Of storks and stuff

Wednesday, 21 June 2006

I’m told that Poland has 80% of Europe’s stork population.  I’ve no idea if this is right or not, but it is easily believable given the number of storks nesting on top of power poles and in people’s chimneys. Now this fact may well explain the large population (about 50 million people) of Poland and the relatively high birth rate, but it doesn’t answer one practical question;  what does one do in winter when a stork decides to nest in your chimney?  Of course the storks aren’t there in winter.  They are smarter than us and head south to warmer climes.  But it would seem rather inconsiderate to me to light the fire and fill the stork nest with soot.  And I feel the nest would probably block the chimney enough to fill the house with smoke anyway.  So the whole stork situation is somewhat intriguing!