On April 22, 2026, the Ayabe City Board of Education in Kyoto Prefecture announced that it had confirmed the hatching of Oriental White Storks, a special natural monument, at four of the five nest towers installed in Ayabe City. They reported that the parent birds exhibited the behavior of "returning food" after hatching multiple times. This marks the seventh consecutive year that chicks have hatched in Ayabe City since 2020.
According to the Ayabe City Board of Education, it is estimated that male and female storks built nests in the four locations in the Shiga-go and Higashi-Hatta districts between early and late February, laid the first eggs between late February and early March, and hatched between March 29 and April 10. The number of chicks has not been confirmed.
To protect the breeding environment, the locations of the nest towers are not being made public. Parent birds become particularly nervous while raising their chicks, and the Social Education Division of the Ayabe City Board of Education says, "Even if you find a nest, please observe it quietly."
