Once a year in the first week of May, the residents of the Macedonian stork village Češinovo-Obleševo come together to celebrate the return of the elegant gliders from their African wintering areas. It is a clear sign that spring has finally arrived.

This year, as part of the festivities organised by the Macedonian Ecological Society the newly erected observation tower was inaugurated. Numerous students gathered on the tower’s platform to enjoy the vast view on bordering wet-meadows and rice fields. They were able to observe numerous storks while they were foraging. In the afternoon, the children and young people, who were dressed in lovingly designed costumes, performed plays around the community’s feathered “honorary citizens”.

In 2013, Češinovo-Obleševo was declared a European Stork Village by EuroNatur. Situated in the lowlands of the Breglanica River, the community offers rich feeding grounds to the White Stork as well as various herons. Especially the vast rice fields host a wide range of amphibians which the parent birds feed to their young – in 2017 to around 166 stork chicks. This summer, the people of Češinovo-Obleševo are hoping for another successful breeding season.