Tree-nesting white stork colony, March floodplain

White stork (Ciconia ciconia) — up to 50 nests in old oaks, Central Europe's largest tree-nesting colony; black stork, white-tailed eagle, beaver, Konik horses. WWF-Auenreservat Marchegg, March–Thaya floodplain (Slovak border), Austria.

Best time: 20 Apr – 10 Jul (April to July). Where: Schloss Marchegg – Storchenhaus and colony oaks, March floodplain trail (Marchegg – Baumgarten), Untere Marchauen – Zwerndorf (Austria). Time of day: Colony bill-clattering from first light to about 2 h after sunrise.

• You can go on your own
• Free
• Binoculars helpful
• Sound 4/5

Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.

When is the best time?

Peak: 20 Apr – 10 Jul. Late April to early July (chicks in nests); first storks land in early/mid March, colony empties mid August

Active from 1 Mar to 20 Aug (March to August) in a typical year.

Time of day

Colony bill-clattering from first light to about 2 h after sunrise; adults return and clatter again from about 2 h before sunset to dusk; frogs after dark on the dyke paths.

• Dawn colony: 30 min before sunrise → 2 h after sunrise
• Evening return: 2 h before sunset → last light

What will you hear?

Bill-clattering across a colony of 40–50 nests in the oak canopy, chick hissing, black-headed gulls from the oxbows, oriole, nightingale, tree frogs and fire-bellied toads in the flooded meadows, Konik horses.

Binoculars?

Binoculars helpful. Nests are in oak crowns above the paths; binoculars show the chicks and the clattering adults.

Where to go

• Schloss Marchegg – Storchenhaus and colony oaks — Colony trees around the castle park; WWF visitor centre; viewing from the paths. Map
• March floodplain trail (Marchegg – Baumgarten) — Oxbows with beavers and frog choruses; dyke path. Map
• Untere Marchauen – Zwerndorf — Northern reserve section; wet meadows, corncrake some years. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

Train to Marchegg (Vienna–Bratislava line) and walk to the castle: the WWF reserve paths around the colony oaks and the dyke path are free and open at all hours; the Storchenhaus visitor centre and castle grounds have opening hours.

Cost: Free on the paths; Storchenhaus exhibition entry optional (check current prices).

Field-recording notes

The WWF reserve is open on marked paths; the colony is above you, so the best rig is a vertical pair or a boundary mic on a fence line under the canopy at dawn. Noise: the Marchegg–Bratislava railway (regular trains, including at night), the Slovak side's D4 motorway audible in east wind, and grass-cutting in June. Storks are protected and the castle grounds have set opening hours — the dyke paths are open all night. Beavers at dusk in the oxbows are a bonus for a hydrophone.

Sources

• WWF Österreich – Auenreservat Marchegg
• WWF Österreich – first stork arrival

Similar spectacles

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More: all spectacles in Austria · storks · stork, heron and flamingo colonies · Austria in April · Austria in May · Austria in June · Austria in July