A Naturalist Abroad: White Storks in Switzerland

One of the main reasons we travel is to experience new things: new places, new sights, new tastes.  And for myself and other naturalists, we are excited by new birds, new wildflowers, new creatures of all sorts. 

While traveling in Switzerland this summer, birds I'd never seen before seemed to be everywhere I looked!  Even the coots and gulls were new and exciting!  Our days in Switzerland were filled with traveling, sight-seeing and adventuring, so dedicated birding time was somewhat limited.  But I was not disappointed, and added a good number of birds (albeit "common" birds to European birders) to my life list. 

Perhaps the most impressive birds we saw in Switzerland were White Storks (Ciconia ciconia).  Being from California, I'm rather unfamiliar with storks; we have native egrets and herons, and cranes overwinter in the Central Valley, but storks are exotic creatures indeed!  (It seems the Salton Sea in Southern California hosts a few visiting Wood Storks from the southeastern United States every few years, but storks are not commonly seen here.  The Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) is the only North American species of stork.)

More than once while we were in Switzerland, we spotted solitary White Storks feeding in agricultural fields not far from human populations.  Eventually, I was able to snap a decent photo from the car.

 
Storks are large wading birds, standing over three feet tall.  While they are commonly mistaken for cranes or herons (or more accurately, our Sandhill Cranes are often mistaken for storks), the groups of birds are not closely related.  Storks are members of the order Ciconiiformes, while cranes belong to the order Gruiformes (along with coots and rails).  Herons, egrets and ibises are classified in the order Pelecaniformes (yes, along with pelicans). 
 
These impressive birds are well-known across Europe, as mated pairs return each spring to the same nesting sites.  Often they reuse the same massive nests for several years.  These large nests are sometimes placed on buildings in European cities where trees are scarce, and measure 2 - 5 feet across and 3 - 6 feet deep, weighing up to an astonishing 500 pounds!  White Storks are monogamous and mate for life; the lifespan of a stork can be over 30 years.  After the breeding season, White Storks migrate south in flocks numbering in the thousands, seeking the warmer climes of Africa where they spend their winters.

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