Storks?

[Bridget and Peter]

Just had a thought - are we likely to see storks nesting along the del Norte in April? I've always wanted to!

Bridget

 

[grayland]

I don' t know about the Norte...but you will see more storks than you could ever imagine on the Camino Francis. Some are very close as the trail/road is elevated above the nests and you are actually looking down into them. Everything that sticks up in the air seems to have a stork nest on it.
I never get tired of them.....

 

[Rebekah Scott]

The storks all are back now... the ones who didn´t stay around through the winter. Today we also saw some snow geese, heading north. Spring is on its way!

On the Norte you will likely see plenty of storks as well as other sea birds.

 

[RestlessRose]

When I walked the Frances in October, I saw plenty of empty nests; all high up. The storks must have migrated before winter had set in.

 

[anniethenurse]

Storks just outside Santo Domingo in the photo. I remember seeing stork nests in Logrono in the church towers, too and many other places.
annie

 

[sillydoll]

In the Arab world the Muslims believe that storks incarnate the souls of those who did not manage to fulfill their duty of pilgrimage to Mecca. Thus they take this journey in the body of a bird. This is why Muslims feel great respect towards storks, and killing them is equal to killing a man.

I have more info on the European stork on my 'Walking in Spring' blog post.

http://amawalker.blogspot.com/2009/04/w ... pring.html

"For anyone into birding, it is interesting to know that Spain is considered the ‘last bastion’ for Europe’s declining bird populations and according to Howard Youth, a Contributing Editor to ZooGoer who lives in Madrid, all told, about 70 percent of Europe's 495 bird species either visit or breed in Spain. However, Poland is the ‘kingdom’ of the stork and there is no other country with more stork residents per square kilometre. (Visit http://www.poland.pl/ for more info).
About 3000 pairs nest in Spain each spring. The storks - Ciconia - (cigüeña in Spanish) have been building their nests on man made structures since the middle ages when the great forests disappeared in favour of agriculture. According to an article in AMIGOS (June 2004) they form monogamous pairs for breeding but do not migrate together. They reappear at the same nest site in late winter and early spring."

 

[Peter Robins]

Today we also saw some snow geese

snow geese?? They were well off course then, as they're a N American species!

Storks like the plains, and are a distinctive species of the meseta. You can tell when you leave the meseta on the Camino Frances as there aren't any stork's nests any more. Similarly, you're unlikely to see m/any on the coastal route.

 

[giorgio]

Would endorse Peter statement...in fact don't recall having seen stork's' nests along the coast ...nor on the primitivo...
Have a nice walk
Giorgio

 

[Bridget and Peter]

Re: Storks? or wild flowers?

Thanks everyone.
If no storks (or snow geese!) what else should we be looking out for?
And wild flowers?
(Plants have the advantage of being stationary. For poor-sighted people like me bird spotting needs big birds to be successful so botany is easier)

B
x

 

[Paulus]

I remember that we have seen a lot of storks on the CF in May 2005 but I didn't see one on the Norte in 2006 (also in May).

Paul

 

[TerryB]

Hi Bridget and Peter,
I was on the lookout for storks last May on the Norte / Primitivo - nary a one! What I did see were meadows full of wild flowers - ragged robin, orchids, oxeye daisies - reminded me of my farming childhood and fields before weedkillers were used. Other things included a black squirrel (melanistic red), fire salamander and butterflies including a Scarce Swallowtail. Birds included a grass field covered with cattle egrets! Keep your eyes open and you may be suprised.

Blessings on your walking
Tio Tel

 

[sulu]

I saw my first storks of the year yesterday, on the edge of Galicia so they are obviuosly getting around.
Sue

 

[Rebekah Scott]

OK then, smarties. My bird guide says they were probably Greylag geese.
And our local owl was hooting in the tree last night!

 

[grayland]

OK then, smarties. My bird guide says they were probably Greylag geese.
And our local owl was hooting in the tree last night!

Are you sure that it was a "local" owl and not another type of owl? :wink:

 

[grayland]

[quote="Peter Robins"
Storks like the plains, and are a distinctive species of the meseta. You can tell when you leave the meseta on the Camino Frances as there aren't any stork's nests any more. Similarly, you're unlikely to see m/any on the coastal route.[/quote]

how far west does the meseta extend? I remember seeing storks last March/April until Galicia.
I should have some pictures if I could find them.

I see in another post that sulu has been seeing Storks at the edge of Galcia now.

