The Stork is back in Sweden's southernmost province Skåne.

 THE STORK IS BACK

All photos are taken by me with my Cannon IXUS. You are welcome to use my pictures but please, when and if you do, do not pass them on as your own. Put my name Multicultural Gittie  on them with a reference to my blog. Thank you!

Once upon a time the white Stork was a common bird in Skåne, but with modern effective agriculture draining the wetlands making place for more farmland, the stork could no longer feed its young and became extinct.

When I was a child the stork was long time gone from Sweden, but on Swedish chocolate there was a picture of a Marabou Stork. I asked my father about the bird and he told me about the white stork that once was common in Skåne. My father told me that the last breeding pair was seen sometime in early 1950s and had since then disappeared from Sweden

 

 

 

This summer when I was out following a red Kite I accidently came across a stork peacefully looking for food in a meadow close to the town where my sons live. My heart started pounding as I slowly crept after it with my camera. I got some nice pictures

 

 

                                 If you look at his legs so you can see clearly that he is ringed

 

In 1989 a breeding program with imported stork started, called “The Stork project” The
goal is to regain a viable, migratory tribe of white stork in Skåne. You can read more about the Stork Project at  http://www.storkprojektet.se/

A couple of weeks later that same summer I came across another stork in the outskirtsa of a little town close to where I live.  I really had a “storky” summer. If you compare their black markings you'll see that there are small differences

 

 
I heard the other day on QI with Stephen Fry that it was thanks to a German stork that flew back from Africa with an African spear still attached into it, that made people realize that birds actually migrated all the way to Africa during winter. This was some time in the early 1800s Pre to this there were all kinds of theories about birds hibernated during winter by throwing themselves into the sea You can see a picture of the speared stork at

https://www.google.se/search?q=stork+with+African+spear&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=bsPEUo2tJILa4wTqy4GgBg 

I can not help but think of the stork That flew with his spear from Africa to Germany. Birds are amazing creatures. I just hope That non of "my" storks will be pierced by a spear when flying to their winter destination