Detail_Wendehals

The Wryneck – Germany’s smallest woodpecker is “our Animal of the Year 2020"

24.11.2019 - PIENSA! Foundation
Why are we paying particular attention to the turncoat 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall? Because this term was used to describe those politicians from the former GDR who quickly adapted to the new circumstances after the fall of the Berlin Wall?

No, it is not!The wryneck is the bird whose way of life and its demands on the habitat combine some of the activities planned by the PIENSA! Foundation for 2020.

Of course, we do not award the title "Animal of the Year". The German Wildlife Foundation has been doing that since 2016. But the wryneck will be "our Animal of the Year".
Foto: Horst Engler auf www.naturgucker.de
 Foto: Tom Dowe auf www.nabu.de
Der Wendehals wird oft als kleinster Specht Deutschlands bezeichnet. Dabei weist er große Unterschiede zu den anderen Arten aus der Familie der Spechte auf. 
Gemeinsam ist den Arten, dass Sie in Höhlen brüten, die sie entweder selbst erstellen oder bereits vorfinden. Im Unterschied zu anderen Spechten gehört der Wendehals aber zu den Zugvögeln. Die bei uns lebenden Unterarten verbringen den Winter südlich der Sahara in der sog. Sahelzone. 

Und was hat das alles mit der PIENSA!-Stiftung und unserer Arbeit zu tun? Nun, die Arbeit die wir bisher gemacht haben und unsere Reisen des Jahres 2019 ergeben eine Verbindung zum Wendehals: 
Da ist zum einen unser Engagement beim  „Runden Tisch Streuobst", den unser Kooperationspartner Naturefund 2018 ins Leben gerufen hat. Wir haben Anfang 2019 die Hinweise aufgenommen, dass es wohl nicht ausreichen wird, allein durch Pflegemaßnahmen heute den langfristigen Erhalt der Streuobstwiesen in Wiesbaden sicherzustellen. 

Es sollte ergänzend hierzu auch ein Konzept erarbeitet werden, mit dem das Wissen um den Wert der Streuobstwiesen bei Kindern und Jugendlichen vertieft und gefestigt wird. Hierzu gehört, den Wert der Streuobstwiesen als herausragende Biotope darzustellen, in denen eine Vielzahl von Pflanzen und Tieren ihren Lebensraum finden. Auch der Wendehals gehört dazu. Er findet hier in alten Bäumen Nistmöglichkeiten und auf den magereren Wiesen und in der offenen Landschaft Nahrung. 

Da haben wir einen der verbindenden Punkt zu unseren Aktivitäten. Denn Streuobstwiesen sind – ganz nebenbei bemerkt – nicht nur der Lebensraum des Wendehals, sondern ideale außerschulische Lernorte, in denen Kinder und Jugendliche die Natur in ihrer Vielfalt unmittelbar erleben und erfahren können. 
Foto: PIENSA!-Stiftung
Foto: PIENSA!-Stiftung
But there's more. Our trip to Kenya in October 2019 not only took us to the fertile region around Lake Victoria, which was formerly covered in rainforest. We also got to know the dry, almost semi-desert landscapes in northern Kenya, which merge into the Sahel zone just a few kilometers away.

And it was precisely this Sahel zone that was the place and habitat where the wrynecks that spend the summer here move to their winter quarters. There they mainly seek out areas where they can find a large number of insects. These include the dry savannahs with bushland and acacias.

Why is it so important for us to mention this here? The Sahel zone is a region that, just like the orchards in Germany, has changed noticeably in recent years and decades. These changes include the felling of trees and entire forests. The region is in danger of being lost as a habitat for people and animals due to the expansion of the Sahara to the south.

We are familiar with the images of starving people, for example in Ethiopia. But the changes are also making life more difficult for animals there. And this is where another of our potential cooperation partners comes into play.
Photo: 1&1 IONOS image pool
Foto: PIENSA!-Stiftung
The Australian Toni Rinaudo, an employee of the global development cooperation organization World Vision, has fought for many years to stop deforestation in the Sahel region. With many failures and, most recently, many successes. In 2018, he received a major award for the "Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration" (FMNR) method he discovered, the Right Livelihood Award. This is also known as the alternative Nobel Prize.

Toni Rinaudo has discovered that the roots of trees are still active and alive even after they have been felled. And he has tested how to take advantage of this with suitable measures. Replanting is not always necessary; if you know how to do it, you can also rely on nature's ability to regenerate. You can also read more about this at www.worldvision.com

We have seen the application of the method in Kenya. It is a great method that combines people's income generation with the protection of nature, and indeed with the reforestation of previously forested areas.
In 2020, the PIENSA! Foundationstart a project to make the students from Wiesbaden aware of the great value of meadow orchards as a biotope and cultural heritage.On the one hand, it is about learning something: for example, that meadows are the preferred habitat of the wryneck.On the other hand, the meadows should also be a space for experiencing nature and for activities outside of school. Through sponsorships, schools should also work in the long term to preserve the orchards as part of the cultural landscape and as a valuable biotope.
At the same time, as part of the internationalization of our activities, we want to establish a cooperation with World Vision Germany. World Vision wants to use the FMNR method and thus regreening as an essential element in all development projects in Africa.We will be happy to support this. We will also campaign to make the method and its effects better known in schools, for example in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Because the younger generation will determine the future and should know about the effects of this method and its contribution to the preservation of nature and natural resources.The method works for the benefit of people – and it also helps the turncoat.
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