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I was walking in June and the storks were a great sight on the CF then, as their chicks were quite large. I have photographs of nests we saw well before we reached Burgos, on top of the church tower at Puente la Reina, and absolutely everywhere in Najera, where they seemed to be flying around in great profusion. On the meseta itself, Itero de la Vega was one of the best places to see them: the seats in the large courtyard near the church were in constant use in the later afternoon with pilgrims sitting and chatting, and admiring the storks tending their chicks.
The furthest west where I have photos of storks was on the path between Astorga and Rabanal, and then again in Cacabelos.
Margaret

 

[Peter Robins]

how far west does the meseta extend?

Leon-Astorga is the last gasp. Once you get to the hills just before Astorga, where you go through a sort of heathy landscape, you've left the meseta. I would doubt if you'll find m/any storks in the hills, though as Margaret says there is an outlying population in the Bierzo (which is a plain even if not meseta). There's a distribution chart of nests in the province of Leon here - interesting that the population has increased so substantially in recent years.

On the Via de la Plata, in the Salamanca-Zamora area, you might see the much rarer black stork, tho most of the Iberian population is further west, round the Portuguese border.

 

[sulu]

My first pair were outside A Rua which is between Ponferrada and Monforte, the second were somewhere around a place called Seaone up in the hills below the town of Manzaneda, (Cabeza de Manzaneda is a ski resort!) I was obliged to take a scenic route to A Rua as a landslide has closed the route i would normally take. I confess I'm not accustomed to see storks around here but I think I have seen a storks nest somewhere recently though can't think where.
Sue

 

[Ribeirasacra]

My first pair were outside A Rua which is between Ponferrada and Monforte, the second were somewhere around a place called Seaone up in the hills below the town of Manzaneda, (Cabeza de Manzaneda is a ski resort!) I was obliged to take a scenic route to A Rua as a landslide has closed the route i would normally take. I confess I'm not accustomed to see storks around here but I think I have seen a storks nest somewhere recently though can't think where.
Sue

There are a lot of Storks nests in and around Monforte. I was to the west of Monforte, near the village of Fortes, and opposite the church there was a pole for a nest.

 

[Peter Robins]

ok, here you are, here's the definitive answer from the 2004 census, everything you could possibly want to know about stork distribution in Spain.
http://www.seo.org/media/docs/Cigue%C3% ... grafia.pdf (2.2MB)
Presumably there'll be another one in 2014.

Seems that populations are still very much concentrated on the meseta, but they've been spreading widely in recent years, with 4 even overwintering in Galicia.

 

[Bridget and Peter]

ok, here you are, here's the definitive answer from the 2004 census, everything you could possibly want to know about stork distribution in Spain.
http://www.seo.org/media/docs/Cigue%C3% ... grafia.pdf (2.2MB)
Presumably there'll be another one in 2014.

Whoo-ooo! So, thanks to Babelfish I now know that there may be a few pairs in the Cantabrian coastal strip, even if there are next to none in Asturias. So I can keep hoping!
Thanks Peter!

And lovely pictures in the census report!

 

[Ribeirasacra]

..... with 4 even overwintering in Galicia.

This year evolution adapted them to into Ducks, because of the rains we have had over the past week or so.

Thank you for the link on the PDF.

 

[Sheesh]

The site below has a live web cam showing storks nesting on top of a building in Zaragoza. According to the website, the eggs are due to hatch very soon.

http://www.sportsmansparadiseonline.com ... _Nest.html

 

[elzi]

http://www.suzielda.com/camino/gallerytwo.php?id=TC3

stork pics on the frances from puerte la reina to ponferrada.... after that they vanished!

 

[KiwiNomad06]

The site below has a live web cam showing storks nesting on top of a building in Zaragoza. According to the website, the eggs are due to hatch very soon.
http://www.sportsmansparadiseonline.com ... _Nest.html

That webcam is amazing! I feel like a real interloper watching, but I have bookmarked it and will be back!!
Margaret

 

[RestlessRose]

Indeed, the live webcam is absolutely amazing. I watched as the stock stood over the 5 eggs, arranging them this way and that, posturing around the nest, and the eggs, before settling over the eggs.

Sheesh - much thanks for sharing the link to the webcam. Never thought I would have an opportunity to observe a stock so close up.

Rebecca

 

[Ribeirasacra]

Perhaps we also need a blue bird to boost visitors to Galicia!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mathieus/blue-s ... illage-8q4

 

[MermaidLilli]

I saw nests and storks, babies and mamas, on the Via and the Frances, but not on the Norte.
Lillian