The white storks that have made the village of Apaga their summer home are now preparing for the arduous flight to warmer climes in anticipation of the coming winter. When a pair of storks leaves their massive nest, village residents will find their missing odds and ends, a missing shoe, a child’s toy or even a garden tool, in the maze of branches above.

During the ensuing winter months, villagers will forget all about the inconveniences that the storks create and long for their return, a good omen for the year to come.

Arayik Afrikyan, a resident of Apaga in the Armavir Marz, proudly points to a thirty year-old stork nest atop his house. The home owner has given up repairing the cracks in the walls due to the sheer weight of the nest but hasn’t decided to remove it. “What can I do? The birds have wrecked the roof. They’ve built their nest right atop the water pipe and refashion it every year,” complains Mr. Afrikyan. He ten smiles and says that four baby storks were born this year. When his wife also began to voice her litany of complaints, I asked why they didn’t remove the nest. “Those are our storks up there. We’ve practically grown up together,” Arayik replied. “Next year I’ll repair the roof. I’ll build a platform to raise the nest on,” he explains, seeking to console himself that in this fashion his roof will be out of harm’s way. Village residents are loathe to destroy a stork’s nest even when it gets so heavy that it threatens their homes and property. They complain and curse the birds but will never remove a nest themselves. If a nest has to be removed they get others to do the dirty work.

“White Stork” project protects existing nests

Starting in 2005, the American University of Armenia’s “Hakobyan Ecological Center” has been conducting its “White Stork” research project. The nests are protected by staff members and village residents whose homes or trees have been chosen by the birds as nesting sites. Considered to be the closest neighbor to a nesting pair of storks, Arayik Afrikyan fills out a questionnaire supplied by the Center regarding the birds’ migratory patterns, brood size, etc. At the end of the year he hands over the completed form to the researchers for tabulation. In this fashion, local residents have kept tabs on some 996 stork nests in Armenia over the past few years. Each of the nests is affixed with a plaque that reads “Protected”. According to last year’s survey, 680 nests had roosting pairs, 21 were inhabited by a single stork and the rest went empty. Such statistics are necessary not only to maintain healthy stocks of white storks in Armenia but also serve as an indicator of regional pollution. Storks have no natural predators. Pairs with broods will literally throw out those chicks that are weak or ill from the nest in order to maintain a healthy next generation. In areas where large numbers of chicks are “pushed out” in this natural selection process, there is a high probability that the young birds have succumbed to increasing levels of pollution or industrial exhausts. Observations along these lines require long-term scientific study.

Villagers keep tabs on stork behavior

“At first it was hard to convince people to follow-up and take notes of the information we required. People in the villages are out working in the fields all day and had other things on their mind. Sometimes they forgot and sometimes they got angry that we were asking to do all this for free. But we cajoled and coaxed them and spent time with them in the fields, etc. In the end, the villagers cam around and promised to help out,” says Maro Kochinyan, a project staffer. Storks usually build nests atop trees, house, electric pylons, and even statues. There are some nests in Armenia that tip the scales at one ton. With each passing year, the nests grow larger and heavier since the birds constantly make repairs and additions. This is an instinctual process because if the nest isn’t repaired the need to lay eggs doesn’t arise. Sometimes, nests perched atop electric pylons catch aflame. The larger birds can fly to safety but the fate of the chicks is different. In such cases, local resident call the Center for assistance. The Center has also started to band young birds with identity rings on their feet. So far some 200 young birds carry the “RoA Citizen” band. The different numbers on the band allow researchers to track the movements of individual storks.

It is a little known fact that storks usually change their nests every year. Rarely do they return to the same nest site. Storks start to migrate in groups to warmer climes by September and October. Many rural areas in Armenia have already witnessed the migration of the white stork. Longtime residents however are certain that they will return next spring as they have done for time immemorial.

Photos: Maro Kochinyan