01.06.2007

Stork Accidents by Thunderstorms in Lower Lusatia

The severe thunderstorms of past days did not only cause widespread property damage but led to losses among white storks. A stork at his eyrie in the Eulo District of Forst was severely injured by hail. One of the brood storks, which at first was thought to be dead, was found with a broken wing and other injuries. Up to golf ball size hailstones did not only cause harm to the stork but totally damaged nearby automobiles. The three small chicks, however, were unharmed. The parent stork had protected them with his/her body. The young ones were removed from the eyrie by Mr. Guenter Kunzendorf with the help of the fire department. The parent stork would not have been able to care for the stork chicks and would have left them after a short time. The parent stork and chicks were taken to Forest Warden Heindel at Reddern.

At Kolkwitz a stork at his eyrie was fatally hit by lightning. At this eyrie an earlier struggle with a late arriving stork, which led to the death of the intruder, resulted in the throwing-out-of-the-nest of five eggs.

Losses by lightning are very rare, although the high nesting sites on roofs and posts could lead to the opposite assumption.

Winfried Boehmer
NABU Project Leader

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