Storks: A Village Rooftop Saga
The white stork is the only large European bird that has attached itself to humans. These elegant-looking birds build their nests on roofs and chimneys and are said to be lucky and bring babies. People generally like storks. They have a strangely magical presence that attracts visitors – and the village of Rühstädt, known as “Europe’s Stork Village”, profits from bird-loving tourism. But the struggles of stork life largely go unnoticed by tourists. In reality, storks fight with rapier beaks over their nests, destroy other storks’ clutches of eggs, and are at the mercy of weather around the clock. They cause a lot of bother and work for the villagers. But Rühstädt demonstrates how coordinated efforts make a harmonious and profitable coexistence with these big birds possible.