Storks are back in Zwin Nature Park

They always leave for warmer places before winter, now they come back to prepare their nests for the breeding season.

Ina De Wasch, Zwin Nature Park: “At the moment we already have a dozen storks back in the park, which are animals that have wintered in the area. Or birds that have not flown that far to hibernate. They have already returned in the park. The storks that wintered in the south, in Spain or South Africa, they stayed there for a while, we expect them in the coming weeks.” (continue reading below the photo)

The storks are of crucial importance to the Zwin. It is a protected bird species that is subject to a lot of scientific research. “The transmitters on certain birds have already taught us a lot. Hadewijch, for example, born in 2019, flew all the way to Morocco to spend the winter in the first year, the following year to southern Spain and so she moved every winter. this year we flew to northern France to spend the winter. So we have established that the older Hadewijch actually gets, the closer she stays to home.”

The first eggs are expected in early April, incubation takes more than a full month.