The autumn bird migration is already in full swing. Because already in summer the first birds start their long journey to the south. One of these early migratory birds are the white storks, which finish rearing their young in early August. A few weeks later, old and young of the stork families make their way south – the young birds often even ahead of their parents, because the migration behavior is innate to them, as is the migration direction.
This year’s breeding season: 2.5 young storks per nest
From their arrival in March and their departure in August, white storks spend regarding five months in the breeding area, of which it takes regarding three months from laying the eggs to the first flight of the young storks.
This year’s breeding season should have gone well for the storks, as current figures show. According to an interim balance following evaluating almost half of all recorded nest data, there were 2.5 fledged young birds per nest occupied. That is a very good value for Austria, according to Eva Karner-Ranner from BirdLife Austria.
Food-rich meadows and warm weather
According to Karner-Ranner, the crucial factor for breeding success is on the one hand the food supply at the time the young are reared – storks need nutrient-rich meadows near their nests – and on the other hand the weather. “Especially in the first half of June, when the young birds are still small, longer periods of bad weather can have fatal effects,” says the expert.
Such losses were largely absent this year, at least in south-eastern and eastern Austria. Only regarding a tenth of all nest pairs remained “unsuccessful”, in the previous year there were twice as many.
Growth mainly in Vorarlberg
A total of over 400 white stork pairs breed in Austria, most of them in Burgenland, followed by Styria, Lower Austria and Vorarlberg. According to BirdLife, the population has developed well, which is due to the enormous growth in Vorarlberg, where over 80 pairs are now breeding. At the same time, populations in Lower Austria have declined sharply since 2015, slightly in Burgenland and remained almost the same in Styria.
420 nest pairs throughout Austria
The most recent total number is from 2021. The overall result of the BirdLife white stork census for 2022 will only be available next winter following all feedback has been received from the communities and residents.
Inventory 2021
Austria as a whole: 420 nest pairs
Lower Austria: 89
Burgenland: 126
Styria: 101
Upper Austria: 8th
Carinthia: 11
Vorarlberg: 84
Salzburg: 1
Characteristic rattle
The white stork (Ciconia ciconia), popularly also called Adebar or rattle stork, has white plumage, only the flight feathers and parts of the upper wing coverts are black. Beak and long legs are colored red. The clattering sound with which the storks greet each other and keep enemies away from the nest is characteristic.
The white stork lives in open landscapes, wet grassland, river valleys and floodplains with periodic flooding, as well as extensively used meadows and pastures. It breeds on house roofs, towers, power poles or trees. He also likes to accept artificial nest pads.
The Mediterranean is circumnavigated
The European white storks are classically divided into east and west migrants. As a glider, the stork cannot cover long distances over the open sea and therefore flies around the Mediterranean Sea to the east or west.
Most Austrian storks are east migrants and fly via Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria to the Bosphorus, and further via Turkey and the Middle East until they reach Africa, mostly in Egypt and there in a large area between East, Central and South Africa hibernate.
Vorarlberg storks sometimes stay there
The west migrants, on the other hand, to which the Vorarlberg storks belong, migrate to Northwest Africa via France and the Iberian Peninsula. In recent decades, however, many west-migrating storks have already begun wintering in Spain or France.
And now some of them even remain in the breeding area all year round, as evidenced by observations of white storks in the Vorarlberg Rhine delta. According to BirdLife, these increased overwinterings in western Europe are certainly contributing to the increases in west-migrating storks. A small proportion of European storks also take the central route via Italy to North Africa.
Concentration along certain flight routes
This concentration along certain migratory routes can be observed in many species, especially in large birds such as raptors. Just like storks, they need warm updrafts over land in order to climb to great heights and then glide over long distances in an energy-saving manner.
Many waterbirds also use migratory routes because they are particularly dependent on certain wetlands as resting places. The Western European Wadden Sea is famous, for example, which serves millions of wading birds as a nutrient-rich “filling station” before they continue their migration.
Swifts have also left the country
Among the first migratory birds to leave Central Europe every year are the common swifts, which leave their urban breeding grounds as early as mid-July. The departure of many long-distance migrants, which like the white stork travel thousands of kilometers to their winter quarters, begins at the end of July or beginning of August.
They include relatively unknown bird species such as the reed warbler, the wood warbler or the collared flycatcher, but also such prominent migratory birds as the cuckoo or the turtle dove. These leave their breeding grounds relatively quickly and, like the white stork, are already over the mountains at the end of August.
Vogelschutzorganisation Birdlife
BirdLife Austria is committed to bird and nature conservation in Austria and across borders. Internationally, the organization claims to have over 2.7 million members in 120 countries.
Short-distance migrants fly in late autumn
On the other hand, the swallows, which also have a long migration route to tropical Africa, are moving away over a longer period of time. This is also the case with the house martin, the bird of the year 2022 in Austria: The first ones are already on their way in mid-August, while some of the same species are still feeding young birds in the nest. At the same time, birds from northern breeding areas pass through here. It then takes the whole of September until the swallow migration in Central Europe is largely over.
So-called short-distance migrants, such as skylarks, black redstarts, lapwings, starlings or chaffinches, remain until well into autumn and often do not leave the country until October or even November. Around All Saints’ Day, the cranes, which come from their northern breeding areas and pass through here, complete the migration with a spectacular spectacle.
