Looking out of the window and discovering a face staring down at you is one thing. Discovering that the visitor is the equivalent of Sesame Street’s Big Bird and that he’s brought his pals along with him is even more amazing. Check out these storks, who have migrated over from Africa and have apparently decided to spend the night in my garden, just in front of my bedroom window. I hope they won’t be leaving any parcels on the doorstep when they leave…..
Multifarious meanderings 
How cool is that? Fingers crossed they leave with all their parcels…
They are beautiful birds, although I wouldn’t want one to fly into the window pane. Now I know why I don’t clean my windows 🙂
Of course! You never know when a stork might fly into your window! Must remember that one… 🙂
There looks like there is quite a lot of meat on them..
Aha. Could we spark off the next food scandal for Christmas turkeys???
It is worth a try, could we make any money from it?
And more to the point, how are you going to catch them???
I know an expert stork catcher (true!) but I don’t think he’d help me if I told him that I wanted to sell them for Christmas dinners. SO here’s the plan: we will tether frogs on your head in the garden and use you as bait. I’ll hide behind a bush with the hessian bag, you grab their feet when they land on your shoulders, and we’ll be the Bernard Matthews of the stork market. 😀
Cool! You must have a huge garden, good for you!
The garden’s just right- not tiny, not too big…. but the two cedars are humungous beasties that attract all kinds of wildlife 🙂
I live in Toronto city, Ontario, Canada. Living in a big city means small garden although it is very convenient to get gardening materials. Well, nothing is perfect, but we must enjoy and appreciate what we have!
Wow, Toronto…. I’d like to go there one day. PF’s been there, and brought me back two tastes of Canada: a fridge magnet and a superb pair of sheepskin slippers 🙂 My gardening skills are limited, but I’m planning on starting modestly with a herb patch and a few tomatoes this year…….
The calling cards…once allowed to decay a bit…should be very good for growing champion onions with a bit of decayed soot added.
I’m not at all sure I should have liked to wake up to that spectacle….it would take a cup of Earl Gray before I started to appreciate them as I should.
It’s raining today, my visitors have gone and the calling cards are disintegrating….. But I love the idea of serving up onions that have grown on a sea of stork poo 😀
Would make for wonderful dinner party conversation as your guests ingurgitate their sauce soubise….
It’d be a great way to make sure we had some left-overs for the next day 🙂
So why complain about having left Alsace ? You get storks on top of your cedar, the top of which makes a good landing site indeed, and enjoy the walks in the Languedocian countryside as you wrote in your previous post and sent beautiful pictures.
Storks are superb fliers : my first glider flights in Morocco were often in company of these birds. We spiraled behind them at close range in the same thermals and to make sure we were not a near-miss they looked at us bending quickly their long neck underneath their body, sort of a glance in the rear-view mirror.
.I flew yesterday, with some vultures but didn’t see any stork.: they don’t fly overhere and seem not to like mountains as frogs are probably more difficult to catch than in the plains.
Anyway, good omens, spring is coming and they have choosen your garden for a rest, feeling they are almost at home in company of Alsace lovers !
As for catching storks, beware of their long beaks !
Papounet.
I think they understood that we are their allies; maybe they were planning to abduct me and fly me back to the Bruche valley to see my friends? Today they have gone (that’s Alsatian rigour and promptness for you) and have been replaced by the cedar’s next tenants: the Hoopoes are back, with their wild punky crests on their heads and stripy wings. There’s a whole world in the Cedar Tree Hotel….
You’re so lucky! I would’ve attempted to feed them lol 🙂
I didn’t have a store of frogs handy, or I would have given it a go….. 🙂
Oh I didn’t know they eat frogs! I was thinking more of seeds and corn haha 🙂
A bit of French sense of humor during this rainy day : I counted six storks on your cedar. As the Alsacian people use to sing, celebrating the Spring arrival :
“Les 6 cognes sont de retour…” (to be sung with their typical accent, of Corse).
If perplexed,, ask PF.
What kind of birds are Hoopoes ?
Papounet.
LOL! J n’avais pas vu l’astuce….. Funny!! Very clever, Papounet. YOu say “of Corse”…. as Napoleon said? ;-)Hoopoes are called “les huppes cedrées” or “les huppes fasciées” in French. They’re very funny birds.
Elles t’ont reconnue et on du coup pensé être arrivées en Alsace 😉
T’as vu ça? On s’est regardées longuement, elles et moi… transmission de pensées effectuées pour amener de l’amour et des gros hugs aux Zamis Halsaciens… FAIT ❤
Oh wow! That’s amazing and yes, guano is good for the garden. 😉
I l was thrilled to see them – I love storks, because as Papounet has already pointed out, there are lots of them in the Alsace, and they nest all over the place there. I never had one in my garden, let alone an entire squad of them pottering around my tree!
Love your storks! And many thanks for visiting my blog and enjoying it enough to follow. 🙂
The pleasure is all mine – I enjoyed what I read, so it would have been silly not to sign up for more 🙂