Constantly in the same place it insists on nesting for ten years Stork in Xanthi.

The unique story of the stork was recorded by the coordinator of white stork ringing of the Hellenic Bird Ringing Center, Eva Stets, emphasizing that “such stories of storks are few”. As he explained, in Greece, it is the only ringed stork who has been maintaining it for 10 years.

“It has been ringed by me the 2013, with the help of the Nestos-Vistonidas-Ismaridas Management Agency at the time and it originates from Vafeika in Xanthi and nests 7.5 kilometers further,” says Ms. Stets.

“It was first observed and ringed in a group of storks that are not yet breeding. He came back a few years later and since 2017 he has always “persisted” in the same village, even though the other storks had chased him away from other nests in the past. Since 2018 (with the exception of 2019) it has consistently come to the same nest. We know from the mating observations that it is a female, she has already given birth to several cubs that have also been ringed and we have had rediscoveries from some of them. The children of this stork had become parents and their children’s young have also been ringed.”

According to Ms. Stets, the migration of birds continues these days and many of the existing nests in dozens of regions in Greece have already been occupied. “However,” he notes, “it’s great and very moving to learn that a baby stork you held in your arms has made it and is coming home again and again.”