Overview
- First arrivals have been confirmed in several regions, including Hamburg’s first bird settling on a Bergedorf nest, according to stork expert Jürgen Pelch.
- Many of the earliest returners are westbound migrants that wintered on the Iberian Peninsula, with some birds staying in Germany through winter, the Loburg station reports.
- Storchenhof Loburg recorded the return of stork Anton and estimates only 10 to 15 birds back so far, and the site remains closed to visitors after a nearby avian influenza case, with recent outbreaks also reported in Spain and France.
- NABU’s Hamburg program says only seven GPS‑tagged storks from its since‑2019 cohort are still alive, and tracked birds such as Jan and Marco have begun moving north.
- Germany’s population remains robust at roughly 13,000 breeding pairs in 2024, yet experts say food availability and weather will determine brood success after heavy rain killed many chicks in some areas last year.