24.04.2002

Answers

After the eyrie struggle with loss of eggs, many worried stork friends ask, how things will continue and whether a successful brood is still possible? Yes, we are convinced that "our" storks will raise young ones successfully. The first pair occupied the eyrie and started the brood very early.

With the return from Africa during the middle of April of large numbers of storks, squabbles for eyries and partners broke out in many places. As our storks are not ringed, we are unable to ascertain what actually happened during the fight for the eyrie on April 18th, a fight which continued well into night. Two of the three eggs "wound up" at the near edge of the nest. Slowly they are being covered with nesting material. One egg still lies in the nest hollow.

On April 21st it became clear that the pair no longer incubated. Both storks repeatedly left the eyrie. While incubating, both partners leave the eyrie only during massive disturbances. Our presumption hardens that a change of partners had taken place.

The present pair's behaviour at the eyrie and during the construction of the nest points to the fact that a female took possession of the nest. This could also explain that despite frequent matings no further eggs have been laid. The new pair will lay "its own" eggs in a few days. Before the new female can lay eggs several will have to pass. This we can expect on the weekend.

It remains a mystery why one egg was allowed to stay in the nest hollow. Typically, all eggs of previous occupants are thrown out after a "hostile" takeover by strange storks. That one egg of the first brood is still being incubated, even with interruptions, is a new experience for us as well. We can now eagerly await the result of this behaviour. These events are also of scientifical importance for, to our knowledge, such a case has not been described anywhere.

So again, let us follow further events with bated breath.

Young storks reach sexual maturity during their 3rd or 4th year of life. So it is out of the question that a young of the last year's brood occupied the nest first. However, the presumption, that the first female was very young, cannot be discounted. To this points the unusual three-day interval of laying eggs. As a rule, storks lay an egg every other day to a maximum of six. The eggs are of the size of goose eggs, 73mm x 51.8mm/2.9' x 2', 110g/3.9 oz., shell thickness 0.53mm/.021'. Eggs can by laid into May and still be incubated successfully.

Stork nest locations are available in great abundance in Brandenburg - more than twice the amount of breeding pairs. Two additional nest supports (in bygone days consisting of an old horizontally placed wagon wheel on a barn roof or very high pole) are available for storks at Vetschau.

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