Polish stork Krutek sets off again: 5,000 kilometres ahead

As a chick, he fell out of the nest. Local residents and staff at the Masurian Landscape Park rescued him. Later he was released back into the wild. Since then, thanks to a GPS transmitter, thousands of people have been following his journey. On 16 August he set off on his next tour.

That morning (18.08) the GPS transmitter once again reported Krutek's position. The stork was already about 70 kilometres east of Lviv, in the Zolochiv area of Ukraine.

This year's season was something special for Krutek. The well-known stork became a father for the first time. Five chicks hatched in his nest. Sadly, one did not survive. Under the watchful eyes of their parents, four young birds grew up and in July began their first attempts at flying.

The youngsters fledged and the nest became cramped. Apparently the parents decided it was time for more space.

Krutek and his partner therefore started on a new nest, a few dozen metres away from the old one.

Nevertheless, Krutek did not neglect his family duties. He continued to look after the youngsters and bring them food. During this time the young storks practised flying with great enthusiasm.

On 16 August Krutek set off on his next journey. Ornithologists do not yet know whether this time he will follow exactly the same route as on his previous migrations. That is precisely what makes his GPS track so fascinating at the moment.

The transmitter shows where the bird stops to rest, how fast he covers each leg of the journey and whether he uses his tried-and-tested stopover sites again. In recent years his route has taken him past the Bosphorus, among other places, and he has spent the winter in Egypt. All told, around 5,000 kilometres lie ahead of Krutek.

Krutek has already completed a long journey this year. In February he returned from Africa to Poland, but the homecoming did not go smoothly. Passing pedestrians found the exhausted bird on a road near Jedwabno and came to his aid. Rangers then took him into their care and brought him to the stork protection centre in Krutyń. He covered the final stretch back to his traditional nest... by car.

Later he made a full recovery, resumed looking after the nest and embarked on his most prolific breeding season so far.

It is hardly surprising that Krutek is now regarded as an avian star. His arrival in Poland is one of the first harbingers of spring.

These days you could say that Krutek has something many travellers would envy him for – an audience of his own that checks every year to see where in the world he is.

Experts are wishing him tailwinds, good thermals and a safe journey. And we can only assume that the stork knows exactly what he is doing; after all, he has more travel experience than many a holidaymaker behind the wheel.

Have a good trip, Krutek. See you in Masuria in the spring.