Storks and cranes are incredible flying achievers. With almost seven feet of wingspan, they can fly 800 miles in a day. With the right wind, cranes can reach speeds up to 70 miles an hour - as fast as cars on the Autobahn.

They conserve their energy. To be constantly beating their wings would be too tiring. Storks and cranes soar on thermal updrafts. Updrafts don't exist over water, so the large European birds have only two migration routes to get to the south. They glide over the land to their goal. Cranes, on the other hand, flap their wings. They fly with slow but powerful strokes. But they, too, must use either the western or the eastern route.

The birds are on the road for 8 to 15 weeks. They rest at staging areas on the Müritz, in the Senne, in Spain, Hungary, Turkey, and Israel. The staging areas are called "stepping-stone biotopes," just like their breeding areas in the Elbe floodplain and in the Narew area of Poland.

The goal of the Euronatur project "Ecological Building-Blocks of Europe" is to preserve important ecologoical stepping-stones for migratory birds in Europe. The birds can improve their chances of survival, and reduce the dangers of long-distance travel, only with our help.

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