their first job is to check their nests, giving them a once-over with their bills. With hay, grasses, even bits of newspaper, they will repair the nests that have been battered by the winter winds. Then the earth will bear witness to their mating rituals. Flapping their wings and clacking their bills to produce the famous "lak lak" sound, the males will invites the females with calls of love. If the call does not go unheeded, eggs will appear in the nest. Exactly five of them. When the mother stork rises from the nest 32 days later, the babies will start to crack their eggs. As the hungry new nest dwellers clamour noisily for food, it is the father's job to scour the fields for worms, slugs and insects. The baby storks are ugly ducklings-none of their parents' grace and elegance as yet. When they get a little bigger, their menu will change as well. Bring on the frogs, snakes and fish! While the father flies off to bring back the bacon, the mother stork spreads her wings over the little ones to provide shade from the sun or shelter from the rain. None of this has escaped the attention of humans, for whom the stork has become a symbol for getting married, making a nest and raising a family. A folk song from Egirdir sums it