Saturday, August 24, 2013

Storks in Spain, including "Air Dancing."

During the summer we've seen white storks and stork nests in old buildings or tall trees. These storks fly north from Africa to their breeding range in Central Spain. Here are some pictures we have taken of these beautiful birds.

Stork nests on top of an old church in Alcalá de Henares (the birthplace of Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote), east of Madrid:

An adult stork watching its chicks in a nest on top of a tree in Mazanares El Real, north of Madrid:

In this photo, you can see three stork chicks in the same nest:

One of the adult storks sailed overhead, evidently in an attempt to distract us from the nest:

 Another stork joined in the effort:

 Then the two storks started to fly in "bomber" formation over our heads:

They flew in other types of formations as well, like the Navy's "Black Knights''. Here the two adult storks appear to be air dancing as they cross their legs and flap their wings in unison at us:

These are some storks on the top of an old wall of a church in Valladolid, two hours north of Madrid:

A stork does a "helicopter hover" just before joining its mate on top of the Cathedral of Valladolid:

A stork flying overhead in Valladolid:

Two dozen storks stand like sentinels on and around the statue of Christ on top of the Cathedral of Valladolid:

We've enjoyed watching and taking pictures of these beautiful birds, but we haven't seen them deliver any babies yet!

2 comments:

  1. wanderfull pictures, how can i get 2-3 photos in original size of the white storks nesting on trees for my article and lecteres , with your credit afcourse. my mail Lh_m@zahav.net.il
    Dr. Haim Moyal

    ReplyDelete