Like many of you, I grew up with stories about the Klapperstorch, which is what the White Stork is called in German. The German name, which translates as “clattering stork”, refers to the characteristic noise the bird makes with its beak during the mating season.
Now here’s an interesting factoid for you: storks are mute. The clattering sound is the only type of noise they can produce, as they don’t have a syrinx (voice box), which is what ‘normal’ birds use to trill and chirp you out of bed in the morning when you could really do with another couple of hours of shuteye. So, no annoying squawking, crowing or screeching out those stilt-legged creatures, which only adds to their serene mystique.
Apart from the beak rattling habit, storks are famous for their brightly coloured red legs, for blocking up chimneys with their armchair-sized nests, and, of course, for delivering babies. My friend Maria told me that in Spain, storks don’t just pick them up from any old place, oh no, they fly them in fresh from Paris. So, all Spaniards are, in fact, French. I’m glad we’ve cleared that up.
Although I’d heard a lot about storks, I’d never actually seen one in the flesh until I got to Spain. We have some in Toledo, but they are hard to find, you’ve got know where to look. Not so in Alcalá de Henares, the town Maria and I visited earlier this week. Those winged giants are everywhere, perched on rooftops, church spires, arches, trees… Alcalá is famous for harbouring more storks than any other Spanish town, owing to its conservation work which has greatly increased the number of breeding pairs.
If any of you have any stork-related lore to tell, maybe something that’s particular to your culture/country, I’d sure love to hear it 🙂
Love the fact that all Spaniards are in fact Parisians. In the UK the stork does indeed deliver the baby, after finding it hidden under a gooseberry bush.
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Ah yes, the gooseberry bushes!!!
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Oh they are so gorgeous! And the photos are amazing!
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Thanks! I need one of those big zoom lens things..
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No hay un pueblo español que se precie si no tiene cigüeñas en el campanario de la iglesia. Son fundamentales 🙂
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Una verdadera institución 🙂
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I love storks! We live opposite the zoo and there’s one building right outside the zoo (I believe zoo admin is done there) where storks nest every year, so I get to see them all the time.
Funny about Spanish storks delivering babies from Paris! I wonder where other countries think the storks get the babies from?
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It’s a mystery 🙂
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I’ve heard that sometimes you can get knocked up just by a stork looking at you!
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Oh my!!!! Now you have me worried… I shan’t be going to Stork Central again any time soon 😉
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I’m not sure who I heard this from, but better safe than sorry.
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Yup…. can’t wait for a stork stare to bring about the abject horror situation I’ve managed to successfully avoid for the past 30 years.
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Great pictures. I saw storks for the first time at Christmas, while I was in Marrakech and couldn’t believe how huge they are!. I remember reading in my guide book that there is an old Berber belief in which storks are actually transformed humans…
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Certainly sounds like that could be part of their job spec 😉
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Love your photos! We don’t have storks in Colorado. Wish we did, though!
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Aw, but Colorado is ramshackle full of cool things… like…. SOUTHPARK! I’ve been there. Lol.
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Well, then you’ve seen it all. 🙂 what did you think of South Park?
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Mesmerising… down to the hills in the background 🙂
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hehe I actually lolled that the babies are brought fresh from Paris! Who knew!!!?!!!
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I hope you can’t get knocked up just by looking at them! I saw plenty this weekend driving around the Latvian countryside! And you’re right, the nests are HUGE!
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Everybody’s seeing them… I have no idea how I went for over four decades without glimpsing even a single live specimen!
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I think this may have been my first time too! I’m horribly unobservant when it comes to stuff like that but even I couldn’t miss these!
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Now I’ve learned a word from you: Klapperstorch. and I didn’t know they were mute. I know some people who I wish were mute.
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LOL!
I doubt Klapperstorch will ever prove itself a very useful addition to your vocab…
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Might go to a pub trivia night. You never know!
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The mute thing might come up!
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