Max the white stork, in early March 2009, on her snowy nest near the Swiss-German border - will she find snow again this year? (photo: Heida Buergermeister)

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Max knows something the rest of us don’t: spring is on the way. Freezing temperatures throughout Switzerland for the next few days and record snowfalls make it hard to believe, but one of the first harbingers of spring, Max the stork, has started her return north from the area around Madrid in central Spain.

Max’s movements are followed by the Natural History Museum of Fribourg, which banded the bird. This is her 13th winter migration and her movements tell us much about the change in seasons. Some years Max has wintered over in North Africa, but most often she opts for Spain, often further south than this year.

Max is a Swiss-born white stork who has been tracked for longer than any other bird in the wild. She left her summer home in Tuefingen, Saturday 10 September, taking about three weeks to make the trek to her winter home in Spain. Last year she arrived 8 February and was mating a month later. Her five 2011 offspring were born around 20 April.

GenevaLunch background: Max the stork

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