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.
As our chart of the stork family's events shows, this year's storks have kept to schedule. In the past three years, the first attempted flight has also occurred two months to the day after the first chick hatched. In the two previous years, one and four days later.
Since then the young usually fly off together and return to the nest together several times a day. Although they are currently learning to forage for food, they are not yet missing meals served by their parents in the nest.
As the eggs have been laid earlier this year, the youngsters have almost a month to prepare for the long journey, which the storklets usually start around 10 August.