04/09/2015 Long wait is over - Black Stork!

Friday 4th September 2015
Bexhill, East Sussex

At the third attempt and after nearly 8 hours of observation I finally got my reward when I saw the Black Stork flying over the Little Common Recreation Ground at Bexhill.  I very nearly missed out though!



Black Stork
Library picture

I arrived at 11.45 to find I was the only birder present.   Unbeknown to me, some 15 minutes earlier, the stork had been seen but went down north of the usual viewing point so the birders had relocated to try and find it again.  After nearly an hour, without success, they came back to where I was.  At this point I was nearly out of time and needed to get home.  I started to move towards my car, cursing my bad luck, only to be called back because the stork was showing again.  For a good 5 minutes or so we enjoyed good flight views before it went down again behind the trees.

What a relief!

Addition to BUBO UK life List of Birds:
Black Stork   (299)

Addition to BUBO 2015 UK Bird List:
Black Stork   (251)

What a rarity in the UK!

• The black stork (Ciconia nigra) is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a widespread, but uncommon, species that breeds in the warmer parts of Europe (predominantly in central and eastern regions), across temperate Asia and Southern Africa. This is a shy and wary species, unlike the closely related white stork. It is seen in pairs or small flocks—in marshy areas, rivers or inland waters. The black stork feeds on amphibians and insects.

• During the summer, the black stork is found from Eastern Asia (Siberia and China) west to Central Europe, reaching Estonia in the north, Poland, Lower Saxony and Bavaria in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and Greece in the south, with an outlying population in Spain and Portugal. They are not abundant in these western parts of their distribution, but more densely inhabit the eastern Transcaucasus. A population of black storks is also resident in Southern Africa.

• The black stork is a strong migrant, wintering in tropical Africa and India. A broad-winged soaring bird, the black stork is assisted by thermals of hot air for long distance flight, although are less dependent on them than the white stork. Since thermals only form over land, storks, together with large raptors, must cross the Mediterranean at the narrowest points, and many black storks can be seen going through the Bosphorus. They fly approximately 100 to 250 km (62 to 155 mi) a day with daily maxima up to 500 km (310 mi).

• The storks migrate from the middle of August to the end of September. They return in the middle of March. About 10% of the western storks choose the passage Sicily - Cap Bon, Tunisia. The common route goes over Gibraltar. Many birds are fly around the Sahara next to the coast. Most birds are wintering in the wetlands of Nigeria or Mali. The eastern birds take the route Bosphorus-Sinai-Nile to Africa. Birds that summer in Siberia winter in northern and northeastern India. In Southern Africa, black storks that nest in the central montane areas perform season winter movements to warmer coastal and subtropical zones.