Long-term changes and breeding success in relation to nesting structures used by the white stork, Ciconia ciconia

Anthropogenic changes have strongly influenced landscape in Europe. In the last 50 years electric power-line networks have become a conspicuous part of that landscape. From the outset it was known that these lines and their support structures would cause fatalities in the white stork Ciconia ciconia. From a long-term (1983–2006) study in Poland, we analysed breeding performance in stork nests on four types of structure (chimneys, roofs, trees and electricity poles). Whilst the numbers of nests on both electricity poles and chimneys increased, there was no significant difference among the four structures in breeding success. Since 1998 a number of electricity poles have been modified to include a platform designed to contain the stork nest. A comparison between the annual means of nests on electricity poles with and without platforms did not reveal any significant differences in breeding success. However, closer examination of nests transferred to platforms suggested a slight drop in chick productivity in the year following platform addition but this was subsequently significantly higher in the following year. Thus the transfer of nests to platforms appears to have only a short-term adverse effect and may be beneficial in the longer term