Obituary to the Forchheim male stork 2007On the 28th of March 2007 I saw for he first time in the year in the nest of the vocational school in Forchheim, the nest which was built after the idea of one of the teachers, Wolfgang Müller-Britting together with his pupils
On the 29th of March there were two storks in the nest, both without ring. And they stayed together, did everything together:
2nd of April 2007 threatening:
Resting:
8th of April 2007 again and again threatening to defend their nest
9th of April 2007 cuddling:
20ies of April 2007 starting to breed:
30.04.07 eggs 3 + 1:
Synchronous breeding…..
8th of May 2007 left side
just beside …….
right side
what is she now upto …!
25th of May 2007 1st and only young one
Everything went well until the 4th of June 2007. For hours only one and always the same stork in the nest…….. then our storkfather, Michael Zimmermann, got a call for help: one stork is lying/standing on the sports ground of the school (which you can see via the webcam in the back) and cannot start to fly – and this since hours. We immediately drove together with our storkfather to Forchheim and when we saw the hanging wing it was clear: this was broken. So our storkfather caught him together with some helpers. And Mr. Müller-Britting drove together with Mr./s Zimmermann and the stork to the Nürnberg Zoo, whereto we brought since years the injured storks and were sure they would help also in this case.
The young one had to be rescued, because it was so young, that it had to be kept warm by one stork and fed by the other. Impossible to do for one stork alone. And so they wanted to take it together with its daddy along to the zoo
But, it was the year of the hysteria with bird-influenca, and the zoo was not allowed to take any birds from outside to protect their birds from infection ….. but at least they showed a way to one vet, a specialist for wild animals and birds. He immediately took over the stork and operated the broken wing, kept him for 10 days. The zoo took over the costs, which was a big help too.
The young one Michael Zimmermann and his wife Rosi took home for the first days to take care of before they put it in another nest to grow up with other young ones of about the same size. Very difficult, because most broods were already much bigger …..
And the female stork? She was standing day by day on her nest and didn´t understand the world around her anymore. On 22nd of June 2007 another stork was standing in her nest, she didn´t look to happy ……….
And she continued to wait and to wait …..
After 10 days the operated stork was picked up by Michael Zimmermann to find a temporarily place for 4 weeks in the Erlangen “home for animals”, after which he had to be brought to the vet again to have the fixing bandage removed and in the hope that he would give the ok to bring him back to Forchheim.
The x-ray showed that the broken wing was cured. Now of course we urgently wished, that the zoo would take over to give him the chance to learn flying again. But there was no chance, so no other solution than to bring him back to Forchheim, put him on the sports ground with the high fence around and give him the chance to train himself. A man from the town had built something, that he could place himself a little higher….
18th of July 2007: „Wolfgang“ (that was the name the pupils had given him,- the first name of Mr. Müller-Britting. “She” was called “Elise”):
And off we went to Forchheim:
As we arrived at the sports ground “Wolfgang” was immediately set free – a bucket with food and one with water to help him were put there
And “Wolfgang” immediately started making exercise with his wings and it looked very well:
He didn´t try straight away to fly, but fist trained his wings
Around 2 p.m. „Elise“ landed on her nest and looked rather puzzled down to the sports ground
And immediately started clattering (!??)
Wolfgang answered back before he was lying down on the meadow rather tired:
After 6 hours watching we drove home, trusting, that Wolfgang was safe in his surrounding with the high fence and that Elise would ‘call’ her Wolfgang home as soon as he is alone. The caretaker of the school, who was living there, had a look on the situation.
He watched, that in the early evening, shortly after we´ve left, Elise landed beside Wolfgang and stayed with him for a few hours. He did not follow her to the nest, but slept on the sports ground. On the next morning the caretaker brought him fresh food and water. In the evening the police informed our storkfather, that Wolfgang had started to fly and was standing together with his Elise on a nearby pond.
Next morning we drove there to see what was going on. Elise was standing on her nest cleaning herself, but where was Wolfgang???
So we started to look for him on this terrible hot day in the hope, that Elise would fly towards Wolfgang and show us, where he is. When she started I rushed to the area she flew to, but she was only seeking food, all by herself, alone:
In the meantime Michael Zimmermann and his wife found Wolfgang lying totally helpless beside a very narrow road in a trench (!??)
This time the left wing was totally broken. Obviously a car had hit him. Without any resistence he let our storkfather pick him up and take him to the vet again. But the vet couldn´t help him anymore, other than to put him asleep.
The only „positive“ thing is, that he was found early and didn´t have to suffer to long.
From this enchanting dreamteam only Elise was left. Where will she fly to? Will she come back?
That´s what we hope very much and that she will have the best stork live a stork can have. That´s what she really deserves!
Elise “the day after“ staring at the sports ground....:
Ref.: Brit 2008
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