THE STORKS’ WAY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19783, 26 April 1934, Page 6

THE STORKS’ WAY

Recent investigations have gone far toward solving the problem of the migration of storks. Since 1917 upwards of 110,000 storks from Denmark have been marked with a ring round the leg. Reports have been received concerning a sufficient percentage of these birds to trace their passage fairly accurately. The birds appear to fly via Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Rumania, and across the Bosphorus to Asia Minor. They certainly pass through Egypt, but whether they reach that country by flying over the water or over the land is not certain. They then continue their journey up the Nile over the great lakes of Africa, to winter quarters in Natal or the Cape. The journey of 7500 miles takes just under two months. Oddly enough, the return journey is accomplished in about half that time. Great numbers go further than Denmark, but about 2000 spend the summer there. Modern industrial mechanism, especially hightension cables, is fatal to many, but storks are known to live to the considerable age of 30 or 40 years—if they are lucky.