News

Over the past few months, we followed the tenth season of live broadcasts from the stork nest in Vlaha. Of all the seasons we have watched, this was by far the saddest.

All signs point to there being no stork chicks in the Vlaha nest this year either. The adult storks are still diligently taking turns incubating the egg, but if there were a live chick inside, it should have hatched several days ago.
We have been able to look into the Vlaha nest through our webcam since 2017. Every year since then, we have recorded the dates when the eggs were laid and when the chicks hatched. In six years, the first chicks hatched on the 34th day of incubation, and in two years they emerged on the 36th day.

A dramatic scene unfolded at the Vlaha stork nest on the 3rd of May. At around 5:00 p.m., the female was incubating the eggs when a ringed stork suddenly landed on the nest. The confrontation was brief, and the newcomer quickly gained the upper hand. It did not take long for us to identify the intruder as the nest's resident from last year.
The bird, wearing ring 8031, had been ringed in 2020 at nest No. 6 in Dumbrăvioara. Together with its mate, it had taken over the Vlaha nest on the 21st of May last year.

The stork pair in Vlaha seems content with a smaller family this year and is making an attempt to raise just three chicks. The female laid her first egg on the 22nd of April, followed by a second on the 24th of April and a third on the 26th of April. Perhaps the pair realized they had started breeding later than usual, and that raising fewer chicks would give each one a better chance of survival by reducing competition for the food brought back to the nest.

Although later than usual, the stork nest in Vlaha finally welcomed its new occupants on the 10th of April. At 3:14 p.m., the first stork landed on the nest, and, as our live webcam recorded, just four minutes later there were already two birds standing together. The time-lapse footage shows that they wasted no time settling in—the first mating took place shortly afterwards, and by the end of the day the camera had captured three mating events.

The stork pair we hope is already on its way from Africa to Vlaha will have to start this season by building a new nest. On the 19th of February, we removed the collapsed nest from the top of the utility pole. We left behind only a 10–15 cm layer of compacted nesting material on the metal platform that keeps the nest safely above the pole. This will serve as the foundation for the returning storks to rebuild their home.

On Wednesday, May 21, at 9:55 a.m., loud bill-clattering could be heard coming from the stork nest in Vlaha. We could observe that there were two storks in the nest, one of which was wearing a white ring. We immediately headed to the neighbouring garden, where the light conditions of the morning allowed us to take better quality photos. We observed that the nest was occupied by a stork wearing ring number 8031. Two other storks were circling around the nest. It sometimes allowed one of them to land, but chased the other away. 

A stork that was ringed in this village in 2022 returned to Vlaha for Easter. The stork wearing ring number 7844 arrived in the village with a companion on April 20, Easter Sunday, and attempted to land on the nest at around 4:54 p.m., but was not given a friendly welcome. It was chased away by the lone stork defending the nest.

Seeing how late our storks were this year, we tried to figure out the latest date for nesting and starting a family so there'd be a chance for the little storks to hatch, grow up, and be ready for their trip to Africa by the end of summer. 

The storks in Vlaha have really given us a challenge this year in terms of interpreting what is happening in the nest. This year, things are not happening in Vlaha at all as they have in previous years. 
But let's see what the video camera mounted above the nest has captured so far. 
As we reported, the first stork arrived on March 21. It tidied up the nest, flew out to search for food, but spent most of the following days in the nest.

Since Wednesday, March 26, there are two inhabitants of the nest in Vlaha yet again. According to the timelapse, a second stork appeared in the nest at 4:52 p.m. and ended up staying there for the night. The stork couple started mating several times during the day, but they didn't manage to finish the act when they were photographed. However, the attempts were sufficient for us to see which of them is the male. 
We will wait a few more days for identification, as the rainy, gloomy weather did not provide the lighting conditions necessary to take good photos. 

On Monday, March 24, we were able to enjoy the sight of two storks in the nest in Vlaha for just over an hour as they celebrated finding each other by mating. The stork's joy also lasted just over an hour: the bird that arrived at 1:03 p.m. flew away at 2:11 p.m., and the one that arrived first continues to sit alone in the nest. 

