The incident occurred on 17 May in Zagrodno. Firefighters from Złotoryja:
(...) at 5:06 p.m., the duty officer at the Command Post of the District Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Złotoryja received a report that stork eggs had fallen from a nest.
The officers add: – Upon arriving at the scene, it was found that in Zagrodno, four eggs were lying on the grass, one of them broken. After a telephone consultation with an expert from a wildlife rehabilitation centre, it was determined that the eggs had probably been deliberately thrown out by the storks themselves, and putting them back would result in the same action.
The outcome? With the consent of the mayor of the aforementioned municipality, the undamaged eggs were transported by the firefighters to Klekusiowo in Tomaszów Bolesławiecki, where they were placed, among other things, in special incubators.
This is not an uncommon phenomenon. Here is why birds may get rid of eggs:
- Brood reduction: Storks may throw out eggs when they lack food or when conditions for raising young are unfavourable. In such situations, the birds decide to reduce the number of chicks in order to increase the chances of survival for those remaining.
- Health problems: If young storks show signs of illness, disability or weakness, their parents may decide to remove them from the nest so that they do not endanger the rest of the brood.
- Instinctive behaviour: Throwing out eggs is part of the storks’ instinctive behaviour, aimed at ensuring the best possible conditions for healthy chicks.
Warning! If you find discarded eggs, ornithologists recommend that you do not put them back in the nest.