Belarusian ornithologists, for 2025, summarized the results of the national white stork census, which took place in 2024 as part of the VIII international species counts with the support of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Education, and the "Wild Nature" company, writes the Telegram channel "Wild Nature Nearby".
Illustrative photo. Photo: Nasha Niva
There's good news — the stork population in Belarus has grown!
Absolute counts were carried out on trial sites in various regions, the results of which were extrapolated to the entire country. Currently, 25.5—26.0 thousand pairs nest in the country — this is about 8% of the global population of the species. Over 10 years, the number of nesting pairs has increased by 12% (compared to 2014).
The traditional stork 'haven' is in the south of the country, in the Pripyat floodplains. This is where the champion village is located: Malieshaŭ (Žytkavičy district) with 61 occupied nests!
Slightly behind are: the agro-town Dzivin (Kobryn district) — 40 nests, and the village Liadzets (Stolin district) — 38 nests.
In 2024, most pairs raised 1 to 5 chicks. But in the Kamianiec and Minsk districts, broods of six stork chicks were observed!
As for the bad news — more and more storks prefer power line poles — currently, this is 63%. Electricians have developed special poles with nesting platforms, but they are installing them slowly, not by the thousands, but by the tens. But that's good too.
Global white stork censuses are organized every 10 years in all countries within the stork's range. Regular bird counts help track changes in their populations at local and global levels.
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