Roland: The storks are back already, and some of them actually never left the area this winter! We could see a pair of them flying up and down the valley for quite a few days, and now we already find the results of their busy schedule: a nest on top of the "Storchenturm" (stork's tower) right next to our market square!
When we were little we knew storks only from stories and photos. We are really grateful that these beautiful birds re-discovered Germany as their habitat! Hopefully we will get an opportunity this spring to catch them with a better camera than my iPhone...
Cool! The "official" Spring indicator around here is the first geese at Creamers Field, a local bird sanctuary.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have geese all year round in BC, so we never really connected them to spring. Funny how everybody has their own spring messengers!
DeleteRoll on Carnival!
ReplyDeleteNow THAT's a whole different story (that we probably will come back to later)!
DeleteWe're still faaaaar away from winter being over. -36 °C overnight and more snow. But we're getting there sometime, hopefully before August ;-)
ReplyDeleteI am a bit embarrassed to tell that we had +18 Celsius the other day when I rode Bella to Offenburg. We skipped Winter this year!
DeleteI never knew that storks populated Germany. I learned something new.
ReplyDeleteIn BC we used to spot a Robin and knew spring had arrived. We see Robins year round down here so that doesn't work. We do have two daffodils blooming in the yard. Who knew they were hiding under the snow.
Storks had been kind of extinct in Germany for over twenty years. Apparently air quality must have increased significantly since then, so they started to return a few years ago. This year some of them never left the area, so they obviously earned first right to reserve the best spots for their nests!
DeleteHi Roland,
ReplyDeleteI love birds, so nice that you have your storks back. Yep we all have our weather vanes dont we, out here the birds aren't really migratory so it's the trees that tell us what's happening.
Our trees are starting to turn their leaves in the last week or so, even though the temperatures are still in the 30's celcius, they are convinced that autumn is just round the corner. In spring we have a street lined with Jacaranda trees, and you know the weather will be warming soon when you first spot that purple glow.
Never really thought about it, but birds would have to migrate a long way over water to get somewhere from Australia... But then again it does not really get THAT cold there, does it?
DeleteAls ich 5 Jahre in einen Bauernhaus (Kreis Cuxhaven) in einen kleinen Dorf lebte, konnte ich von meiner Terrasse aus die Stoerche bebachten. Auf den Nachbargrundstueck stand ein Storchennest. Jeden Tag habe ich mich darueber gefreut. In der Zeit hatte ich auch ein paar Huehner, 2 Hunde und eine Katze :-)
ReplyDeleteGenau, das sind die Gegenden, wo ich als Kind die Störche immer vermute habe. Ich muss mal irgendwann ein Foto von einem Storchennest auf einem Reetdach gesehen haben, und meine Mutter erklärte mir, dass es in ihrer Kindheit auch bei uns Störche gegeben hätte. Ich denke, dies ist ein deutliches Zeichen dafür, dass eine saubere Umwelt in der Tat einige Vorteile hat!
DeleteStorks!?!? I half expected to see a baby in the nest.
ReplyDeleteNo sign of spring here. Still in the negative teens and more snow (though only a dusting, thank heavens).
We had to go to Fort Lauderdale and watch Pellicans at the marina. So graceful in the air, so pathetic at landing on the water.
Hmm, Bob and yourself obviously swing on the same frequencies... Again, no hidden agenda! Storks are quite majestic, even when starting or landing!
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