White storks migrating on Moroccan garbage dumps

This video is called Birds of Morocco: White Stork.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands today:

Many white storks have shortened their annual trek to Africa, because they prefer to hibernate at large landfills in northern Morocco to flying for instance over the Sahara. This is evident from German research.

The researchers followed groups of storks during their annual migration. That study shows that storks from countries such as Germany and Spain did not get beyond big garbage dumps in the north of Africa.

Survival rates

They seem to thrive in their new places. They have a greater chance of survival because they have to make less effort to get food.

At the same time, it is questionable whether this is good for the species and nature. The storks may ingest plastic or poison. “The consequences of this change are incalculable,” said the lead researcher.

Food from dumps increases the reproductive value of last laid eggs in the White Stork Ciconia ciconia: here.

Breeding ecology of colonial White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) in northeast Algeria: here.

Costs of migratory decisions: A comparison across eight white stork populations: here.

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