Ten tagged German storks die on migration route as webcam favourite Rocky goes missing in Spain

Losses during early autumn migration

White storks migrating from Rhineland-Pfalz toward their wintering grounds have suffered early casualties following a summer marked by extreme heat. Out of 150 storks fitted with transmitter rings by the Bornheim Stork Centre, 10 have died. Wolfgang Fiedler, the head of the Bird Marking Centre in Radolfzell at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, identified power infrastructure as the primary hazard for the migrating population.

Many died of electric shock, which remains the most common cause of death for storks.

The mortality figures follow a breeding season that also created difficulties for other bird species across the region, including swifts monitored by the Mauerseglerhilfe organization.

Disappearance of webcam stork Rocky

Public attention in the region has focused on Rocky, a young stork from the town of Freinsheim whose upbringing attracted thousands of online viewers through a dedicated nest camera. Rocky began his journey southward several weeks ago, with tracking data monitored by supporters through the Animal Tracker application. His transmitter sent its final signal on 20 August from the Spanish province of Zaragoza along the Ebro River, approximately 1,200 kilometres away from his nest in Freinsheim. Fiedler suggested that Rocky may have landed on a utility pole while looking for a roosting site, causing a fatal electrocution that destroyed both the bird and the attached device.

The chances are no longer very high that the bird is simply sitting in a dead zone and will suddenly reappear.

Technical doubts surrounding transmitter prototypes

The operators of the Freinsheim webcam have maintained hope that the missing stork remains alive despite the lack of tracking updates. Marie Louise Wiesenbach, who manages the nest camera and its social media coverage on Instagram alongside her husband Florian Graus, pointed out that the transmitters used on the local birds are prototypes. Two other storks from the neighbouring municipality of Erpolzheim, named Fortuna and Schorschi, also ceased transmitting telemetry signals on 22 August and 24 August respectively. Wiesenbach noted the close timing of the three disappearances as potential evidence of equipment failure rather than simultaneous fatalities.

We hope that Rocky will make it through anyway and that it was just a technical problem.

Migration corridors across Europe and Africa

The majority of surviving young storks from the tagging programme have advanced into Spain and Morocco, while others continue southward toward Senegal. Ornithologists face long communication blackouts as the birds cross remote regions with poor cellular reception.

There we receive virtually no data and have to wait until the birds reach areas with better network connections again.

Researchers continue to monitor atypical flight paths recorded in other parts of the network, with migratory data arriving from Slovakia and Syria. Specific individuals have registered unexpected routes, including a tagged stork designated as Clarinette 12356 AJE91 from the Zeiskamer Mühle site.