Storks of Vojvodina: Kovilj, Perlez and the storkiest place in Serbia

Kovilj — the "stork capital"!

In the very heart of Vojvodina, only an hour's drive from Belgrade, lies the village of Kovilj, a quiet, picturesque spot with a rich history and a unique atmosphere. It already existed under the Romans and the Avars, 5,500 years ago. Its name comes from kovilje, the flowering feather grass. 🌾 It seems like an ordinary sleepy village, but when spring arrives it comes alive and fills with tourists who travel from all corners of Serbia to see the main local celebrities: the storks.

Symbols of luck and spring
Every spring about 40 pairs of storks return to Kovilj. This event is greeted like a real holiday: locals sing cheerful songs, and small celebrations are held.
In local culture storks are not just birds, but symbols of luck, prosperity and new beginnings.

A nest on every pole 🪺
Tourists don't come here for nothing: storks have become an integral part of the local landscape. Their nests decorate poles, roofs and trees. Locals help the storks set up their homes by installing special platforms on poles, so the weight of the nests doesn't damage the roofs of their own houses. This not only helps the storks and the villagers, but also gives the village an unusual charm. Every nest is a kind of “residence visa” for a pair of storks.

Legends and myths
In Serbia storks are not just an adornment of nature, but also heroes of local legends and folk beliefs. According to tradition, these birds not only bring spring, but also guide the souls of ancestors, symbolizing the connection between worlds. If a stork happens to brush a house with its wing, it is considered a sign of luck and prosperity for the owners. In Serbian culture storks are also associated with good omens and are considered "protectors" of homes.
And in Christianity the stork is an important symbol, embodying purity and vigilance. Storks cleanse the earth of snakes, which in folk traditions symbolize evil, bringing harmony and protecting the home from negativity.

Travelers with wings
After spending the summer in Kovilj, in autumn the storks set off on a long journey to winter in Africa. The journey of these birds is truly amazing: they cover thousands of kilometers, rising to altitudes of up to 3000 meters. Only to return to their nests again in spring.

Kovilj and its storks are not just a story about birds and a village. They embody the bond between people and nature, and its cycles. Every year, when the storks return, they bring with them not only spring, but also a special atmosphere of happiness and joy.

Well, you've already got it: Kovilj is the very place where you can feel a connection with nature and tradition. So while we're here, let's go and see. That's just how these Balkans are, baby!

All photos were taken on our photo walk around Kovilj

Published April 7, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

On the cards: interesting and slightly weird facts about storks 🪺

I've also gathered all the information about the village of Kovilj in one place🌾

Chapel of St. Petka and the miraculous oak

Kovilj Monastery

Kovilj, the “capital” of storks

Besides Kovilj, you can also see storks in other Serbian villages. Here's the information I managed to dig up

🪹Taraš
A village near Zrenjanin. According to locals, about 40 pairs of storks nest there. Generally, according to information from Serbs, you can find stork nests in almost every little village around Zrenjanin.

🪹In the north of Novi Sad there's an abandoned construction site of a shopping mall. On its 20-meter concrete beams storks have built more than 70 nests! Apparently investors have been found and they want to revive the construction, so it's unknown whether there are storks there this year and how many. If anyone knows, please share the info.

🪹Sremski Karlovci
In this little town you can also see nests near the riverside restaurants, as well as on the building with restaurants on trg Patrijarha Brankovića.

🪹Baranda, Opovo, Sakule. Stork nests have also been spotted in this little village and the neighboring ones.

Share your coordinates of nesting spots and your photos

Published April 11, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

Plans for stork photo walks in May

When you already have a million photos of storks, but you still want more))

About the plans for photo walks.
Set a reminder for 10 May for the storks; 17 May will be just as good 💯

I've realized that not everyone managed to see the storks, and there are still people who want to. So we're planning a repeat, tentatively on May 10. Exactly a month will have passed, and maybe a stork chick or two will have hatched)

On May 17 there'll be something new. It's in the works) Wait for the announcement and don't plan anything.

Published April 15, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

Photo exchange March 29. Storks, ruins and wine, or how we discovered new horizons.

