Black storks There are these special moments where the soul is touched. Lost in thought, I squatted in the lee on the Elbe dike and watched as 3 large birds approached a small branch of the river in front of me. They landed briefly and immediately flew up again, exactly in my direction. They were black storks, those shy "jewels of the forest". They fought the wind over the dike and stood powerfully, formally as if to greet me for a long time directly above me in the airstream. As if someone had sent them past right here especially for this encounter.