Part one of a series of four. Part two: Germany’s best corner for a weekend of cycling
Apologies to those wing-bats from stopbirdporn.org who ruffled a few feathers at the Democratic National Convention this past summer, but you can’t help but watch when storks decide to do it.
They also don’t seem to min
d a bit.
While cycling on the banks of the Elbe this past weekend two hours upriver from Hamburg we saw about 50 storks spread out over miles of nature reserve, nesting on farmhouse rooftops or on specially built stand-alone platforms.
Entering one village we saw a magnificent pair, so we stopped to have a look and take a few photos.
It all happened so fast.
First one of them clapped its beak and threw its head back.
The the male flew up and stood on the female’s back:
Then they got down to business:
Total elapsed time from foreplay to damn, that was good: about 15 seconds.
The banner photograph shows the town of Britannia Beach, BC, Canada, where I grew up. It's home. But I don't live there anymore.
Are you sure they weren’t gay storks? Sometimes it’s even quicker, in my experience.
ReMARKable photos! Um, it seems it’s a good thing she has strong legs.
Did he fall right to sleep or did she make him stay up to chat about what direction the relationship was headed in?
so THAT’s where babies come from
Never mind the hanky-panky. That nest rocks!
If you take a close look at the nest in the photo where the male is standing on the female’s back, you’ll see little birds in there, too. We counted nine in this nest alone.
Headbang, I admire your complete lack of TMI.
@unbearable banishment – not much pillowtalk, though she was overheard to complain about his constant preening and the poor quality grub he was bringing home…
wow! that nest is incredible
Du Spanner! Watching the vögel vögeln.
A visual pun in German! You’re a vöglin’ genius, Indie.
I always knew it as Du Spinner – meaning you idiot, you silly person – with a great slurring Schhh before the p and ending with an emphatic -AH to end, ie: Du Schpinnah.
No, “Spanner” is right. He called you a voyeur
@jxn – hey, no kidding! I didn’t know that term. Funny, I’ve been called a Spinner before, not a Spanner…
So Indie, has anyone ever called YOU a Spanner???
Woo! What a blog to stumble upon! I shall place you on the blogroll. It was funny that the first post I should see of yours was about cycling; mine has contained nothing much else, lately.
Hi yohablo,
Cycling lately is all I seem to have been doing!
If you want some more posts on cycling, you just have to click on the category in the sidebar.
I know what you mean! I’ve been doing a ton of cycling, too, battling hills and high winds.
And now I’ve just seen another unintended consequence of the Spanner joke but it’s so boring and completely cycle-related that I won’t put it out there completely.
Remarkable pictures of beautiful birds. Do hope they enjoyed themselves no matter how long it took!!