LifeTrack of White Stork / DER AN864, tag 3041Ciconia ciconia

2013 to

Sex: Name: KakauBorn: approx. 13th of May 2013Nest location: Laerche Brunner, Böhringen / Germany Tagging Date: 24th June 2013Ring no.: DER AN864Tag no.: 3041Mother/Father: Male: not ringed / Female: DER A9492Siblings: 2 died 31 May / 1 June Died in: Date of death: Cause of death:Sponsors: MPIO and HUJ/DIP, Storchenhof Lohburg

Special info:

24th of June 2013

Photos

Parent

Photos

First flights 29th July 2013

Field observations Date Who What? File and info

Varces, 10km south of Grenoble / France

2013-11-02 Laurent Puch, birdwatcher from LPO 38

Visual Photo

Observation

Journey update from the 12th of November

Observation

12th of November near Grenoble / France

Observation

Observation

12 of November 2013 near Grenoble

6th November 2013Dear Wolfgang, Thanks very much for your answer. My friend Jean Charles, the photographer, will answer to your questions tomorrow. The bird feels good and was feeding in one of the last preserved grassland of Grenoble.As we managed a bird welfare center I hope we'll not need to have a closer look to the bird. I'm also very interested by the trip of your stork because I'm responsible for the monitoring of a migration site (every week end in sept and oct), 30 km south of Grenoble (col du Fau). For years I was wondering about the path followed by german and swiss birds across the Alps. Now at least and at last, we've got the answer for one german white stork. Thanks for your work. Best regards.Laurent.

6th November

- the bird seems ok and has a "normal" behavior for a white stork. Fly away at 20-25m from anyone.- it is sometimes with grey Herons as the place is really a good feeding place. - it seems eating mainly worms in freshly tilled fields.- some people asked JC if they should feed it. Obviously no but it means other people may do it. It was still at the same place today at 4 pm and is the only white stork in the area. It will soon become a star as many people of the village of Varces come to see it. Maybe this is the best protection for her against illegal hunting. If you don't mind, we are wondering about writing a small article about it in the local newspaper and on the websites of LPO isère (bird association) and Le Tichodrome (the bird welfare center). Best regards.Laurent.

Correspondence

12 November 2013

Dear Laurent, many thanks for the pictures and the new info. White Storks are not among the (few) bird groups where adults "show" the juveniles where to go. Normally the juveniles leave the area before the adults and experiments with late releases of young storks have shown that they are well able to find their way if definitely no adult is around any more.Almost all tagged birds left the area around mid August, there must have been flocks and it is possible, that a few adults joined this flock (there is always a strong social component in White Stork migration decisions, obviously) - but not necessarily. Kakau simply stayed in the area and since we have always some birds around here that do not migrate it definitely was not left behind alone. We do not know the reason why Kakau stayed so long in the area and started to migrate so late. Within the project we have a large sample size of eastern migrants and almost all of them pass over Israel. The dividing zone between the SW and the SE migrants is somewhere in eastern Bavaria and goes north roughly along Elbe. Almost all birds in central Europe east of this zone have to pass Israel and this forms really amazing aggregations, of course. All the best Wolfgang MPIO - Radolfzell

Correspondence

12 November 2013

Good morning,

I've seen KAKAU yesterday morning for one hour and it feels good. We saw it eating a dead starling. It lost also one flight feather meanwhile.Here are a few pictures taken by my friend Pierre Delastre.I have a few more questions about this bird and the project :

- I believed juv white storks use to migrate with adults (showing the way). Do you know why KAKAU did not follow the others white storks ? Did the other juv monitored white storks start their migration with adults ?

- I know some of the works initiated by R.Nathan about griffons, white pelicans, bee-eaters. Do you also have a project involving white storks migrating via Israel ? I know well this country and the magical spectacles of huge flocks of migrating white storks in Bet Shean , Hula valley and the Golan.

Best regards.Laurent. >Ps. A joke . KAKAU used to spend the night on the same chimney of a >house near the fields where she feeds in. The owner have not used the >chimney for>4 days since she doesn't want to bother the bird in spite of the cold >weather (and she relies on the chimney to warm her house !). We told >her it's ok, she could use it and KAKAU will rest on the other chimney of her house.

Correspondence