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In the last days of May a white stork with a ring was noticed in Lasila, West Viru county. According to the Matsalu ringing centre it is in its 28th year.

 

The venerable white stork is the oldest of its species that has been found in Estonia. According to the information in Matsalu bird ringing centre it was hatched in 1988 in the village of Varbevere near Palamuse in Jõgeva county and it was ringed by Tiit Gorinov on July 11th in the same year. The stork has in its life completed a considerable number of kilometres on migration. In 2001, 2006 and 2010 it was seen in the coastal areas  of Israel. The observations were all made in autumn when the white storks fly to their winter quarters in Africa by way of the Middle East.

 

Although the white stork, as a species living near humans, is easy to observe, the Matsalu ringing centre has no earlier observations from Lasila about the ringed white stork. Thus there is no information about how long it has been nesting there.  Its sex is not known but from certain behavioural modes the observers assume that it is a male.

 

At present only a few white stork chicks are ringed in Estonia but for instance in the 1980s several hundred chicks were ringed annually. To date nearly 5000 white storks have been ringed with the ESTONIA MATSALU (Matsalu ringing centre) rings and information has been received about 148 recoveries. The most distant reports have been from South Africa and Zimbabve.

 

The Lasila white stork still has a long way to go however to the title of oldest white stork in Europe. Reportedly the oldest white stork in Europe was found in Switzerland – unfortunately dead. At the time of the recovery it was 39 years old.

 

The reporting of ringed birds is important because it provides much information is about the migration paths, migration speed, age, distribution of populations and about the behavioural biology of birds . Because of this the Matsalu bird ringing centre asks for reports about all recoveries or observations of ringed birds: matsalu@envir.ee

 

If you cannot send an e-mail please send your information about the recovery to:

Estonian Environment Agency, Matsalu Ringing Centre, Penijõe, Lihula vald, Lääne County

Telephone 53003289.

 

The Matsalu Ringing Centre coordinates the ringing of birds and bats in Estonia. The centre stores the recovery information and the ringers, finders and when needed,also ringing centres in other countries, are informed. Birds have been ringed in Estonia for 104 years. In 1970 the Matsalu bird ringing centre at Penijõe was established for the coordination of all ringing and the storage of ringing data in Estonia. From 2014 the Matsalu Bird Ringing Centre is part of the  Estonian Environment Agency.

 

More information:

Olavi Vainu

Wildlife Monitoring Specialist / Matsalu Bird Ringing Centre