Walking through the floodplain on long legs

Drawing of flying stork

is not displayed. Please always include if a heading is to be displayed flush over the blind. And assign the name ".no-jalousie" to the box.

Learn more about the station here

Rhine meadows are the home of the storks

Wet feet are no problem for the white stork. In spring and summer, the floodplain meadow is the perfect place for observing this eye-catching bird. Storks need soggy areas to forage for food, and they will always find a richly laid table here in the Rhine floodplains. Storks are not picky eaters and feast on earthworms, insects, fish and mice. An adult stork eats around 500 to 700 grams of food a day. That equals about 16 mice! Storks need this energy when they start their long journey south in autumn.

Human proximity - no problem

The stately birds get along well with humans, building large nests on house roofs, towers or electricity pylons. Once settled, stork couples always return to the same nesting site.

Storks must be protected

Unfortunately, the number of white storks in Germany has been decreasing for a long time due to habitat loss and poor foraging conditions. That is why protecting the floodplain is important for the preservation of this impressive bird.

What does it sound like when storks flirt?

They do so with noisy mutual bill-clattering.

Drawing of flying stork

A bird goes on a world tour

When the days get shorter and the nights cooler, it's time for the white stork to go on the road again. Every year in autumn, our white storks set off on a long journey. Without much luggage, but with a lot of strength and courage, they head south. The world trip can begin.

Stork migration is a behavioral adaptation. When winter comes in Europe, food becomes scarce. The clever stork, like many other bird species, then simply looks for another richly laid table. For a full belly, the bird flies up to 10,000 kilometers to warm Africa in two to four months.

Not every stork winters in the same place in Africa and flies the same route. Do you want to find out where white stork lady Else is right now?

To the stork lady "Else

The nest building - breeding place with a view

A stork sits in its nest in the Rhine meadows

Storks need a view. A nest must be high so that the large birds can fly there and away.

Two storks build their nest on a house.

The white stork first builds a round, stable base from branches as thick as a thumb.

Two storks in one nest.

Fine branches are threaded on the side. The nest grows.

Three storks in one news

The inside of the nest is padded with warm, insulating material, such as moss, leaves, grass, hay, straw or even textiles.

A family of storks in their newst

Stork nests are at least one meter wide, often even wider so that all stork children have space.

Help the stork built its nest.

Click on the materials that the stork needs.

Hammer and nails
Hay
A pillow
Small branches
Leaves
Moss
Small umbrella
Thick stick

Correct! The base has a nest hollow, in which the actual nest is then built. For this, storks use soft material such as leaves, hay, straw, root tufts, grass bales and leaves but also paper or waste such as old clothes.

Attention, that was not quite right. Try again.

Drawing of standing stork