Hello!
For all of you, who would like to hear some more about the Storks in my home-area, there is something I would like to share. On Saturday there was a large article in the newspaper. It was the usual report about the Storks that have already returned and about the nestingsites in the region.
First of all, for you to take your bearings, I have a rather bad photo of a map. The scale is 1:25.000, and it shows the ca. 10 kilometres between the suburb of the town, where I live, and another town more to the west. I have tried to mark the areas, where the nests are, with colourful post-it-pieces and black crosses on them. The orange one on the right side of the map is right here at my hometown and stands for 4 nests. Three of them I can see from the train on my way to work, and two of them are already occupied. On the left side there are a blue and a green spot. The blue one is a nest on a Church, the green also stands for three nests. And today I have seen, that a couple is trying to make themself at home on a dead tree, where they make an attempt of building a nest without any aid by humans (normally there are posts put up with a platform on top, on that the Storks build their nest). Surprisingly, this dead tree is not more than 30 metres away from the railroad-tracks. The two Storks stood up there and were completely calm and relaxed, as the train passed by.
And now lets start with my report about the newspaper-article:
In the whole area, that is even larger than the part shown on the map, there are now 32 nests. 27 are already occupied by couples, and the other three by single birds. All these storks are experienced birds, that already had chicks in the past. Some of the couples have not returned to their previous nests, but have moved to other nests. That is not definite, as latecomers might still be able to chase them away. The article also says that it is more important to a stork to keep his usual nest than his usual partner. Isn't that interesting? The oldest Stork, that has returned, is a 17-year-old male, who nests in the area, that I have marked with green. He has returned with a young female, and it is supposed that his former partner must have died. The male from a nest more to the east from us, has last year had a deadly accident with a train. This year a new male has come, and replaced him.He has a ring with the number DEW 9 X 956, that means that he is hatched in 2011 at Neuenhaßlau (you can see it right in the middle of the map, it is not far from here). In the article is also something about a "Chaos-Couple". If everything in the article is true, they have kidnapped a chick from another nest last year. And now, they have occupied another nest than last year, but they also defend their old nest. So there are heavy fights to be expected.
The experienced couples are quite relaxed with humans and dogs, but newcomers can easily be disturbed, and might give up their nest and chicks then, so all the people are asked not to approach the nests and not to preoccupie the Storks.
This is all for now. If there is more in the newspaper, or if I can take some pictures, I'll try to post soemthing here.
Kind regards from Germany,
Bente
This is brilliant, maybe I can try & do something similar with our storks. I have never come across chick kidnapping before, but some of our storks are serial philanderers with different partners or nests every year. We also get squabbles over nests & as we lost a few in the storms last year it will be interesting to see how they all get along. We're hoping to do a run up the estuary, North on Wednesday & South on Thursday so I'll let you know.
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Great story, Bente. Sounds like the Storks are just as badly behaved as we humans. Look forward to hearing more tales of your storks and hopefully, you will get some photos.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Great post Bente and very interesting. I've never heard of chick kidnapping either. Looking forward to any updates.
Paul
My bird photos HERE
I have followed the Bornheim storks for a very long time.
Tiger Signature
Hello and good evening,
maybe you would like to read some more about the Stork-couple, that is buidling their own nest? I have seen them again this morning, on my way to work. I was going by train and watched, while the train went past them. Their nest is not more than a squarefoot big at the moment, so if they want to raise chicks, they really have to do something. On this little nest I could see them both, standing side by side, and smoothing each others feathers. That looked really cute and cosy. The only thing, that was a bit disturbing, was the other couple, that was looking at them, as if they want to have the nest for themselves.
I really hope the two storks can build their nest, and raise chicks. From the upper floor of the train I would be able to see every progress.
Hazel b said:I have followed the Bornheim storks for a very long time.
Tiger, thank you for that link. I have just had a quick look now, it looks very interesting. One of the next days I will have a closer look. Another nest in my area does also have a nest-cam, so I maybe have a look there now and then. The internet-address is www.turmstorch.de just in case anyone would like to know.
Thank you very much for your interest.
Yours, Bente
Hello,
another update right now,after reading some more on the afore mentioned website www.turmstorch.de. This is really interesting! They mentioned the Storks, that are also known as the "Chaos-Couple". The two Storks, also known as Arthur and Konstanze, are the two Storks, who were last year frightened away by a man flying his remote-control plane. They went to another nest and chased away the inhabitants. The two young storks, that had already hatched, died. After that they took over another nest, chased away the inhabitants and were able to raise their chick (This is the chick that was refered to as being kidnapped). So it was not a kidnapping in the sense of taking the chick away from the nest, but nevertheless, they adopted it, and it fledged. There are now thoughts that Arthur and Konstanze might be infertile and can't have chicks of their own. I am really curious what they might do this year. I'll keep myself informed, and you as well, of course.
Good night now, see you soon.
Lovely report Bente. I will look on the website that you mentioned.
J
We had a couple last year that sat on eggs for about 3 months & they never hatched, it's so sad, you really feel for them.
Hello everyone,
this is just a quick little report about "my" Storks. I have been away for a week, and so yesterday, on my way to work, was the first time since then that I have been able to have a look, while my train was passing by the nests. The nearest couple is probably already incubating. One of them is permanently sitting on the nest, the head is hardly visible at all, so he / she is very well hidden. The partner was walking the meadows in search for food.
And do you remember the couple, that wants to build their own nest? Well, they have hardly made any progress, so my Dad supposes that they are still young and inexperienced. The nest is still very small, but they seem to be happy and content. Yesterday they stood side by side on the nest, one of them was busily placing a twig from one side of the nest to the other and then back again. They are so calm and beautiful! They are so near to the railway-tracks that they are really a sight! I hate the idea of taking my camera with me to work, but the idea of getting a few shots of them is seductive!
Should I be successful, you will find out here.
See you soon,
Sometimes the young storks build a nest one year to use the following year. Some storks build huge nests & others have skimpy little one's. You'll have to take some photos so we can see their progress.