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
Hazel C said:Do you have a local bird-watching or nature protection group Bente?
Hello Hazel,
yes, we do. And they are very active people. Apart from that: There is a man, whom they call "The Stork-Pope", who seems to care for not much else, apart from Storks. I am very sure that at least he will already know about the new nest. As you see, the nest is hardly to be missed, and is near to another one, which is already known. And this man watches all of them and reports about the happenings there once or twice a year in the newspaper. So I don't think I need to inform anyone. But all the same, the idea is good. I'll keep my eyes and ears open. Soon the early-morning-birdsong-walks will start. There I'll meet with several members of our local bird-protection-group, whom I can ask about that. They will know what to do. I'll keep the matter in mind, so thank you for the advice!
Bob, I like your last picture even better than the other ones. The roof looks a bit overpopulated, but the storks don't seem to mind. And what a pile of dropped twigs!
See you soon.
Yours, Bente
Hello and good evening!
Maybe I have infected my Dad with my being so fond of Storks, but today we went together in order to have a look around the whole area, where I spotted the new nest beside the railway-tracks. Don't worry, there is no way to disturb the Storks, the nest is too far away from any footpath. We've seen about 6 different nests, and at times there were 6 Storks in the air, flying together. The day was nice and very warm, so it was difficult to get decent pictures, due to the "movement " of the air above the warm earth (I am sorry, I don't know how to describe it). By the way: I was mistaken, ther is not only one "DIY-Nest", but three!! That is so great!! And it is such a sight to see the Storks flying! They are huge! And so beautiful! So please enjoy my pictures:
A first view on the two nests near the railway-tracks (until now, I did not know there was a second one):
A nest right above our heads, beside the footpath:
Another nest , a little farther away:
Mum and Dad on their nest:
Mum / Dad turning around the eggs (??)
I don't know if this is the happy couple that I can see from the train (I had to discover that there are actually two nests near the tracks), but don't they look content?
And last, but not least: Impressions of flying Storks
And in addition to that, I have a piece of music by a well-known German song-writer. It is about a pioneer on the area of aviation, and there are flying Storks appearing in the text. The song is in German, but someone has taken the trouble and and added English lyrics. The song is very sad and beautiful, it always brings tears to my eyes. So I would like to share it with you.
See you soon,
Lovely photos of the storks & good to hear you have found even more than you expected. I bet you can't wait for the chicks to hatch.
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Lovely photo's of the storks and video as well,
J
Great shots of all the birds Bente, especially the in flight ones. It's good that you've discovered another nest as well. The video was really interesting; it was good to see the different versions of the flying machines. A really nice tune as well.
Paul
My bird photos HERE
Great pictures.
Tiger Signature
Hi Bente, We were off checking on our storks a few days ago & found a new nest built in the last 2 weeks. One of the storks was ringed & guess what?? It was ringed in Germany, code DEW OX010. It's a 2 year old born in Schleswig-Holstein. Is that anywhere near you? We were thrilled as it was our first known German stork that has nested in our area.
it is always great to have newcomers, isn't it? I hope they make themselves at home in your area. Schleswig-Holstein is almost as far away from here as it can be: It is the most northern region of Germany, while I am right in the middle (near Frankfurt / Main in Hesse). And the northernmost part of Schleswig-Holstein, for example, is as far away from here as Dover! By the way: it is always interesting to see where birds end up in the course of their lives. I don't know if you've read it, but one of the first Storks to come back here (after a break of about 15 years without Storks) was born in France.
On my way to work I always keep looking out for the nests. as far as I can see there are no young Stroks yet.
Have a nice weekend, and all the best for your new Storks!
Hello everyone,
it is quite a while since I last posted on this thread, but there was nothing new to report. Today I finally managed to have a look at a nest with three young Storks. I absolutely wanted to see the parents feed the Babies, but I had to wait quite a while. One of the parents was alone on the nest with the chicks. Mum / Dad has obviously seen me, but stayed completely calm. The Babies were quite curious: They made their necks as long as possible and had a look as well. Finally the other parent came back, too, and started feeding the chicks. The first Stork left then. These pictures you can see here. There are more pictures with the chicks that I have put on Wren's thread "Young ones of 2014".
Please enjoy!
Hello,
today I've another surprise for you: When I started for another outing this morning, I drove along the railway tracks. Suddenly I saw a Stork flying very low and saw him landing on a mast that belongs to the railway. You will see that the Stork-couple has started building a new nest there. To me, the place seems to be quite dangerous, considering the high voltage that is involved. But have a look: They seem to be very happy, and not at all disturbed by the constant traffic.
This year there has already been a nest that had to be removed because of the great danger to the birds. I am now very excited what will happen to this one. I'll keep my eyes open, and keep you informed.