We love storks here in Turkey. Simply because they bring babies to us 👶
Jokes aside Ephesus hosts thousands of storks every Spring and Summer. Selcuk town is favorite nesting place of storks with rich vegetation and plentiful insects storks love to eat
Artemis Temple in Ephesus
First storks of the season mostly arrive around April. They have the habit to come to the same nests every year. They also live in couples and stay with one mate in their lifetime.
They mostly lay four eggs per female but time to time this number can go up to seven! Storks hatch their eggs for 33 days. Chicks spend first months of their life in Ephesus, Selcuk area and get ready for their migration to the south for the wintertime.
Storks are important figures in Turkish culture. We believe they bring babies too or at least that is the common lie which we tell to our kids 😀 We, Turks, relate lifestyle of storks with our old lifestyle. Once Turks were nomads just like the storks now. Turkish people believe your home will be destroyed by the god if you destroy a storks nest. This is the reason why you can see storks living in the same nests for generations without any distraction.
Storks of Ephesus
Today there are known 367 stork nests in Selcuk. There were 79 counted chicks which were unhatched in Ephesus area and migrated to the south. Local government make repairs on stork nests every year. There is a stork festival organized in Selcuk every year in mid August.
I will be happy to guide you around Ephesus. We can see some stork nests and maybe see some storks even closer if you are lucky. There are stork nests you can see nearby Temple of Artemis, Saint John’s Basilica and Aqueducts in Selcuk. You can always contact me to learn more on Ephesus and book a tour guide to Ephesus, Turkey. See you soon, Hasan Gülday.
