Black Stork Nests in Europe

[tsang6482]

An interesting observation on the Makov nest.

Both parents are together in the nest a lot. This is very different from other BS nests in nature.

Is this because the parents are being fed on-site?

[asteria]

6.30 +

Yes, it is because they don't have to search food.

[asteria]

Good morning with four Makov storklets!
All the chicks are very active and doing fine, as usual they get fish from Tonichka and cut chickens from Tonik(Tonichka is a vegetarian mom ).

[tsang6482]

Good morning with four Makov storklets!
...as usual they get fish from Tonichka....(Tonichka is a vegetarian mom ).

Actually, this would make her a pescetarian mom.

[asteria]

Yes, exactly! Both storks get the same food, but Tonichka eats only fish.

[tsang6482]

In respect to the Makov nest, I find the choice to giving the adult BSs whole chicken to be rather interesting.

Clearly, chicken were given to the adult BSs, with the expectation of that they'll be used to feed the chicks. But it seems that when the adults feed the chicks, the chicken haven't been broken down enough, and thus chicks have a difficult time eating it. Chicken is a bony animal, and its skin is tough to break down. The shape of chicken is also tough for chicks at this stage to swallow too.

Compare the food in the Makov nest with those in natural nests. There's a reason why BSs in natural nests only feed small fishes to chicks at this point.

[asteria]

Uncut chickens are not the best food for storklets, because if a storklet swallows the whole chicken, it might choke. I saw several times in previous years Jirina saving white storklets from chocking, she had to pull out those chickens from the storklets' throat. As far as I know in nature storks bring any food they find: fish(sometimes very big), earthworms(the best thing for little ones), frogs, hardly edible snakes etc. In one of the BS nests dad brought a big fishes and all the four storklets pecked it together, nobody left hungry.

[asteria]

The third storklet suddenly died and today at 14.28-14.30 Tonik covered it with moss.

[tsang6482]

Uncut chickens are not the best food for storklets...

I wondered about that decision when the chicks just hatched. I think they should be feeding BSs with food that somewhat resembles nature (eg: fish). Maybe those in Makov know something we don't.

If this is the food given to the adults now, in consideration that they'll feed chicks with it, I've less issues with it. The chicks have grown to a point that they can almost swallow small uncut chicken (there's video of that). But gotta say I get an eerie feeling seeing BS chicks attempting to swallow another bird.

Big may not necessarily an issue with BS chicks, but in what way it's big is the more important issue. I've seen Karl II chicks eat a lamprey (or some leathery fish) longer than its digestive tract two days after hatching.

[asteria]

Yesterday I saw Tonik feeding storklets with cut chickens, but I think those chickens are not always cut. When storklets grow older, they get uncut chickens. Those chickens are given for all Makov "meat-eating" birds and even swans and Vejirka tried to eat them. Storks(especially white ones) eat other birds. In 2019 Honzik caught and swallowed a duckling. It is not their main food though. Some storks also kill and swallow their youngest chicks, that is really weird(f.e. Janika in 2022). But of course they prefer fish to other food and Tonicka eats only fish.

Unfortunately one more black storklet died too.

[tsang6482]

It's really strange to see a BS chick (let alone two) just suddenly drop dead like that.

Meanwhile, eggs in the two Polish BS nests have hatched....

[asteria]

Yes, something definitely goes wrong this season. Also in Spanish nest the third storklet suddenly died four days ago, in France there was a nest with 6 chicks hatched but three of them passed away within 24 hours! It is necessary to learn the reason of death.

[asteria]

Notecka forest: no breeding this year (at least nobody will be killed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QWNLf809XA

[mogga]

°°°

Toník & Tonička | Makov, Czechia

16:43

[tsang6482]

Yesterday, something interesting happened in the Lodz nest...

When one of the parents was feeding chicks, the other parent came back (perhaps with plant materials, don't remember). The feeding parent immediately took back all of the food, as if it was preventing its partner from eating it. The parent resumed feeding after its partner left the nest a few minutes after.

This episode reminded me of what happened in another nest in Estonia last year. There was even a contentious discussion about this behaviour in the corresponding forum.

[tsang6482]

Call me pessimistic, but I'm starting to be a bit concerned about chick #5 on the Bolewice nest in Poland. It's the slowest to the food in feedings, and takes the least. Fortunately, the parents are finding plenty of food for everyone. But the older siblings will only take more and more food.

That being said, I hope everything goes well for #5.

[asteria]

Call me pessimistic, but I'm starting to be a bit concerned about chick #5 on the Bolewice nest in Poland. It's the slowest to the food in feedings, and takes the least. Fortunately, the parents are finding plenty of food for everyone. But the older siblings will only take more and more food.

That being said, I hope everything goes well for #5.

After watching Jan&Janika in 2022 I really avoid of watching such nests.

[tsang6482]

Another observation regarding from watching the Makov nest and the two in Poland...

The chicks in the two Polish seem to be eating a lot more, and thus are growing much faster, in comparison to the Makov nest. I always see the Polish nests' chicks' crops totally swollen after each feedings. The chicks in the Polish nests are also starting to look bigger than those in Makov.

For the Makov nest, I also notice that in many feedings, the chicks are just pecking at the food, and don't take a lot of it. I get a feeling that the chicks may not recognize those chickens as food. Chicks in the Polish nests don't seem to have problems recognizing fish as food.

This observation is actually very ironic, given that Makov is a resuce nest, things are much more controllable there than those Polish nests in the wild.

[asteria]

Last night a wild fox appeared in Makov. It tried to attack both white and black stork nests. Hope it will be caught and removed from the territory. Foxes are very dangerous for all the adult birds, rabbits and hares living in Makov, not saying about the chicks.