The Sonnendorfer Storchenhorst urgently had to be removed.
For this purpose, the Altenerdingen fire brigade moved in with the telescopic articulated mast to reach the nest at a height of 26 meters on the church tower roof.
The helpers also found a lot that really has no place in it.
Sonnendorf
- It was high time - the Sonnendorfer Storchenhorst had assumed frightening proportions over the years and urgently had to be removed.
For this purpose, the Altenerdingen fire brigade moved in with the telescopic articulated mast in order to reach the nest, which is attached to the church tower roof at a height of 26 meters.
It took almost an hour for the excess material to be removed and loaded onto a trailer.
The nest foundation in its current form was expertly renovated and reassembled in 2013.
It has not only been manned every year since 2014, chicks have hatched every year, 14 young storks have fledged a total of 22 since then, half of them, the offspring since 2019, are also ringed.
No wonder that with so much care and maintenance, the nest has also grown continuously in width and height. Storks are constantly building their nests and tirelessly carrying branches, twigs and upholstery of all kinds. These include things that actually have no place there and can even be dangerous for the chicks. Plastic obstructs the drainage, the young birds can get tangled in strings, and metal parts can injure them. The coarsest rubbish is regularly removed during the ringing, the removal of the intertwined branches and twigs along with the incorporated materials is usually carried out in autumn, when the breeding season is over.
Speaking of which: A look at the statistics shows that the Sonnendorf stork pair leaves the eyrie a little later each year for the wintering area.
At the same time, observations across Bavaria in recent years show that white storks often only fly to Spain and not, as in the past, to Africa.
In addition, there are more and more reports about winter storks that do not even move south.
The Sonnendorf storks seem to be following this trend: if they left in mid-August in 2016, they stayed a good month longer in 2020.
And: Last year one came back after a short time.
He didn't sit on the church tower all winter, but he kept coming back.
Also this year they are more than overdue with their departure - they are still frolicking in harvested fields.
But the youngsters were in a hurry this year: The two young storks only allowed themselves a good three weeks of flight training, then suddenly they were gone.
But apparently by no means on the way to the south, because thanks to the ringing, sightings have already been reported: This August a Sonnendorf young stork from 2019 and one from this year were near Eitting.
One of the two adult birds had set out early and looked for the company of some herons in the Wiflinger Moos.
The second sat on the eyrie until shortly before the fire brigade arrived, but then decided to go on his usual day trip, so that no stork was driven away by the telescopic articulated mast of the Altenerdingen fire brigade.
Christian Zimmermann from the Altenerding fire brigade ensured that the vehicle stood securely on the ground, while his comrade Markus Finsterwalder, as a basket machinist, was responsible for maneuvering it at lofty heights. Stephan Korschil from the Hörlkofen fire brigade took on the unusual challenge of tackling the nesting material with a hoe and fork.
What was too much - and that was a lot - was loosened, picked up and thrown to the ground.
The tidying up went quickly thanks to many helping hands.
Before the nesting material could be loaded onto a trailer, plastic parts, cords, ropes and wires were sorted out.
Children also gave a lot of help; they literally outdid each other with the announcement of their findings: several work gloves, a stocking, a rusted ignition cable, a discount card from a supermarket, cigarette packets and several used masks.
The birds unintentionally carry all of this into their nest when they pick up branches, twigs or moss on their foraging meadows.
When they returned home in the evening on Sunday, the storks were a bit surprised, but accepted the nest without any problems.
Clarissa Höschel