Storks visit Jelsa!

On September 17th 2017, two storks touched down in Jelsa.

Storks in Jelsa, September 2017. Storks in Jelsa, September 2017. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Their arrival sparked a flurry of interest, also positive action to ensure that their stay would be safe and comfortable. They were first found wandering along the road leading to the local school, not the safest place to be. A kind man passing by on his moped persuaded them into a nearby piece of land, which is privately owned. It is used by many as an unofficial subsidiary to Jelsa's official car park, but at least in the evening there is little activity there.

Photo call for Jelsa's storks. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The next morning, Jelsa's eco-warriors swung into action. They contacted the 'Grifon' bird protection society in Rijeka, and received advice on appropriate food and treatment for the birds. They were told that it was likely that the birds had been deflected from their migratory path by the extreme bad weather, as hail stones the size of golf balls had fallen on Split on the day they came down. It was possible that one or both might be injured. They were certainly very shocked and disorientated, and visibly trembling at first.

Preening. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

They spent their first night on the roof of a house nearby, and then returned to the 'spare car park' in the morning. Fresh water was supplied in a bucket in the centre of the space, which they drank, and a supply of fish was organized, which they ate with relish. As the area is crossed by many of the children on their way to and from school, teacher Daniela Lučić read the children a special message explaining why the storks were there, and urging the children not to frighten them, but to watch and enjoy them from a distance.

Children were fascinated. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

The storks were not nervous of humans. When Daniela's sister Debora Bunčuga, Eco Hvar's Secretary, approached them to place their food and water, they moved towards her with confidence and trust. Debora and her husband Luka prepared posters which were placed on barriers marking the area where the storks had settled.

The posters were also distributed around the town, to try to minimize the risk of people disturbing the birds unnecessarily.  The children were generally well behaved and respectful towards their unexpected guests. One boy made to throw a stone at them, but he was quickly sent away.

Stork threatened by careless van driver. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

While most drivers avoided driving through the central area containing the storks, one van driver insisted on driving past very close to them. As he went, he declared (very rudely) that they would / should move out of the way. They did, just in time, but one was very close to being run over.

Exploring the environment. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

So the day passed, with the storks looking increasingly at ease in their surroundings. They wandered around a little, disdainfully ignoring the (shameful) rubbish lining their territory. They seemed quite at ease with the numbers of visitors coming by to catch sight of them. They eyed their visitors without fear, and stood tall and proud.

Standing tall. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

In the evening, they returned to their roof, a fine sight against the darkening sky. We hope they will gather strength to continue on their journey speedily, but, if not, there is a contingency plan to help them.

Back on their roof for the night. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

What happened next?

In the event, the storks were in no hurry to leave. They settled in happily to a cosy routine of fresh fish several times a day, interspersed with exploring Jelsa's further reaches, and posing for photographs. Far from being unnerved by the constant stream of admiring onlookers, they seemed to relish the attention.

Toddler introduced to Jelsa's famous visitors. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

They were glad to show off their balletic poses together with their admirable hygienic practices.

Contortionistic cleansing, 20th September 2017. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

If anyone came by carrying shopping bags, both storks would move swiftly and gracefully forward in the hope of yet more culinary treats from their human well-wishers. However, the luxury of being served regular meals did not dampen their foraging instincts. They found a wonderful resource of insects when the rain fell and created large puddles on their previously arid terrain.

Walking on water, 21st September 2017. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

It seems that vehicle tyres provide a specially rich source of edible insects. The storks did a very thorough job of gleaning tasty morsels of tiny insects from the rubber crevices. Who needs poisonous insecticides when Nature provides such a beautiful and efficient alternative?

Insect feast from a lorry tyre, 22nd September 2017. Photo: Vivian Grisogono.

The local school's pupils were treated to a special learning experience, which they will be able to share with future generations. It is not the first time storks have landed in Jelsa on their migratory route south. One young woman told me that she had seen one or two at intervals during her childhood. They would stay for a couple of days, then fly onwards. Perhaps they were the forebears of these unexpected visitors? Perhaps they gave Jelsa a warm recommendation in the Storks' Travel Guide to Migration Routes?

School pupils welcome the storks in a special project. (Facebook post by Daniela Lučić)

Whenever the sun came out, the storks were a specially beautiful sight, perfectly captured by Jelsa's Deputy Mayor, Vlatka Buj.

Storks in Jelsa. (Facebook post by Vlatka Buj, 23rd September 2017)

After a week, the storks showed no signs of moving on, so contingency plans were made to ensure their continuing safety. Money was to be raised for their food supply, and the Hvar Rotary Club intended to make a special collection for the storks during their annual 'Bicklijada' (Cycling Festival) on September 30th. However, all of sudden on September 28th, the storks upped sticks and were gone. Maybe, just maybe, they saw that the insect spraying which took place around Jelsa during the night of September 27th was going to contaminate their supply of insect food? Whatever the reason, they headed south, where they opted for another stopover in Vela Luka on Korčula. They arrived in much better shape than when they landed shivering and trembling in Jelsa after battling a fierce storm. Their arrival pleased the Vela Lukans as much as it did the Jelsans. Will the hospitality on Korčula match that on Hvar for dedication? We hope so.

Storks in Vela Luka, reported in Slobodna Dalmacija, 29th September 2017

We are confident that all the Dalmatian islands visited by these discerning avian visitors will be as welcoming and enchanting to them as they are to the thousands of humans who spend their holdays here year after year. Just maybe, Jelsa will take top spot in the 2017 Stork Tourism Charts for the special efforts made by Daniela, Debora, Luka and their dedicated team of helpers who set these beautiful birds happilyand safely on their way to their summer quarters in the southern hemisphere.

