Dick Bogaards from Vogelenzang saw a group of storks taking a shower on Wednesday between Spaarndam and Halfweg. Not just a shower, but a shower under muddy ditch water, because that contains delicacies for storks.
Dick often takes pictures of birds. “I live in Vogelenzang, so you can also tell something about birds,” he says jokingly. And on Wednesday, he saw a group of about 8 to 9 storks on a farmer’s pasture. “You see them more often, for example when mowing or when manure is spread on the land.” Still, he thinks it’s special to see such a large group.
Ruud van Beusekom, of the Bird Protection, says that the nests of storks have just fledged. “Some form a group to fly south, others stay in the Netherlands because of the mild winters,” he says. Ruud is not surprised that the birds can be found on the meadow. “Storks are real carnivores, they eat anything that comes in front of their beaks: frogs, earthworms, large insects, you name it. The farmer probably sprinkled wet dredging on the land and everything comes with food in it.”
To smell
Dick was curious about the behavior of the birds and asked the German Max Planck Institute for an explanation. They told him that storks have a fairly good sense of smell, which allows them to smell food. “For example, they can smell freshly cut grass,” he explains. Other birds have a better sense of smell, according to Dick. “Scavengers can smell really good.”
Ruud likes to see such a large group of storks in North Holland. “In the middle and east of the country you can see groups of dozens together, but in North Holland we see this more and more.” He tells that the stork is doing better and that there are more and more. “They were almost extinct in the 1970s, but they have been given a huge boost from stork villages and the nesting posts that are still there today.”