The number of white storks in Bavaria has reached a record high. More than 1000 pairs have been reported to the State Association for Bird Protection (LBV) this year so far. “Never since the start of recording its population in 1900 have so many breeding storks been counted in the Free State as this year,” said LBV expert Oda Wieding. In 1988 the number of white storks in Bavaria had reached a low of 58 breeding pairs. Since the beginning of the millennium, their number has been steadily increasing again. The re-spreading of the stork is considered one of the great successes of nature and species protection in Bavaria. One reason was an extensive species support program for the birds. A lot of money went into the construction of nests, but also the renaturation of wet meadows and other areas where birds hunt mice, frogs and other small animals. The species aid program was so successful that the storks were removed from the Red List of Threatened Species in 2017.
According to the LBV, a change in migratory behavior that bird experts have been observing since the 1980s has also contributed to the success. “A large proportion of the Bavarian storks, which traditionally migrated south via the western route, are now increasingly spending the winter in Spain,” explained Wieding. Experts suspect climate change and the increasingly mild winters in Spain, as well as the many garbage dumps and rice fields in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, where the animals find sufficient food, to be the reasons. By spending the winter in Spain, the storks save themselves the flight over the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, they are no longer exposed to the dangers in the African quarters, for example from hunting. That is why more storks are returning to Bavaria than in previous years.
At the same time, there are more storks that stay in Bavaria during the winter. They descend from resettlement programs that ran until the 1990s in Switzerland, Alsace and Baden-Württemberg. The storks intended for release into the wild were kept in cages until they were sexually mature. The aim of the method was to prevent the young birds from dying on their flight to their winter quarters. What was not considered was that these storks became accustomed to staying here during the winter and later passed the new behavior on to their mates and offspring. Storks cope well with the winter weather itself. They have thick plumage that they can fluff up a lot. The air cushions in the erected springs protect very well against the cold. Searching for food is also not a problem. Because even in winter there are open waters with little fish or composting facilities with mice and other small animals that they are after. According to the LBV, this year most of the stork pairs settled in areas that are already popular with the birds, such as Oettingen in Swabia or Uehlfeld in Middle Franconia. New nests were also reported from Straubing in eastern Bavaria or in Döfering in the Cham district.