Storks along the Camino-

[shefollowsshells]

I wondered if I would see storks along the Norte route in April...I assumed I would as my September/October Frances was filled with abandoned stork nests for the season (I saw one head in Burgos)...

A quick search gave me this informative thread...it appears that I probably will not.
http://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/storks.7960/

I was intrigued by the Stork nests along the Way.

 

[grayland]

I would think that you would.
We saw hundreds of storks along the Camino Frances in 2009 and 2010 in late March and through April.
I can't speak for the Norte, however.

 

[lynnejohn]

I wondered about this too, but it seems that if you do see any storks on the Norte, it will be a rare sighting:

The White Stork is catalogued as Rare in the Catalogue of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna of the Basque Country. This is because the population of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country has gone down in an alarming way since fifties of past century, reaching a critical situation at the end of seventies, when a nest located in Gamarra (Vitoria-Gasteiz) was the only one that was occupied in all our region.

Of course those who live there will have a more accurate take on this.

 

[Tia Valeria]

We too think that there are not so many storks on the Norte, although we saw one this year near Santillana del Mar. That was at the beginning of May, we just checked the date on Terry's photograph.

 

[angulero]

Es muy raro que las cigüeñas pasen la cordillera. Algunas lo hacen, pero no es habitual y menos en la costa. Ojo, hablo de Asturias, pero supongo que por el resto de comunidades del cantábrico sea igual. De hecho, nunca vi una cigüeña por mi zona.

Rarely storks pass the mountains. Some do, but it is unusual and less on the coast. I am talking about Asturias, but I guess for the other communities of the Cantabrian it would be equal. In fact, I never saw a stork for my area.

 

[camino07]

Sad, I'll miss the storks on the Norte. This May there were many nests and babies on the Sanabres.

 

[lynnejohn]

The storks remain one of my favorite parts of being in Spain in the spring.
I also have fond memories also of the "stork cam" on a hotel ledge in Zaragoza several years ago.

 

[obinjatoo]

I saw those huge nests along the French route. Someone told those particular nests belong to the Common Crane which migrates to Africa. I was there in the fall so I did not get to see any of the birds. I've seen the Sand Hill Cranes here in N America so I imagine the Common Crane is equally impressive.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The common crane (above).
The stork (below).