When traveling through Portuguese highways, mainly during Summer, you can notice that the high voltage towers may be decorated with some huge nests. Well, those are actually white stork nests.

Storks nests can be seen in a lot of places. Normally, when they migrate to Europe during Summer, white storks choose high spots to nest, like big trees - pine trees, eucalyptus or holm oaks - or human constructions - rooftops, highway gantries, churches or high voltage towers, for example. 

Although their choice is based on their best security, these chosen spots can cause troubles. Portugal even had to transfer some white stork nests that were laying over a highway gantry, near Aveiro. Not only they were heavy, but would also force storks into making low flights as to reach them. This way, the birds would almost hit the vehicles, sometimes. So, they were moved to a specifically built structure for them, near the highway.

Storks are a big bird themselves, but were you really expecting half a ton nests? That's right. Normally, a white stork's nest weighs around 250 kilos, but can reach half a ton. Its diameter can have between one meter to one and a half meter. It can be made out of branches, leaves, fur or even human waste.

These nests can be reused every year, by storks or even other species, like herons. When that happens, the birds end up gathering more material for the nest, which gets larger and heavier. 

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Author: Pedro Valente Lima