On Friday, March 21, at 12:34 p.m., the first stork of the season landed in the nest in Vlaha. It signaled its arrival by bill-clattering, then began to adjust the branches around the edge of the nest. It did not fly off for more than four hours. It was resting from the fatigue of its long migration. Since then, it has only left the nest for short intervals to find food. It is awaiting its mate. For the time being, we are not ready to conclude whether it is Miska, Leske, or perhaps a new resident that has arrived at the nest.

The nest at Vlaha has been empty for days and it seems that our storks are on their way. We can see that this year they came earlier and left earlier than in previous years. 

On Monday 8 July, the first baby stork left the nest at Vlaha. It left the nest at 9:08, with its siblings eagerly watching. The bravest of the chicks returned at 9:56, missing the feeding at 9:34. From 13:53 to 15:02 he was absent from the nest yet again, missing a feeding, but certainly getting some food from outside sources. 

The two boys from Vlaha, who were hit by a jet of droppings from a stork chick that was flushed from the nest during a stork ringing on Friday morning, are lucky. The children, along with around 30 of their peers from the kindergarten and school in Magyarfenes, came to the site to pet the baby stork, learn about the life of storks and see how the ringing process is carried out. They all had a good time. 

In a display of death-defying bravery, the snail that climbed onto the back of Leske, who was sitting on the nest in Vlaha, at dawn on Monday 6 May. The snail crawled out from under Leske's wing at dawn and at 5.57 a.m. set off on a voyage of discovery on the feathers of the laying female. The adventure lasted a good 15 minutes. It managed to hang on even when Leske got up at 6:10 to count his chicks.

As predicted, on 4 May, the first two storklings hatched in the nests at Vlaha. The babies cracked their shells 34 days after the first eggs were laid. Both the first eggs were laid and the first chicks were born on a symbolic day. Roman Catholics and Protestants celebrated Easter when the first egg was laid, while the first baby storks were born on Orthodox Easter Saturday. Let us take these coincidences as a good sign and hope that the other eggs will hatch and that all the baby storks will be raised.

It seems that the storks of Vlaha have stopped at five eggs again this year and will not attempt to lay any more. Since the 31st of March, new eggs have been laid every two days in the stork nests. If the sixth had come, it should have been released today, April 10th. This did not happen, and Leske and Miska are following the tried and tested model again this year. 

At dawn on the 31st of March, Leske laid her first egg of the year in the nest at Vlaha. The egg arrived on Easter Sunday, just a few minutes after midnight, a mere two hours before the clock was set to change from EET to EEST. The timer shows Leske (the female) showing it to Miska (the male) at 00:13. This is the eighth year that we have been monitoring the nest in Magyarfenes via webcam, and we have never had an egg as early as March in this period. The earliest was on April 1st 2018 (then also Easter), the second earliest on April 3rd last year and the latest on April 13th 2022. 

On Monday morning, the 18th of March, the first stork appeared in the nest at Vlaha. According to the timelapse, it landed on the nest at 7:47 and left at 7:55. He did not celebrate his arrival by bill-clattering. He did straighten a twig or two on the nest, but we suspect he was just passing through. 

The stork nest at the Vlaha has been deserted for days, and it is now safe to say that all the members of the stork family nesting here have left. 

A group of storks migrating to Africa reached Vlaha on the evening of Friday 11 August. Unfortunately, the journey for one stork only lasted so long. 

Since Tuesday 25th of July, one of the storklings ceased to return to the nest. Miska and Leske continue to bring food to the nest a couple of times a day, but Monday evening, 24th of July, was the last time three young storks competed for the food brought by the elders. Then the next morning the young fledged, and only two have since joined in on the family meals. 

Two months after hatching, the storks of Vlaha took flight for the first time.  From the pictures of the time lapse, the bravest one left the nest at 10:20 on Sunday 9 July and returned an hour later to make sure he didn't miss the 11:38 feeding. The attempt was  successful, and was repeated several times the next day. On the third day, 11 July, at 19:00, two more chicks were missing from the nest. The one left alone looked on enviously at his companions. On Wednesday 12 July, just after 10am, the nest was completely empty for the first time.