White stork - The stork sanctuary in Salem, Baden-Württemberg

How is actually the white stork in Germany?

If you would have asked me this question before my visit of the stork sanctuary in Salem, honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to give you any answer.

I didn’t know it.

I knew already that the number of other birds that feed on insects have declined – which is in my opinion very worrisome – but the conservation status of the white stork?

No. I didn’t know it.

I still had to learn more about it.

When I want to know more about the conservation status of any species, the first thing I do is to check the website of the World Conservation Union IUCN. According to the IUCN the white stork is listed in the category „least concern“ which means that the species is not considered to be threatened or endangered. The population even seems to be increasing.

However, does this mean that all populations of white storks are fine? Including the one in Germany?

After the 6th International White Stork Census it was estimated that there were about 4.500 breeding pairs of white storks in Germany and the population even seems to increase in number.

And in the state Baden-Württemberg?

Well, in the stork sanctuary in Salem I learned that white storks are exposed to many different threats, but due to conservation efforts the population in Baden-Württemberg has increased in the last few decades.

That is good news for the white stork in Baden-Württemberg.

However, it was not always like that.

In 1975 there were only 15 breeding pairs of white storks left in Baden-Württemberg.

Today, there are more than 500 breeding pairs.

White storks heading for Africa avoid long sea crossings, and thus, either opt for a western or eastern route. The eastern route leads white storks over the Bosphorus into Turkey. Some white storks follow a western route over the Strait of Gibraltar. As white storks use rising thermals, they are not able to fly long distances on water surfaces.

Not all white storks spend the winter in the south. Some storks even spend the winter in Germany. Especially those storks that were injured as fledglings, and thus, had to be raised by humans. But sometimes even other not-injured white storks remain in Germany. However, the reason for this behavior is still not clear.

On my visit to the stork sanctuary I especially learned more about the different threats the white stork is exposed to in the course of its life.

One threat is food shortage due to habit destruction. In the past the white stork took advantage of extensively farmed green areas – which meant new food grounds for the bird – as it is a synanthrope. Thus, white storks could actually benefit from the agricultural use of landscapes by humans. However, the intensification of agriculture and the cultivation of monocultures on a large scale led to a significant loss of their food resources.

Another threat are dumping grounds. Often white storks feed on dumping grounds where they find plastic waste or elastic bands which they mistake for worms. If white storks feed on such items, they very probably suffer a painful death. White storks also find many poisonous food on dumping grounds. Therefore, although a dumping ground often looks as a feeding paradise for a white stork, it might have severe consequences for an individual.

White storks also might feed on many poisonous locusts during the locust infestation in Africa. As many African countries massively use pesticides during a locust infestation in order to protect their agricultural land, some white storks might feed on a large amount of poisoned locusts.

Other threats for the white stork are collisions with vehicles, drought periods, hunting in some African countries or water towers especially in France and Spain.

Nevertheless, one of the most common cause of death for the white stork are electricity pylons. Especially young white storks are not able to perceive electricity pylons as threats. They often use electricity pylons as a roosting or nesting place. The risk to be electrocuted is especially high for these young birds. Even white storks in flight might oversee the thin electrical cords and collide with them.

As you can see white storks are exposed to many different threats. As the white stork is a synanthrope, most threats are linked to humans.

But what has to be done in order to minimize all these threats?

As death by electrocution is the most common threat for the white stork, electricity pylons have to be defused. Around the white stork colony in Salem electricity pylons where isolated or provided with specific deflectors.

Another conservation effort in Salem is the sanctuary itself where abandoned stork fledglings are raised by other breeding pairs. A breeding pair does not discriminate between their biological offspring and other stork fledglings. Furthermore, the staff of the stork sanctuary in Salem also cares for white storks with injuries or diseases.

In order to get people interested in the white stork and in general in conservation, the stork sanctuary is involved in several outreach activities. For example, visitors can participate in the feeding of the white storks where they also learn more about storks and the threats they are exposed to.

The white stork colony in Salem is wild, but due to food shortage, the people of the stork sanctuary in Salem provides supplementary food for the storks in order to increase breeding success. As white storks have to face so many threats, supplementary feeding is used to compensate the loss of birds.

The more we know about a species, the more we are able to protect it. Therefore, another conservation effort of the stork sanctuary is to put radio collars on white storks and ring the birds. This way, we learn more about their migration routes or where a bird was lost on its migration route. But also, where do they feed? Or where do they rest? An individual white stork with a radio collar can reveal important behavior patterns, and thus, contribute to the research and conservation of this migratory bird.

Every white stork in Salem is ringed at the age of about four to six weeks and registered in an international data base. This way we receive more information about the population development of white storks.