What their names are (Thursday 14th August 2003)
At last. This morning we christened our black storks. In fact, the names are chosen by you, our readers, so it won't be such news anyway.
We've offered a few names in two sets - Czech and "western" ones, Russian and Turkish-Tartar ones. Surprisingly, the names from the last group were the most successful. In the first run, Altai woman name Altynaj which means "golden moon," won in a sovereign way. A Tartar name Suzun placed in a long distance behind. Probably because we pointed it out right after we caught the first stork. It's suitable for two reasons: A district town the storks come from is called like this as well, and it's a compound of two words meaning "water" and "forest". And the storks are close to both water and forest.
In the second round, when we were searching for a male name, the most significant one was Altai name Iristu (="happy"). Near the end, Arzhan ("wonderful") got close but had no chance.
Here is the summary: the first of the marked storks is named Suzun, the second is Iristu and the third Altynaj. One last remark: the first two storks - Suzun and Iristu - are male and the third - Altynaj - is a female.