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Hundreds of thousands of storks and big birds migrate from Africa to Europe via Anatolia. The number of breeding pairs that spread throughout Turkey is 8683. The total number of stork couples in Europe is 180,000-220,000. The breeding grounds of the storks are usually meadows or wetlands. The main causes of stork deaths are electricity transmission lines, pollution caused by pesticides and wastes. The local people have no negative attitude towards storks.
In the cemetery of Yeşildağ neighborhood located in the southwest corner of the Beysehir Lake, white storks have 26 active nests on the juniper trees. In this region known as the Storks Valley, male storks come in the beginning of March and mend the nests they used last year. A month or so later, the female storks join the nest for breeding.
After about 50 days of incubation, 2-4 nests are hatched in each nest. Stork families feed andf nourish the babies. By August, babies become adult storks with a weight of 4 Kg and they can fly now . They return to their southeast African countries with their families. The storks, who enter and leave our country from Hatay travel through thermal air currents over Palestine and the Sina Peninsula.
Ecological Balance Society established in Ankara has conducted "the Establishment of Eco-tourism Infrastructure in Beysehir Lake Storks Valley and the Surrounding Project" with financial support of Turkey GEF Small Grants Program (SGP) in 2017 . The project was carried out with the guidance of the GEF / SGP team and the participation of stakeholders especially Beyşehir Municipality, National Parks, Beyşehir National Education Directorate, MEDAŞ and local people. Within the scope of the project, 8 artificial stork nests were placed in the Storks Valley. It was ensured that the electricity transmission line passing near the nests was isolated by MEDAŞ. A stork observation tower was built by the National Parks in the Storks Valley. Within the scope of this project, two cameras were installed near the nests by the Ecological Balance Society so that nests can be watched live 24 hours from the web page of Beyşehir Municipality. The breeding success of storks in the Stork Valley was 2.2 babies / nest in 2017. Besides, cycling and hiking routes have been identified in the forests and around the lake.
Ecological Balance Society will be carrying out the storks protection project in Yeşildağ Storks Valley and Adaköy Storks Hill with the support of the GEF Small Grants Program (SGP) in 2019 .