The Village Storks
By Jose Luis Gallego, environmental communicator (@ecogallego)
On a grey February afternoon, when the farmer rides his tractor into the village after plowing the fields, he spots the unmistakable silhouette of a stork high atop the church roof, perched on an old nest of dry branches. The sight awakens a sense of satisfaction in the man as he quotes, from memory, one of the most popular proverbs associated with the changing of seasons: por San Blas (3 de febrero) la cigüeña verás (around San Blas (3 February) it shall be that a stork you will see). And the man thinks to himself, “they’re here”.
A pair of white storks in a nest
Rural people have celebrated the arrival of the storks since ancient times, seeing in them a symbol of abundance and harmony in the agricultural calendar. In fact, the white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is an old friend of farmers, accompanying them while they work in the fields since time immemorial. As a savvy opportunist, the stork likes to follow the plow as it opens up furrows in the soil, seizing the moment to catch earthworms, snails, and other small invertebrates.
In fact, this lanky gregarious bird is universally respected and liked, because its presence doesn’t harm the crops in any way—in fact, storks keep insect and rodent populations which could adversely affect the harvest, like locusts and voles, in check.
Given its unmistakable silhouette and distinctive white and black plumage, the stork is easy to identify. It has long thin coral-red legs, the same colour as its very long, sharp, solid beak. The rounded wings end in widely set primary feathers: this gives the stork the appearance of having enormous fingers with which it beats the air as it flies.
A white stork in a meadow
Storks live in both rural and urban areas where they build large twig platforms on elevated spots that allow for a good view: from belltowers and abandoned chimneys to electrical towers and anywhere high up over the landscape.
They build their large nests from twigs, sticks, and grapevine canes, but are more than willing to add anything that catches their eye as they hunt for construction materials in the fields, gradually augmenting their home over the years. As a result, over time stork nests can expand to more than three metres in height, two metres in diameter, and weigh up to two tonnes. When it comes to large nesting colonies, this can cause problems in terms of traffic safety and building maintenance.
However, the phenology of these birds—that is to say their relationship to the seasonal calendar—is also seeing changes due to the climate crisis, which affects them in various ways. For instance, storks are laying their eggs earlier, generally between March and April, with a clutch of two to five white eggs. These are incubated by both parents, and the chicks hatch after five weeks and begin to fly in June. What distinguishes young storks from their elders is the fact that they have black legs and beaks.
A curious characteristic of storks is that they are completely voiceless, because they lack a syrinx, the vocal organ of birds. In order to communicate, they clatter their beaks, producing a melodic sound similar to that of castanets, allowing individuals to exchange messages of recognition or warning.
A white stork in its nest
The Spanish population of white storks went through a period of great concern during the 1980s when the indiscriminate use of poisons in the fields, the loss of wetlands, and poaching reduced their numbers to a low of 6,000 pairs recorded in the 1984 census count.
Today the situation has taken a positive turn: with more than 50,000 pairs throughout the peninsula, the white stork has left the ranks of threatened species to become an increasingly common rooftop dweller in most Spanish towns and villages.
Contributing to this recovery is the surprising way in which this clever bird has adapted to current circumstances. Storks no longer roam lagoons and ponds in search of the odd amphibian, but have discovered that landfills make for a reliable source of varied and constant sustenance.
Another behavioural pattern affected by climate change is the stork’s migratory habit. These birds traditionally migrated to their wintering grounds in Africa at the onset of summer, coinciding with dry conditions in our wetlands.
However, more and more storks decide to stay in Spain year round given the slowly yet consistently rising winter temperatures. For this reason, scientists who study the evolution of the climate crisis have identified this species as a bioindicator of the global warming of our planet.