Following Storks

Almost 20 years ago tracking devices were fitted to 4 White Stork chicks!  The White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a summer visitor to South Africa, arriving in early spring and leaving again in March/April to breed in Europe during the northern hemisphere summer.  However, not all storks returned to Europe with two colonies establishing themselves in Joostenbergvlakte in the Cape peninsula and the other on a farm in the Overberg.

Two researchers from Europe (Germany and Netherlands) were studying migratory routes of the White Stork and Tuesday, 5 December 2000 was the day that was put aside for the ringing and fitting of a satellite tracking device to one chick in a nest on the farm Nacht Wacht.  The farm is approximately halfway between Bredasdorp and Arniston/Waenhuiskrans.

First problem encountered; the ladder was too short to reach the nest!  Well a farmer always has a plan and one of the LDV's was brought closer, with the ladder placed in the load-bay, as you can gather from the photos, it just made it to the top, albeit a bit upright.  This, however, was no problem for the intrepid "climbers"!

I did a quick check to make sure there were chicks in the nest.  Two chicks were still in the nest and rather upset by the intrusion.  Beak snapping ensued which immediately ceased the moment I touched them, then it was play dead.   The nest itself was loose constructed of sticks and twigs and topped with straw obviously gathered from the lands.

Michael Kaatz, environmentalist and now director of the Loburg stork farm in Germany, went up to gather the first chick, placing the chick carefully in linen bag.  The second chick soon followed.  A "sightseer" or two ventured up the ladder to view the nest from atop while Michael Kaatz checked the general health of the chicks, weighed, measured and collected blood samples from them.

Once on the ground the chicks remained "dead" and this made it very easy to work with them.  Speed was of the essence as one wants to limit human interaction as far as possible.

It was time to ring them and one, Rembrandt, would wear the transmitter.  The device fits on the back between the two wings, much like a rucksack with straps keeping it in place.  Looking back today it is interesting to see where technology was 20 years ago.  Still a film camera and the satellite receiver and transmitter were quite bulky.

Both chicks were returned to the nest and were rather load about the disturbance once safely back in the nest, snapping away.  All of a sudden these "dead" chicks were putting a big noise to chase away any potential danger.  Below you can see Rembrandt with his transmitter on his back sitting snugly alongside his nest mate.  

On closer inspection of the area around the nest two carcasses were found.  The one having fallen out of the nest not too long before our visit, the other a very young chick.  It definitely has it dangers, living in a nest 10m above the ground!

What happened to Rembrandt and his fellow "satellite" buddies?  Sad ending for all with either birds or transmitters dying with only one bird having a story to tell.  The bird was caught in mid-Africa and put in jail!  The transmitter created a furore in a nearby village where he landed, he was promptly caught as a spy and placed in jail. We never did hear if they managed to retrieve the transmitter, the bird unfortunately died.
And no, Storks do not bring babies but they are usually easy to spot overhead because they almost never clap their wings, making use of air currents to glide.  They are excellent gliders but will not fly over large bodies of water as air currents are not stable enough.  This means that migratory White Storks travel back to Europe via the Middle East or via Gibraltar.  White Storks visiting SA make use of the former route, moving down the Eastern part of Africa.