In Bulgaria, we love the white stork. It is our favourite bird. We are lucky enough to have many of these magnificent creatures in our village. There are more than a hundred that live close to the lake and there is a big nest at the entrance to Dragizhevo village. The white storks spend the summer in Bulgaria. It breeds mainly in Europe but in North Africa, the Middle East and in Central Asia too.

People love it for many reasons. Some love the folklore that it represents new birth and the coming of spring. Some love its white plumage and giant features. Some love the fact that each winter it flies off to the holy lands. Some love it because its prey are animals that people don’t love too much: frogs, snakes, locusts and rodents.

One of the busiest flyways of the white stork on its way to Africa and back to Europe passes through Bulgaria. Nearly 80 per cent of all white storks on the planet fly through the country, In August huge flocks of storks can be seen all along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The white stork is a soaring bird – it uses the warm thermals to help it along its long flight.

A big bird with long red legs

The white stork is a big bird with a body length of 95–110 cm and a large wingspan – 180–218 centimetres. When a stork flies low overhead the sun is eclipsed and it feels like night has fallen! Despite its big size, the white stork is relatively light, weighing between 2 and 4.5 kilos.

This long-legged bird, with a long neck and a long, pointed beak, with white plumage and black flight feathers is very famous. They are the subject of folk tales and fairy stories. On its chest the white stork has longer, fluffy feathers that create a ruff of sorts; some individuals use it in their courting rituals. Males are larger than females. In adult birds the beak and legs are bright red, and in the young they are brown-reddish. In flight the white stork stretches out its neck and legs – an important clue to distinguish it from flying herons.

What Do Storks Eat?

They love to eat insects (mostly beetles, grasshoppers, crickets), earth worms, snakes and other reptiles, amphibians (frogs in particular), small mammals (mice, voles and other rodents). The farmers love storks too, because they eat rodents, locusts and other insects. The storks contribute to a better harvest. The white stork searches for prey during the day. At night they often roost in trees.  

A Welcome Family

The white stork nests in human settlements across Bulgaria. It searches for food near to rivers, water bodies, fields, and meadows, which is why our lake is popular.

According to the last count there are 5825 pairs in Bulgaria currently.

White storks form lifelong pairs. However, in contrast to swans and eagles that do not separate throughout the year, white storks are more liberal. After they raise their chicks, the male and female separate; one could spend the winter in Kenya, the other – in Sudan: they do not need to be together, as they do not breed there. In spring they meet again at the nest. The male comes first and a few days later the female arrives.

The stork’s huge home

The white stork’s nest is huge and the pair repairs the nest every year – not only in spring but throughout the breeding season. They are between 1.5 and 2m in diameter. The nest is built from branches – long, thicker ones for the base, and smaller ones that are woven into the structure. The birds then bring dry grass, and sometimes – old rags and paper too. Other birds will also join them in the nest. It is so big, they probably don’t know the smaller birds are there.

The female white stork lays 2–5 eggs in the period April–June. The pair breeds once a year. Incubation starts immediately after the female lays her first egg so the young do not hatch simultaneously. Last year there were 3 chicks in the nest at the entrance to Dragizhevo village. By the end of the summer, they were so big they could not all fit in the nest. They had to take it in turns to rest there.

The white stork has a conservation priority status, and it is protected in Bulgaria as well as in the other countries.

The Black Stork

These are much rarer than the white storks, but you will see them in our area. Most of the nests in Bulgaria are in wet areas.

The Black Stork is foraging (fish, amphibians) exclusively in and around wetlands. By the middle of the twentieth century, the population in the country was small, nesting in remote wooded areas and becoming endangered. After 1950, the number began to increase; nesting sites appeared in the areas where it was found before, as well as in new places in the country. At the end of the twentieth century, the trend of increasing the number of breeding pairs persisted, and by 2005 the population was estimated at 300-550 pairs.

Regardless of which part of Bulgaria your research squares are in, be on the lookout for the appearance of a Black Stork. We see them every year in the fields around the campsite. They especially like to forage in the freshly ploughed soil, so keep an eye out if the farmers are working on the fields during your stay with us.

Fun Facts about Storks. Did you know…?

• They arrive in Bulgaria in March
• They leave Bulgaria in September.
• They lay between 2 & 5 eggs.
• Eggs hatch after 33 days.
• The birds first fly after 2 months.
• An adult wingspan is up to 2m.
• Storks live up to 30 years.

You can find out more information from the Bulgarian Society for Protection of Birds . For more information about nature in and around the campsite click here. Another delightful species that we see in Late May early June are fireflies and swallows.