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Cold spring decimates stork population

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 25.07.2013 16:33
In one of the worst statistical counts ever, ornithologists say 80 percent of young storks perished this spring in some areas of Poland.

Black
Black stork: photo - flickr

While the season had been fairly good, with ample sources of food and numerous live hatchings, in places only single young storks have survived.

For instance in a traditionally popular habitat of white storks, the borough of Przemęt, near Wolsztyn in south-western Poland, where 26 pairs had nested this year, only 6 pairs managed to raise a total of nine hatchlings.

One of the reasons of the stork pogrom is being seen in the violent rains and sudden spells of cold weather in June.

Bird watchers suspect that young birds died of cold and exposure - as it was in another tragic year for storks, 1997, when Poland was hit by flooding.

Another reason could be fungal infections, rife in damp weather.

The crisis has avoided central and eastern Poland, so it is hoped that within three to four years the storks raised here will help rebuild the decimated populations in the western part of the country.

Reports say also that the pogrom has also avoided Poland's population of rare black storks. (ek)

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