Same-sex storks care for their offspring after mating.

Czech ornithologists were surprised to discover that two female storks were living together in the same nest and taking turns incubating the eggs.

Two female storks live together and take turns incubating the eggs. Photo: CAM Chýnov — Two female storks live together and take turns incubating the eggs. Photo: *CAM Chýnov*

A female stork has surprised experts by finding a suitable mate. After they paired up for a few days, ornithologists realized both were female. The nest, located opposite the Holy Trinity Church in Chýnov, a town in the Czech Republic, had been closely monitored by a team of ornithologists since early March via webcam, Newsweek reported on May 18.

The story began on March 19th when a female stork that had raised three chicks in the area last year flew to the nest. Local ornithologist Michael Strnad, who regularly monitors the nest, named it Loňská. Three days later, another stork with black spots on its ears visited Loňská but was immediately chased away.

For two weeks, the stork named Loňská rejected any suitors and pecked at a series of eager males. On April 11th, the black-spotted stork returned, repeatedly pecking at Loňská's beak until allowed to enter the nest. The pair spent the night together and mated continuously for the next six days. Strnad named the second stork Jupiter.

On April 17th, an egg appeared in the nest. The next day, Loňská laid a second egg. Strnad noted that this was unusual because storks tend to lay eggs continuously. However, the following evening, Jupiter sat on the egg at 9:23 PM. When it stood up at 9:30 PM, there were three eggs beneath it. This led Strnad to realize that Jupiter was a female stork.

From then until April 24th, the two female storks took turns laying eggs each night. The pair laid a total of eight eggs and took turns caring for the nest. The female stork would incubate them until mid-May, when the chicks were ready to hatch. "It's interesting to watch if any of the eggs hatch because the storks are paired in the nest, so there's a high chance that some eggs haven't been fertilized," the ornithologist said.

Same-sex mating is relatively common among birds, with over 130 species exhibiting this behavior on at least some occasion, according to Zdeněk Vermouzek, director of the Czech Ornithological Society. Sometimes, the pair raise their young together.

Mating between two females is most common in species with lifelong relationships, where both parents participate in raising the young. Most storks do not mate for life, instead staying with their partners at the beginning of each breeding season. However, this is the first known case of homosexuality in a white stork. Ornithologists will continue to monitor the nest until the eggs hatch.

An Khang (According to Newsweek )

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