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Tragic fate of storks: Many chicks starved to death in the Uelzen district!
In the Uelzen district, young storks are starving due to a lack of food; Experts warn of further breeding losses.
Tragic fate of storks: Many chicks starved to death in the Uelzen district!
The challenging conditions for storks in Germany are particularly dramatic this year in the Uelzen district. In a shocking drone shot of the stork's nest in Jastorf, two chicks can be seen who are believed to have starved to death. Waldemar Golnik from the Nature Conservation Association (Nabu) describes the worrying situation: Despite initial hopes, the storks in Jastorf have no offspring this year because the parents threw their chicks out of the nest. Only nine young storks survived in the entire Uelzen district, which clearly illustrates the worrying effects of the hunger crisis on the bird population.
What got the storks in trouble this year? A decisive factor is the drought in spring, which led to a dramatic lack of food. The young animals, which rely on soft food, are particularly affected. In Lüder the brood was abandoned and two chicks died in the hives due to lack of food. Adult storks have made the bitter decision to throw the weakest chick out of the nest in order to protect the survival of the stronger offspring.
Breeding balance in Hamburg and nationwide
Nevertheless, the increasing pressure caused by intensive agriculture and the progressive loss of habitats is causing problems for many storks. Habitat loss is one of the main threats to the white stork. Intensive agriculture has drained waterways and reduced the diversity of grasslands, making important food sources such as earthworms, beetles and insect larvae scarce.
Protective measures for the storks
NABU is drawing conclusions from these developments and is planning to possibly set up further stork masts at suitable locations if offers are received from interested owners. Locations like Hansen and Molzen are promising due to their moist meadows. Nevertheless, the storks are picky: a mast in Emmendorf was flown to several times, but was not permanently settled.
Between hope and reality, the storks often seem to have a difficult fate: the breeding success is not enough to compensate for the natural losses. The population recovery that has been observed in recent years is often the result of migration from regions with better breeding conditions, but should not be seen as a permanent trend reversal. This information underlines the fragility of the population and the need to do more to conserve storks in the future.
While challenges to stork populations continue to be significant, hope remains for stable habitats and food sources that can withstand disruptions to water and land use.
You can read more about this on the pages of [az-online] ( az online ), [ndr.de] ( ndr.de ) and [nabu.de] ( nabu.de ).