Alsatian Heart~

On By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, TRAVEL REVIEWS, Wild Life


Pair of White Storks mating in Alsace France. (Click on photos to view full size).

The White Stork is the beloved emblem of the Alsace region of France and appears in symbols and art everywhere in the region.


Yet, by mid-1970, there were only ten mating pairs of White Storks left in Alsace.


They were virtually extinct in this area, although thriving in other parts of the world.


Today, due to local co-operative conservation efforts, there are now an estimated 600 mating pairs of White Storks in Alsace.


Stork populations were decimated mostly by power line electrocution and habitat destruction.

I was fortunate to see this pair in the process of mating and nest-building.

When we returned to our apartment after a day of stork watching, I photographed a pair of local falcon’s mating on a nearby balcony. It is springtime in France after all! Vive La France!

White Storks mate for life, and return to the same nests each year.

Cheers to you from Alsace’s beautiful, White Storks~

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254 thoughts on “Alsatian Heart~”

  1. From 10 to 600… that’s a feat and a good news in this world where news tend to be just the bad but not so much the good that persons can accomplish. Thanks very much, Cindy. : )

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  11. Ah, love is in the air! Thanks for sharing information about the White Stork’s comeback. We’re truly fortunate to be able to witness their beauty today. 🙂

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    1. They are upscale storks who accept nothing but the best in terms of accomodation! Their nests get huge because they use them every year and they are on chimneys, trees, roofs, towers, you name it. I have been watching one lone stork on their nest waiting for the mate who isn’t showing up. Very sad.
      Happy Easter to you Mandy~ <3

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  19. Oh how I enjoyed seeing the mating, the proliferation in action, of this special species, Cindy. It is a marvelous thing that conservationists were able to revive the species. Bonjour to you, my friend, and mercie for the wonderful photos.

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  25. So beautiful pictures! 🙂 Here in southern Sweden we have several successful projects to get the stork back again. Where I live, two pairs now breed, and one of them stays all year long.

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  32. What a beauty of photos. They are a dream to enjoy the natural environment of these birds. Trasmites their work with a unique sharpness. You can enjoy art more than you can.

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    1. It is now 3 degrees celcius in Germany with snow expected! First we had a month of heat waves, and now snow, and our hotel heating system isn’t working. Ah, the joys of travel! It, like life, is not always sunny days and skies unfortunately! Hugs to you Brenda~ <3

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  36. These birds are lovely. What a blessing to be able to capture these photos. I am happy they are multiplying in number in Alsace. Their mating behavior is quite romantic and amusing. <3

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    1. There was a tenderness to the whole process that surprised me. I couldn’t include the whole process as it would be too many photos. But it was really quite lovely. Cheers & hugs to you Nancy~ <3

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  41. Beautiful beautiful Cindy! I can’t imagine how you managed to capture all that1 We saw storks on our visit to that region– remember their huge nests on church rooftops. And there were storks who migrated up from north Africa to Andalucia when we lived there. So regal! Thanks for taking the time to photograph them so perfectly for us…

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    1. You are very kin and yes, they do migrate from Africa, and I saw storks today near Heidelberg, although not white storks. The white stork nests all over Alsace now which is wonderful. How wonderful for you to have lived amongst them in Andalucia! Hugs to you Rhonda~

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        1. We were in Baden Baden over Easter and loved it! I will be posing on it soon. It is gorgeous! I loved the mandarin ducks in the River Oos and the tulips and we stayed in Brenners Park as a present for my husband’s birthday and it was so lovely! <3

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                  1. I know. I find normal comments in my spam folder too sometimes. I think it’s when the comments contains a link or two one can end up in spam folder.

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