BLACK STORK BREEDING
25 October 2018
It was riding the spring wind like an eagle. Long red legs prominent beyond the white of the underside.
“Cigüeña negra”. That was my Spanish guest, peering intently skywards through his binoculars.
“Ja, Black Stork”; I confirm, savouring the moment through my trusty Léopold’s.
“Last saw them in Estonia”, it comes from the back. In ‘Spain they are becoming rare’.
Gliding in and out of range, we decide to wait. Having an opportunity to see this – one of the rare residential stork species close to the nest – proves to be too good to miss!
Kaingo has been the preferred nesting spot for a pair of black storks for years now. They tend to wander over great distances throughout Southern Africa, but when nesting time comes, they return to their roots.
Typically, the nest is a platform of sticks, mud, rags, animal fur and feathers. They tend to make use of the same nest every breeding season, sharing the nest with the likes of Verreaux eagles and sometimes even Hamerkop. On this platform two to five eggs will be lain, one a day for a week. Then the great wait will begin.
Black storks have an incubation time of 32 to 38 days. In this time the female rarely leaves the nest. She will be flying again after the little ones are 60 days old.
The young birds will stay tethered to their parents for a few weeks, long enough for their parents to teach them how to behave, what to eat, and who to stay away from.
“They are beautiful, sí”? We have been looking at them for thirty minutes. It felt more like ten.
Reluctantly I start the Land Rover. It is time for a well-deserved breakfast.
As we trundle away from the nest we see the male, riding the wind in effortless flight.
BUSHVELD GREETINGS