Kızılırmak Delta Bird Sanctuary, a scenic wetland in UNESCO's Tentative List of World Heritage, is among the top destinations nowadays for storks during the season of migration when they fly north.
The quiet sanctuary stretching across an area of 56,000 hectares (138,379 acres) in the northern province of Samsun, is vibrating with the clattering of beaks as storks descend into their nests in forests around the delta.
Birds are concentrated in a section of delta in the Bafra district. Doğanca neighborhood, home to 60 stork nests in a two-acre area, is called "Stork Village," with some trees hosting as many as four nests. Storks spend the spring and summer in the sanctuary before hitting the road in August for hotter places.
The sanctuary is also home to an observation tower for bird watchers while signs dotting the area give information to visitors looking to see storks.
Though most are white, black storks, a rare visitor to Turkey, have also been sighted in the delta in recent years. Unlike their white relatives, the carnivorous species stay away from residential areas and choose forests and wetlands as their nests, feasting on fish, reptiles and insects in and around lakes. For Hasan Uncu, a local farmer, storks are their "biggest helpers." "They eat insects harmful to our paddies, cleaning them for us, in a way. We are pleased to live together with them," Uncu told Anadolu Agency (AA).
The sanctuary is home to around 150,000 birds at different times, especially during the migration season, when the birds travel across the Black Sea. The area is home to 364 different species of birds and also serves as home for many endemic plants and fish and colonies of wild horses.
Wetlands like the Kızılırmak delta, a hub for migratory birds, are under threat from the climate crisis and human intervention. Turkey has stepped up preservation efforts in the past two decades but the delta still runs the risk of shrinking due to drought aggravated by the climate crisis.
Kızılırmak delta is among 14 sites designated as Ramsar Sites, named after an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands Turkey is a party to.
Turkey hosts more than 400 different types of birds every year during their migration. Storks are among the most "loved" by the Turkish public. In Turkish culture, storks are harbingers of spring and are respectfully cared for. The country even has a hospital dating back to Ottoman times, still operation, that specifically caters to injured or ill storks. Storks’ tendency to find a fixed spot for themselves every year also keeps them more bonded with people. They rarely change the location of their nests, unlike other birds.