07.05.2003

Internet Storks "late but not too late" - Stork Couple lays the 1st Egg.

In the morning of May 7th the first egg was finally discovered at the eyrie of the Internet Storks. "This is really very late but not too late for a successful brood," assures Project Leader Winfried Boehmer of the Nature Protection Federation. The time limit lies at about the 10th of May for storks to lay eggs. Later laying of eggs is a rarety. The storks' "inner clock" takes care of this, so that by the end of August all young ones are fledgelings and fit enough for the long journey to the winter quarters. It is not unusual for couples to match up without raising young storks later. In Germany the percentage of "childless" stork couples stands at an average of 20%. "Luckily, our probably new Vetschau couple is not a part of this and we can let our visitors to the Stork Centre and Strochennest.de experience the raising of little storks this year also," so Boehmer.

With such a late start of laying eggs one can count on "our" couple to lay only three or four eggs. Sitting on the edges of our chairs, we can now follow when the storks will begin to brood. Often they will not start after the second or third egg has been laid. That benchmark will determine the young storks' hatching and its sequence. If the brooding begins after the third egg, the young will hatch on the same day. Otherwise the interval is governed by the interval of the laying of eggs. The brooding period is 32 days on the average.

Zurück zur vorigen Seite