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In Polish countryside pretty much every village has several frames for storks to build their nests on. People build them on their roofs or on utility poles, and

by ajuc 2y ago

In Polish countryside pretty much every village has several frames for storks to build their nests on. People build them on their roofs or on utility poles, and some utility companies do that too. It's best to build it a meter or more over the base to protect the nest from predators and electricity. http://dbajobociany.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/naprawa-gniazd.jpg http://dbajobociany.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/naprawa-gn... https://e-magazyny.pl/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/bocian-slup-energetyczny-600x400.jpg https://e-magazyny.pl/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/bocian-slup... https://ipla.pluscdn.pl/dituel/cp/wo/wo139es6nx2b9jxcrg8a521fafge1x3i.jpg https://ipla.pluscdn.pl/dituel/cp/wo/wo139es6nx2b9jxcrg8a521... Also I've never seen a stork feeding in a swamp as they wrote in this article, but I've seen plenty of times storks walking behind a tractor plowing a field. They wait for the farmer to dig up the ground and eat the larva of insects uncovered by the tractors. They also catch frogs and mice on regular fields. Don't need to be a bog. That's probably why farmers love them.

rob74 2y ago
> They also catch frogs and mice on regular fields. Don't need to be a bog. That's probably why farmers love them. Right you are, but still, the natural habitat which they are adapted to with their long legs, beak and neck is wetlands. Of course, if they can find plenty of food in a freshly ploughed field, they will take that too, but so will many other birds (crows etc.).
aebtebeten 2y ago
I think farmers love them because of their association with peace and prosperity. Compare to the idea that sparrows in a barn are good luck — I think the causation is the other way around: if you are prosperous enough that you can be feeding your horses better than bare subsistence, there will be undigested grains in their manure, and sparrows come live in your barn. Similarly, storks, being near the top of their food chain and migratory, probably prefer to nest in villages when there are large* numbers of people plowing regularly, but prefer unpopulated swamps when war or other disturbance has significantly reduced the local agricultural activity? Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oCoVXcZ59Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oCoVXcZ59Q (chorus: "Stork on the roof / Peace on Earth") * just like autism causes vaccines, babies bring the storks?
- Sharlin 2y ago
  Well, the Chinese found out a very hard way that with sparrows, the causation definitely goes the other way too!
- fsckboy 2y ago
  >undigested grains in their manure, and sparrows come live in your barn are you aware that sparrows eat bugs, and farms have bugs?
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    Yes*. What bugs don't explain would be the difference between "unlucky" and "lucky". We have horses on different rations in our barn, and as far as I can tell, they all attract about the same number of bugs, but the sparrows tend to hang out way more with the ones on richer rations than they do with the ones on leaner. * eg https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41215084 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41215084 (and I'm also aware that sparrows in winter appreciate half a kilowatt of heat per large animal, which is also independent of ration)

by ajuc 2y ago

rob74 2y ago

> They also catch frogs and mice on regular fields. Don't need to be a bog. That's probably why farmers love them. Right you are, but still, the natural habitat which they are adapted to with their long legs, beak and neck is wetlands. Of course, if they can find plenty of food in a freshly ploughed field, they will take that too, but so will many other birds (crows etc.).

aebtebeten 2y ago

I think farmers love them because of their association with peace and prosperity. Compare to the idea that sparrows in a barn are good luck — I think the causation is the other way around: if you are prosperous enough that you can be feeding your horses better than bare subsistence, there will be undigested grains in their manure, and sparrows come live in your barn. Similarly, storks, being near the top of their food chain and migratory, probably prefer to nest in villages when there are large* numbers of people plowing regularly, but prefer unpopulated swamps when war or other disturbance has significantly reduced the local agricultural activity? Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oCoVXcZ59Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oCoVXcZ59Q (chorus: "Stork on the roof / Peace on Earth") * just like autism causes vaccines, babies bring the storks?

Sharlin 2y ago
Well, the Chinese found out a very hard way that with sparrows, the causation definitely goes the other way too!
fsckboy 2y ago
>undigested grains in their manure, and sparrows come live in your barn are you aware that sparrows eat bugs, and farms have bugs?
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  Yes*. What bugs don't explain would be the difference between "unlucky" and "lucky". We have horses on different rations in our barn, and as far as I can tell, they all attract about the same number of bugs, but the sparrows tend to hang out way more with the ones on richer rations than they do with the ones on leaner. * eg https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41215084 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41215084 (and I'm also aware that sparrows in winter appreciate half a kilowatt of heat per large animal, which is also independent of ration)