A white stork ringed in Ipsheim, close to Nuremberg, Germany is currently in Malta. The bird is one of a flock of eight seen on Sunday which was still around on Tuesday.

The route possibly taken by the bird.

Hunter Marcus Camilleri, who photographed the birds on Monday, noted one of them had a ring and after contacts were made with the ringing station it turned out that the bird was ringed in the nest on June 5, 2018.

Ornithologist Natalino Fenech said the ringing station informed him this was the first German stork from that ringing station in Malta. “This is its first trip back to Europe as storks spend their first two years in Africa. This bird must have flown at least 10,000 km while on migration since 2018.”

Photo: Ray Galea

Birdlife said later the bird had been ringed by Erwin Taube. The ringing exercise was coordinated by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour. 

The organisation said its birders first observed nine of these birds early on Sunday, and it seemed they had arrived in Malta the previous day.

However, only eight were seen since Sunday afternoon, with several sightings reported in the areas of Żebbuġ, Mosta, Naxxar, Attard, Ta’ Qali and Mtarfa. 

Between Sunday and Monday the birds roosted overnight around Mosta and were seen again on Monday. On Monday night, three settled on the steeple of St Theresa’s Church in Birkirkara. At one point, another tried to settle near them but decided to leave after several unsuccessful attempts.

Birdlife said that gunshot wounds were noted on two of the birds. One had a slightly dangling leg and another had bloodstains on its belly, leg and tail feathers. 

It said the flock was probably a mix of adult and juveniles originating from Bavaria. Stork pairs were known to mate for life, and family groups stuck together throughout migration, with juveniles learning the best migratory routes from adults. 

Photo: Marcus Camilleri

In a statement, St Hubert's Hunters (KSU) said that besides the flock of eight in Malta, there was at least another flock of six in Gozo.

Camilleri, together with Adrian Deguara and Eman Portelli, all hunters and members of the KSU, followed the birds and took several photos.

KSU said that such an event showed that hunters were capable of doing much more than stated in the media.

In its statement, Birdlife noted that storks were highly-protected birds, the hunting season was closed and that any shots heard were, therefore, illegal and should be reported immediately.

It called on the public to help by keeping a lookout and reporting any sightings on 2134 7646 or 7925 5697 (out-of-office hours).