360 
THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vo/. 124. No. 2. June 2012 
White Storks were mainly nesting on elm 
(Ulmus spp.) trees until the 1960s-1970s based 
on reports of local people. However. Dutch Elm 
Disease (Butin 1995) devastated elm trees 
throughout the region (Ozbay and Kilic 2002) 
and While Storks started using electricity pylons 
as nest sites. This change increased mortality from 
accidents due to electrocution or collision of 
fledglings and adults (Janss 1998, 2000; Garrido 
and Fernandez-Cruz 2003; Haas and Nipkow 
2006; Smallie and Virani 2010), which were also 
frequently observed by local people and research¬ 
ers. The national electricity authority was also 
partially responsible for the decrease because they 
removed some nests due to risk of fire. This may 
have significantly contributed to the reduction in 
number of breeding pairs and breeding success 
after 1995. 
could be beneficial for conservation of White 
Storks through decreasing the risk of electrocution 
or collision (Schaub and Pradel 2004. Schaubet 
al. 2004 ). Key factors affecting nest-site selection 
and breeding success including altitude, distance 
to nearest riser, slope, and agricultural composi¬ 
tion should also be considered when managing 
nest sites for White Storks. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
Wc arc grateful to Mehmet Siki for support Artificial 
platlorm nest replacements were financed by the Itnl 
Governorship, Municipality of Sindirgi. METES-the 
School of Technical Education Center, and TEDAS Ac 
express our gratitude to Avni Oral-the previous K-iyiruLm 
(official charged with governing a provincial dismet.. 
O/.giir Ertugrul and Ekrem Yava$.. the Mayors of Smdirgi 
Municipality and the related staff of these institution' lor 
Electricity production and distribution fin 
started in 1960s in Sindirgi, according to THI 
and UEDA§, when the first electricity pylon 
were built. Electricity until 1984 was produce 
and distributed locally by the municipality o 
Sindirgi. Both electricity production and trans 
mission schemes were switched to a nationa 
system in 1982. The number of electricity pylon 
was quite stable in the following 10 years, increas' 
mg by only 10%. A significant increase in the 
number of electricity pylons occurred after J995. 
White Stork populations appear to he abandon¬ 
ing traditional nest structures for nest sites on 
man-made structures such as electricity poles 
Tryjanowski et al. (2009) showed that addition of 
nest platforms on electricity poles seemed to be 
beneficial to White Stork reproduction. However, 
nest position is known to have an important role in 
breeding success (Vergara and Aguirre 2006) and 
nest replacement or relocation may require 
caution as White Storks have high nest fidelity 
(Chemeisov et al. 2006. Vergara et al. 2006). 
The acceptance rate ol artificial platform nests 
was high in our study area with only one 
unaccepted nest. This nest was previously on the 
roof of a four-story building, and was moved to a 
special pylon constructed tor that pair in a square 
next to that building. It was not accepted, 
probably because the pylon was lower than the 
building. Thus, nest replacements should eonsider 
not only the security of the nest location hut also 
preferences of While Storks. 
stJnTi Wh '' e S,0rk l’ 0 P ul " lin n in Ihe region 
tive ^ rt Pe " enCed ° larSe dedine and >his nega¬ 
tive trend continues. Management of nest sites 
providing support. We also acknowledge Oiner Diimijren 
for helping during nesl replacements, and Raika Durusov 
and llayal Boyacioglu for assisting with statistical analyse 
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