The white stork Uzelai returns again to Urdaibai

Since Wednesday we can see Uzelai in the marshes. This male belongs to a group of individuals who were transported from Catalonia to test the reintroduction of the specie in Urdaibai after a century of absence in the area. This stork was the first that nested in the Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai in years . The name was put by Busturia schoolchildren in honor of the painter Jose Maria Uzelai (Bermeo, 1903 - Busturia, 1979), also, the local school has its name.

Uzelai will be 12 years old this spring. Since 2007, Urzelai and his couple, have brought forward 17 chicks in the nest of Forua. One of his first offspring, born in 2007, we know that since 2011 nests in the town of Plentzia.

The white stork Uzelai with a plastic ring HH8X eating an eel.

The banding is very important to continue learning about biology and movements of storks in Urdaibai, that´s why the technical staff of UBC ,with proper authorization of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, access every year to their nests for banding chicks and then be able to identify them away once they are independent. For example, we can identify Uzelai by a ring of white PVC with HH8X digit bearing on one leg.

Details about the process and results of the program to reintroduce the white stork in the Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai can be found in the article by A.Galarza and I. García entitled "Restocking White stork Ciconia ciconia population in Biscay: reintroduction in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve "and published in 2012 in a magazine "Munibe" of Aranzadi Society of Sciences.