White storks in the British Isles in the distant past (1 Viewer)

[jurek]

Even so, the authors of the book are surely right in suggesting it was already a rare bird long ago

Hi John,
Surely you understand that 'rare' can mean different things - from a localized breeder (where it certainly qualifies for reintroduction) to a rare vagrant (which does not). Comparing White Stork to Crane is rather uninformative, because the Crane is extinct and we know little about its past abundance. And it is never disputed that White Stork got extinct before the Crane (19. century). Is there a positive comparison - another bird, preferably surviving British breeder, which has broadly similar number of fossil records? I unfortunately don't have access to this book.

My understanding is that any truly rare bird (not a regular breeder or winterer) is statistically unlikely to be found as a number of bones. Are there past bone finds in Britain of certain vagrants (ones unlikely to be extinct breeders)? For example, are American wildfowl found as bone finds in Britain?

absence from banquets and accounts of hawking

This can be explained: White Stork is considered distasteful, unlike wild geese or cranes.

It is also possible that protection of White Stork was not absolute. In rural Poland, stork nestlings were nevertheless sometimes eaten or their fat used as folk medicine. Maybe the rich spared it, but poor ate it.

 

[Patudo]

This was a really interesting read - thanks to all contributors! I had no idea pelicans (of any sort) occurred as far northwest as I now know they do! Is there much evidence of pelicans in the historical record at all - likewise with great egrets (I understand there are a fair number of references to little egrets during the medieval period)?

Regarding the lack of mention of storks as a quarry in falconry - it may be worth my noting that this species has never, for whatever reason, been an established quarry amongst European falconers. Quite why that is so, I have no idea, given that crane hawking was popular amongst those with the means to practice it (the famous falconry tome authored by Frederick II covers crane hawking in considerable detail, but does not feature storks).