White storks in Berettyóújfalu (eastern Hungary) on July 4, 2025
Perhaps we can now safely say that winter is behind us: the first white storks have arrived from Africa. The harbingers of spring were captured on camera in Kiskunhalas and Akasztó (both in southern Hungary).
On February 21, two white storks were spotted in Kiskunhalas. A photo published in the Facebook group “Madárfotózás” (Bird Photography) shows the birds resting on a lamppost after their long journey.
In Akasztó, storks were spotted for the first time this year on February 22.
As reported by Hungary Today, white stork population is finally stabilizing after years of decline. The positive trend can be observed globally, and in Hungary, the population has been gradually increasing since the low point of 2019–2020. Based on data from the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society (MME), a nationwide survey in 1941 found 16,000 pairs, but by 1958 this number had fallen to 8,000-9,000 pairs, and from the 1970s onwards it fluctuated around 5,000 pairs.
The population hit a low point in 2019 and 2020, with only about 4,000–4,200 breeding pairs.
As a result of gradual growth, the domestic population finally exceeded 5,000 in 2024.
In 2025, experts from the MME and national park authorities set a record with ringing 1,887 stork chicks. In total, approximately one in every nine white stork chicks received an individual ring last year, that is an adequate sampling ratio for scientific monitoring.
White storks in Berettyóújfalu on July 4, 2025. Photo: MTI/Czeglédi Zsolt
White storks are migratory birds, spending the winter mainly in areas south of the Sahara Desert in Africa, flying as far as South Africa (a round trip of 16-17,000 km in straight line).
Their spring arrival is getting earlier and earlier, with the main wave occurring in the second half of March and early April.
The autumn migration begins in early August, and a few days after August 20, storks are rarely seen in the Carpathian Basin.
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Via mme.hu, Photo: MTI/Czeglédi Zsolt
The post Spring Is Here: The First White Storks Have Arrived appeared first on Hungary Today.
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