Altynaj in a new place (Tuesday, January 20, 2004)
At the weekend, Altynaj was in the same place where she is now - some 100 km to the west of the Lakhundar reservoir, where she spent the first part of the wintering period. Having made a trip to the south, she has returned to the same latitude and a virtually identical landscape.
We could start betting if she will stay there until it is time to return to Siberia. I guess she will make a few more trips. Altynaj - and perhaps other black storks, too - must have had a reason to leave Lakhundar. The reason may have been a lack of food in drying water sources (the storks do not fish in the lake itself). There is no reason to think that the situation would be any better in a competition of painted storks and herons. Well, I might lose that bet in the end.