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| Trip to Andalusia in search of Claude and other marked black storks from the project "Flying Over Natura 2000" (Part II). |
| Monday, 07 November 2005 |
 After finding the remains of “Claude” in the mountain range of Cadiz, we went to the ricefields surroundings of the Guadalquivir river in search of two black storks marked by the project: Luxembourgian “Lou” and Belgian “Philippe” |
Searching two black storks among a lot.
 30 of October, the 10 in the morning, in company of Annie and Claude Chapalain (the French friends in charge for the project in the neighbouring country) we located a flock of black storks of 20 to 30 individuals in the fields of rice located in the left bank of the Guadalquivir river. Although we are away from the area signed by satellites for Lou in the “Brazo del Este”, we switched on the scanner in the frequency of VHF of the transmitter of this bird. We do not have luck, unlike to Chapalains on 26th October, where they observed a black stork with transmitter in the rice fields located the right margin of the Guadalquivir, presumably Philippe.
During the rest of the day we tried to locate to some of the two black storks from the project, without success. Nevertheless, we could read some PVC rings: a young one from Ávila like “Esperanza”, a Belgian adult and another Portuguese adult. These are some of the black storks that are located these days next to Lou and Philippe in the south of Andalusia.
On next day, 31th October, without our French friends, but in company of Cristina Parkes, we continued the search. Cristina Parkes and Alejandro Torés already have made this work previously, since the end of the nineties when they were tracking the Czech black stork “Jonás” and his father “David” within the project Africká Odysea, and whose results can be consulted in this website.
In spite of not locating to “Lou” or “Philippe”, really we are satisfied. In a fast count by the left margin of the Guadalquivir, and without trying to make a rigorous census, we counted more than 180 individuals, and considered that may be more than 200 individuals in this margin. Apparently, thanks to the experience and knowledge of Cristina and Alexander, the number has increased during last years.
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How important are the rice fields for black storks.
Ever since in the middle of the nineties, thanks to the pursuit of black storks of the Czech colleagues Africká Odysea, revealed the importance of the surroundings of the Guadalquivir for the wintering of the population of the Western Palearctic of black stork, it has become a place of doubtless interest. May be luck, but 10% of the storks marked by the project are wintering in the surroundings of the Guadalquivir, and although we do not like extrapolations, numbers give indications us that this place can be very important for the species during the winter.
It is an enormous extension of rice fields where the individuals can face the climatic rigors of the winter, simultaneously to find food sufficient to spend the winter without hardly moving. Not migrating to Africa, would suppose clear reproductive advantages to the individuals that have not made a migration transcontinental, and this idea would be supported by the fact that most of the observed individuals are adult in breeding age.
For more information of the wintering of black stork in this zone, it is possible to consult the studies and communications that are stored in this website [Link ]
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