Once again it has been a while
since my last blog post -(more from the lab and the reasons I have been
so busy in another update). The exciting news is that in the last few days 2 of the chicks
(Lucy and SPEA) have crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and are now in Morocco!
BUT HOW FAR SOUTH WILL THEY GO DURING THE WINTER?
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| SPEA, from Beja to Morocco and fast moving south |
Storks are very opportunistic and go where the food is, therefore they are not faithful to any particular wintering site. Pairs do not winter together and only meet up again at the start of the next breeding season. Previous tracking studies have shown that some years a stork may stay in north Africa whilst the same individual the next year could travel all the way south to near Cape Town! Where will our logged chicks go? My guess is west Africa -perhaps Mali or Mauritania or as far south as Cameroon, but all bets are good. All suggestions are welcome so get in touch and tell me where you think they might go.
Tracking
the progress of the chicks alongside the logged adults should be
possible on the website of the BTO from the end of this week, once we
have sorted out technical issues getting the logger data to upload to
the website....
Nests get very crowded towards the end of the breeding season before the well grown chicks leave the nest. In the north of Portugal and near landfill sites it is not unusual to see 5 or even 6 chicks in one nest.
Chicks stay around the nest being fed by the adults for some days or even weeks after fledging.
How do you tell a chick from an adult?
Until the final stages before fledging chicks have shorter, black bills where as the adults have longer, red bills.
When the chicks are older their bills start to turn red so it can be tricky to tell them apart from adults. If in doubt look at the rump, the adults black flight feathers overhang the tail where as the chicks are never longer than the tail, as can be seen in this photo =>
For approximately the first 70 days of life the bill grow in direct proportion to the age so measuring bill length can be used to age the chick.
