Storks in La Mata Storks Nest house opposite aunt Nores
For almost a month that have reached La Mata storks. From majestic and great length, white stork (Ciconia ciconia ) is one of the most characteristic animals of the spring. Bird of good omen, harbinger of good tidings and a symbol of the birth of their children, their white plumage, which contrasts with a touch black and red beak and long legs, gives it a characteristic and unmistakable. can grow to four feet, and weighs between three and four kilos . It feeds on insects, reptiles, amphibians and mice and used to build their nests on the roofs of houses and trees and bell towers. storks usually breed for the first time at the age of five years and some, still reproduce at the age of twenty. It is a sociable bird that does not fear the proximity of man.
The highest concentrations of storks in western Europe are recorded in the land that crosses the Via de la Plata, from Badajoz Leon. The stork is a bird in expansion, having a hard time. In fact, in La Mata a few years ago we enjoyed their company, they were scarce this far north and nested in Leon lands further south.
in Spain were surveyed in 1948, 14,513 couples, a level that fell on, to place the species in danger of extinction. " In 1957 there were 12,071 pairs, and in 1984 there were only 6,753. But since then, thanks to protectionist measures, the trend has reversed and evaluated the 1994 census and 17,000 pairs in 2004, according to the sixth International White Stork Census, last to date, had 32,923 couples in Spain,
León province in the census are 862 pairs in 1957, 445 in 1974, 257 in 1979 to 361 in 1984 (
of them, 1 pair with 7 chickens Ambasaguas, 1 pair with 2 chicks in Barrio, 1 pair with 2 chicks in Barrillos, 1 couple with 1 chicken and 1 The Vecilla empty nest in Santa Colomba and The Cándana, on the banks of Curueño). In 2004, there were 2,799 couples in León, spread over 760 locations.
This positive trend has made the species no longer included in the recently published Red Book of Birds.
Traditionally, Western European storks pass through Spain, where English bind to travel to Morocco, Algeria, and Chad Tibesti, until the steppe belt of the Sahel, an area which borders Senegal, Mali, Chad and Nigeria.
Although the saying has it that "In San Blas the stork but see and Romans, the year of snow and if the Romans, Year of goods" changing habits of storks make some winter in Spain, due to, among other causes, to changes in migration patterns of the species, with shorter and shorter distances in time and space, from landfills as new sources of supply, greater public awareness, weather conditions both adequate breeding sites, where the spring has been more or less humid, as in the winter quarters in Africa, and the implementation of various conservation measures (correction of power lines).
In La Mata usually see the storks from the heat of the day or at night resting on one leg, his head on the back collection and peak covered by the long feathers of the neck. To take off on flat surfaces, the stork makes a couple of jumps and spreads its wings always upwind. If, moreover, dominated by rising air currents, the stork knows how to use to go up into the clouds and enjoy a high altitude flight. And, before landing, the stork tour sometimes on the landing.
The best time to observe the flight of storks began in the first half of February and reached the end of summer, at which they begin to plan the new migration. To do this, gather in the meadows, where you stand in circles higher and higher, though, at night, they return to their nests. With the first signs of winter will leave in droves definitely easier to see during the day, at high altitude, but without maintaining any particular order. Of all departing from the peninsula, those born in the summer, not return the following spring, they tend to spend their second summer still in Africa.
