Regular readers will recall Fethiye Times’ excitement last year when storks nested close to the village wing.  There were frequent articles throughout the summer as three storklings hatched, learned to fly and, in late August, headed off for their winter territory in Africa. 

We are sure you are losing sleep wondering whether or not the storks have returned this year?  Yes, they are here but, as we covered the whole experience in such detail last year, this time around we intend to focus on key moments.
 
The first of which occurred way back in early April when the first returning stork appeared on the electric pole right outside the village wing of Fethiye Times.  He (we presumed the gender because he got into nest building straight away and the males allegedly do the building) spent several days trying to start a nest, the remains of which can still be seen.  We worried about our power supply if a huge nest was created – not to mention danger of fricasseed storklets.

However, we worried in vain, as another stork soon arrived and took up residence in last year’s nest round the corner and the one on the electric pole moved in with her.  Now here is the awkward bit.  The one from the pole looked young, one of last year’s chicks we thought.  The one round the corner looked more like one of last year’s parents so there may just be a highly incestuous relationship going on which, according to this writer’s researches, is perfectly acceptable in the stork world.

One month later the female is sitting on her eggs and the male is scouring the hinterland for food.  Apparently frogs are considered to be particularly tasty morsels.  We shall update you in due course on happenings with this year’s storks.