The Nordic Ark, July 12th 2008. Part 32

The only thing that was really left to see now in the 'wild park' section of the park was a couple of bird enclosures. One held Cheer pheasants (Catreus wallichi), but we couldn't see anything in that enclosure. They were hiding from the heat, maybe. Not the most interesting birds around, anyway, for us at least. :-)

But we did get to see the White storks (Ciconia ciconia), which mate for life and live in pairs. The Ark has - as far as we could spot - five of these. All adults as far as we could tell. The birds are native to most European countries, but, sadly, they have disappeared from most of Scandinavia. :-( They are now only to be seen in Denmark and Scania during the mating period. Their decline in our part of the world is due primarily to the lack of food (when wetlands are drained the frogs disappear, and the storks inevitably follow). (Humans suck.)

The five at the Ark were busy building a nest. All of them were collaborating, it was really fun to see it. It was one huge nest that they were all building. The main construction seemed to be finished, and they were busily padding it with straw. Someone had spread a big pile of straw on the ground by their shelter and they were taking beakfuls of this and carrying it to the nest, where they placed it quite carefully in the inside of the nest, to line it, no doubt. Fun to watch. :-)

I assume baby storks are in the works. :-)

(Photo credit: C.)