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Locals help stork build nest in viral video filmed in Iran

Saturday, 21 December 2019 11:24 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 21 December 2019 11:31 AM ]

Screenshot from a viral video showing local villagers helping a stork build its nest near Iran’s Mahabad city in the northwestern West Azerbaijan Province. (Via Social Media)

A viral video showing local villagers helping a stork build its nest has been widely shared among Iranian social media users as an interesting and admirable demonstration of compassion and respect for nature.

The short video, which has been largely viewed in the past week, shows a stork skillfully snapping sticks midair and using them to build its nest upon an electric pole.

The sticks are tossed by a local villager who is not shown in the video.

The video was filmed in a village close to the Kani Barazan wetland near Iran’s Mahabad city the northwestern West Azerbaijan Province, according to social media posts.

#Winter is coming…

Locals help a white #stork build a nest on top of an electric post near Kani Barazan Wetland, northwestern #Iran.#AnimalLovers pic.twitter.com/W5zQtAUHjy
— Press TV (@PressTV) December 21, 2019

The video is said to have been originally filmed earlier this year.

According to the Ziryan Mukryan news agency, a local news group focused on Iran’s West Azarbaijan Province, the event took place after the bird would not settle in a nest built by local villagers in a tree after having its previous nest destroyed.

Social media users have both expressed surprise and praise for the cute display of human-bird collaboration.

Some users suggested that images were a reminder of the beauty and importance of caring and having compassion for others in day-to-day life, a humane instinct more frequently ignored in the hectic urban lifestyles of today.

The images are, however, not new to locals in the West Azerbaijan region, who are used to living in harmony and at times helping out the immigrant birds.

Speaking to Iran’s IRNA news agency earlier this week, Farouq Sokhanvar, head of Mahabad’s Environment Department, said that the storks migrate and nest in the region during spring and summer in order to breed.

The birds migrate southwards at the beginning of autumn.

He, however, added that due to suitable environmental conditions, a portion of the storks have not set out on their southward journey this year and have resided in the wetlands near the Mahabad region.

“The nesting of the storks in villages in the Mahabad region shows that the region enjoys a suitable environment coupled with clam and security,” he said.

“This is a great event for those who care about the environment in the [Mahabad] country,” he added,

Sokhanvar also praised the attempts of environmental activists who he said have created nests and assisted in providing a safe environment for the birds near the villages.

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