A pair of white storks, to the general satisfaction of the people of Beran, arrived at their nest this year, on one of the city's lighting poles, in Polimska Street.
First, ten days ago, a male, called Perko, arrived, and not long after, a female Perka, which was all recorded by cameras previously installed by the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds (CZIP) from Podgorica, in order to follow the movement of that unique specimen of a pair of white storks in Montenegro.
Ornithologist Darko Saveljic explained that, as a rule, the male arrives a little before the female to prepare the nest.
"In the previous days, in addition to searching for fish, frogs and other snacks, he dedicatedly trimmed his feathers in order to leave the best possible impression. Although storks spend their entire lives together (they are monogamous as a species), the attention that Perko will shower on his sweetheart is repeated from season to season. It doesn't matter that they spent all their time in Africa together, the return across the Sahara and the Adriatic sea ruffled feathers, separated them for a short time, enough to warm to each other and rekindle their love. Mrs. Perko Rodić, welcome," it says on the website of the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds.
A pair of white storks in their nest on a pole in the busy Polimska street were first noticed in the spring of 2012. That year, the storks hatched three chicks with which they went back to their homeland at the end of the summer.
Saveljić then said that it was interesting that there were white storks in all the countries around us, in Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Croatia, and Serbia, but in our country, despite the extraordinary conditions, there were none for a long time. He added that this fact was very strange even for foreign experts.
He also explained that the residents do not need to feed them because the river is nearby and they can find enough food themselves.
Ornithologists do not have an answer to the question why the white stork, in addition to ideal environments such as Skadar or Lake Plav, chose Berane. They believe that white storks should be a big event for the city, and remind that in developed European areas, stork festivals are held and its arrival is celebrated.
"In Europe, millions of euros are allocated for its protection. In some places where it usually nests, special pillars are made and preparations are made for its reception. The arrival of the white storks is a big event for Montenegro as well," according to ornithologists.
As they come over the years and refine their nest each time, it had already become too heavy and burdened the electrical cables on which they are located. For this reason, Elektroprivreda and the Bird Protection Center made a special metal construction for the nest, which can reach a diameter of up to two meters. The nest, as the ornithologists explained, is made according to all world standards, of a metal structure and raised above the electric cables, so there is no longer any fear of making a kurslus.
The storks arrived again this year with the beginning of spring, i.e. the first days of April, and this is the jubilee tenth time in a row. White storks, as experts explain, live up to forty years, which is twice as long as all other stork species.
One year, or more precisely in 2017, only a male arrived, while the female probably died somewhere on the way from Africa to Montenegro. Waiting for her in vain, the male was caught by the harsh winter in Berane, so in the end he too died. This pair of white storks, however, hatched a large number of chicks in Berane, so the tradition has not been interrupted, and their descendants still visit the town in the north of Montenegro every year and their nest on the lamp post.
Bonus video:
