organisation: BLI Azerbaijan Ornithological Society (AOS)

Location: Maiden Tower in central Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan

In the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, the famous Maiden Tower has been home to swifts for many years.  Holes in its crumbling walls provided nest places for about 250 Swifts for the past 30 or 40 years.  The tower is now being conserved to solve a hundred years of weather damage.  But the conservation, when completed, will leave only about 40 holes usable by the Swifts.  So special swift boxes are being installed on local buildings to re-house the birds.  Green Finch blackbirds are nesting on nearby trees.

On Air: Dr. Elchin Sultanov, Director of Azerbaijan Ornithological Society, Associate professor in Qafqaz University (former name, now Baku Engineering University), & Head of Ornithological Working Group of laboratory of Terrestrial Vertebrates, of Institute of Zoology of National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan

Key Species: Swift, Green Finch and Blackbird

Common Swift (Photo by Mathias Schaef/McPhoto/ullstein bild via Getty Images)