One of the surprise sights for us has been the huge (and occupied) nests built by the White Stork. Known in Portuguese as Cegonha-branca, these large graceful birds return to the same nest every year after their winter break in central Africa.
Although storks are migratory, over 10,000 now winter here due to the abundance of food on garbage dumps and the ever increasing Louisiana cray fish invasion of Portugal’s waterways.
As you can imagine, their nests are huge and unmistakable, built on any supporting structure from chimneys, dead palm trees and electricity poles. They prefer to nest inland although here in the Algarve you will find nests on cliffs, which happens nowhere else in the world.
These are a unique bird with a unique history. In fact, the Romans saw a stork’s nest on their house as a blessing and a promise of Venus’ never-ending love and in Greece, Aristotle made it a crime to kill a stork. For me, it is just a treat to see something so large and graceful. I look forward to discovering more nests. Perhaps on a cliff side. The Algarve continues to delight.
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1 comments:
Those are the funniest nests I have ever seen...how brilliant to use the towers as the base for their "condos".
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