Storks, Leylek, Adiba - bringer of babies (maybe)
Whatever you call them they are fascinating large birds to those of us who don't normally see them. Storks are a common sight across Turkey between April and September. turkey is a stopover point between the birds’ winter quarters in Africa (we have seen them in December on the city walls of Morocco where they return from the Atlas Mountains to their nests around 6 pm local time each night. Curiously some information sites say that storks mate of life others say this is not so, but they are monogamous. Around thirty thousand breeding pairs are believed to visit Turkey, often returning to the same nest year after year to raise new chicks. Both Christian and Islamic beliefs consider storks lucky, in Turkish they are known as “pilgrim birds” in Turkish, they are rarely harmed. In some areas of Turkey special platforms are built I additions to the storks’ favorite nesting perches, which range from chimneys and minarets to utility poles. Locally we have storks not too far away an...