© Vivian Grisogono 2017
You are here: Home Nature Watch Storks visit Jelsa!

Eco Environment News feeds

  • About 89% of the public want their governments to do more to tackle the climate crisis – but don’t know they’re the majority

    • The Guardian is joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch the 89% Project – and highlight the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population wants climate action. Read more

    A superpower in the fight against global heating is hiding in plain sight. It turns out that the overwhelming majority of people in the world – between 80% and 89%, according to a growing number of peer-reviewed scientific studies – want their governments to take stronger climate action.

    As co-founders of a non-profit that studies news coverage of climate change, those findings surprised even us. And they are a sharp rebuttal to the Trump administration’s efforts to attack anyone who does care about the climate crisis.

    Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope are the co-founders of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now

    Continue reading...

  • Discovery could provide valuable clues as to how the climate crisis might affect Antarctica, says study

    Giant, flat-topped icebergs the size of the city of Cambridge drifted off the coast of Britain during the last ice age, according to a study that has uncovered evidence of their existence for the first time.

    A series of distinctive, comb-like grooves found preserved in sediment near Aberdeen in Scotland were left behind by the underside of huge “tabular” icebergs that dragged across the North Sea floor between 18,000 and 20,000 years ago, the researchers said.

    Continue reading...

  • Campaigners condemn decision amid growing evidence of harm to health and climate from heating appliances

    Wood-burning stoves will be allowed to heat new-build homes in England despite growing evidence showing their significant contribution to air pollution and carbon emissions.

    The government is writing its future homes standard, a set of rules for developers, aimed at decarbonising England’s housing stock. Heating the UK’s 28m homes accounts for about 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.

    Continue reading...

  • Birds in their 40s wintering on mudflats of the Wash received leg rings in early 1980s

    If your ears are assaulted by the shrill piping calls of an excitable bird on the east coast of England, fear not: it’s probably an oystercatcher experiencing a midlife crisis.

    Two of the handsome black and white birds with bright red-orange bills have been found to be the oldest known oystercatchers ever recorded in Britain, clocking up at least 41 and 43 years on the mudflats of the Wash.

    Continue reading...

  • Two Belgian 19-year-olds have pleaded guilty to wildlife piracy – part of a growing trend of trafficking ‘less conspicuous’ creatures for sale as exotic pets

    Poaching busts are familiar territory for the officers of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), an armed force tasked with protecting the country’s iconic creatures. But what awaited guards when they descended in early April on a guesthouse in the west of the country was both larger and smaller in scale than the smuggling operations they typically encounter. There were more than 5,000 smuggled animals, caged in their own enclosures. Each one, however, was about the size of a little fingernail: 18-25mm.

    The cargo, which two Belgian teenagers had apparently intended to ship to exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, was ants. Their enclosures were a mixture of test tubes and syringes containing cotton wool – environments that authorities say would keep the insects alive for weeks.

    Continue reading...

  • The Marches, Shropshire: In this garden we’ve had woolly aphids, rose aphids, whitefly and blackfly, now we have Californian maple aphids, who have a story of their own

    An accidental touch of a branch brings a handful of little sticky dots. Looking at the branch, the surprise is that all the lower ones are covered with a shifting pointillism of dots moving together. Under a hand lens they become autonomous animals – aphids.

    There are thousands of them, moving independently as individuals, each with a sense of purpose and moment, determined and working together. Forming clusters around scar tissue on bark wounds, walking upwards towards the canopy of opening leaves, the aphids catch the sunlight and their amber bodies shine with the viscosity of drops of honey. In the morning sun they cast shadows, an imaginary material to which old fears and prejudices stick.

    Continue reading...

  • Americans have often moved between states for opportunities. Now they’re being forced to uproot themselves to escape hostile forces under Trump

    Continue reading...

  • The UN has called the detention of Pablo López Alavez ‘arbitrary’, while human rights organisations say his sentence is part of a systematic and alarming pattern of criminalisation of Mexico’s environmental activists

    The meeting room in the prison of Villa de Etla, a town in Oaxaca, Mexico, doubles as a classroom with school desks and a small library. The walls feature motivational phrases such as “First things first”, “Live and let live” and “Little by little, you’ll go far”.

    Pablo López Alavez, a 56-year-old environmental defender, has had nearly 15 years to contemplate these sentiments – and faces 15 more, after being imprisoned for murders he says he did not commit.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘As a species, these crocs are easy to find and easy to catch. Brice Itoua is the most skilled hunter in his village. But they kill the crocs to eat – not to sell’

    The Congo dwarf crocodile is a lovely species. They’re very shy and, unfortunately, very easy to find and catch. Mostly hunted for their bushmeat, these crocs only grow up to a few feet in length and during the dry season, they often spend the daytime hiding in burrows and dens at the water’s edge. Hunters use a long, woody liana vine with a hook on the end to drag them out, before binding their snout with a shorter vine and carrying them away.

    Last summer, I shot a story about the Congo dwarf crocodile after being given access to the Lake Télé Community Reserve by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which manages this protected area in the Republic of the Congo with the Congolese government.

    Continue reading...

  • Rock deposits provide first land-based evidence of Earth’s largest flood, when water surged through strait of Gibraltar

    The event that refilled the Mediterranean basin 5m years ago is thought to have been the largest flood in Earth’s history, with water surging through the present-day strait of Gibraltar 1,000 times faster than the Amazon River, filling the basin in just a couple of years. Now jumbled rock deposits on the top of hills in south-east Sicily provide the first land-based evidence for this flood.

    The megaflood theory emerged in 2009, when scientists discovered a massive eroded channel at the bottom of the strait of Gibraltar. Subsequent research has revealed scours on the sea floor, showing how the water forced its way through the shallow gap between Sicily and mainland Africa, to fill the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds