In the Menteşe district of southwestern Turkey's Muğla, storks have found themselves the perfect home as they have been nesting in the same 26-year-old mosque for 20 years and have now become the symbol of the neighborhood.
The storks that come to the Şeyh Muslihittin Mosque, which was completed 26 years ago in the Muslihittin district, attract the attention of the residents of the neighborhood every year in April. Mosque administrators take care of the nest that storks make in the dome.
Sait Demirel, the imam of Şeyh Muslihittin Mosque, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that he has been working at the mosque for 18 years.
Demirel explained that the materials such as bushes and twigs that storks collect to make their nests are blown away when the weather is very windy.
"They say they've been coming for 20 years. They've been coming regularly in the spring for the last five or six years. After they hatch and reproduce, they do some flight training and leave."
Demirel stated that the storks, when their nests were destroyed during years of particularly bad and intense weather, chose apartment building rooftops and chimneys to roost.
He explained that male and female storks take turns bringing food to their young.
"They stand guard. Our guests came at the beginning of Ramadan this year. They created a nice atmosphere. Hopefully, we will host them well until they hatch and leave here."
Neighborhood resident Nergis Kara, 80, also said that she has lived in the same neighborhood for 60 years and that storks have been guests of the neighborhood for 20 years. Kara stated that the storks, whose calls she hears from time to time, leave after raising their young.
Yıldız Dadak, 74, who lives in the neighborhood, said that she has been living in the neighborhood for 52 years and that storks started to come after the mosque was built.
Dadak stated that the first stork came alone at first and then they started coming in pairs the next year.
"They leave after they hatch their eggs. Every year, they always come in the spring and go in the autumn. They have been coming for about 25 years. When the evening comes, storks swoop in and descend to their nests in the mosque dome."