Hi ophelia, I can answer this question. 1) A large (and growing) part of the Dutch white stork population do not migrate, the Beleef de Lente couple are non-migrant. 2) Dutch winter this year has been very mild and spring has started extremely early. These 2 factors result in this early nest.ophelia wrote:A nest in the Netherlands - Beleef de Lente - already has 5 chicks, they are so far ahead of the black storks in Estonia. Is this always the case?
To elaborate a bit on 1): A successful breeding program for white storks was started in the 70's in the Netherlands, this (and possibly climate change?) has resulted in changing migration routes and migration behavior. Young white storks will still start their migration but after a few years a large part of them will become non-migratory.