Considering that we drained all the batteries in our cameras, phones and drones to 0, I'd say the photo walk was a 100% success! It was a wonderfully beautiful day spent with people who already feel like family🤗

I don't know if I can describe everyone we saw today. Help me out if I forget someone. There are so many storks in the nests you can't even count them! So cute!!!
Flocks of swans, a huge snail, cows, horses, goats! And you won't believe it! We met the Bremen Town Musicians. Honest to God — a donkey, a rooster and a dog)
We saw a sea of flowers, apple trees, sakura and primroses. We were incredibly lucky with the weather today, it was warm and we even managed to have a picnic by the river.

We also soaked up the power of a truly unique historical place, standing on a hill where there was life before our era. We listened to a lecture on how wine is made, and at sunset we finally tasted the soul and heart of the winery's owner — that's what he calls his Cabernet and Shiraz. Waiting for your photos, reviews and additions in the comments. Hugs to everyone🤗 🫶🏻

I'll write a review of this trip later. For now, just emotions😍

Published March 29, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

Photo walk to the storks of Kovilj and to Stari Slankamen

Is anyone else still keen to see the storks and their offspring? A month has passed since our last outing, and the stork chicks should be starting to hatch.

We're planning a photo walk around Kovilj and Acumincum for May 10 (the last one until next spring)! We're going to the sweetest Austro-Hungarian village to see storks in their nests, and then we'll cross to the other bank of the Danube to explore the ruins of an ancient fortress.

Here's the plan: We'll start with Kovilj: according to locals there are about 40 stork nests in the village, let's see how many we count. We'll stroll through the picturesque countryside, admire the horses, cows and swans, and give them all a photo shoot! At Kovilj Monastery we'll take a look at the frescoes and drop by the monastery shop. There you can buy honey with propolis and milk, with various herbs, as well as monastery beer, rakija and so on and so forth.

Then we get on the bus and head to Stari Slankamen. We'll have lunch with local specialities and a view of the Danube: fish čorba, fried carp, pikeperch and sturgeon, all wonderfully good!

Here, on a remarkable trapezoid-shaped loess hill on the right bank of the Danube, Celtic tribes once lived, there was a Roman castrum, the border of the Roman Empire ran through, and the medieval fortress of Acumincum stood.
Today all that remains of everything listed above are the ruins of the fortress, from which one of the most beautiful views of the Danube and the Bačka plain opens up. And we'll definitely admire it together, after a short climb that a five-year-old handled easily. We'll walk around the hill and recharge with the energy of this unique place.

Then we'll go down to one of the oldest surviving buildings in Stari Slankamen, which now houses a winery. The hospitable owner, in excellent Russian, will tell us about his unique winemaking method and give us a tour of the former parish house, whose cellar still holds the remains of a 16th-century Turkish bath, as well as of the winery itself.

So, a relaxed photo walk through the countryside along the Danube awaits us. Along the way we'll watch the life of Balkan farmers. We'll have a glass of wine at the winery. And we'll enjoy nature, fresh air and great company.
One undeniable plus: the drive takes just an hour from Belgrade.

Price: 50 euros.
Includes: transfer, guide, winery tour and a glass of wine.
Extra costs: lunch and wine (if one glass turns out not to be enough).

The trip will go ahead if a group of at least 12 people is formed.

Prices for the winery's additional services are listed in the comments.

See how the previous trip went 🤍

Sign up in the comments

Published April 30, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

Photo exchange Kovilj-Acumincum 3:0

The previous trips were great, but today was simply out of this world. I've never seen such stork activity before. Storks in their nests, storks flying overhead, storks walking around everywhere looking for food! We even saw a stork catch and eat grass snakes, and another one carrying a frog to its nest. And yes, we found out!!! The stork chicks had just hatched, literally right now!!!! Look at these babies) The little gray fluff balls in the photo are them☺️
And of course, we enjoyed the perfect village landscape. Breathed in plenty of fresh air. And there were poppies and roses everywhere, so beautiful😍 By the way, this time we were accompanied by the sweetest Serbian guide☺️ Check out his work😂
And even the lecture at the winery was shorter this time)) And the wine was as excellent as ever. We also found out that Alisa's team has the coolest merch, now we want it)))

But most importantly, I think we had a perfect match. Guys, you're simply awesome! Thank you so much for this day! Share your photos and impressions. I really hope we'll see each other again!🫶🏻

Published May 10, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

Stork chicks have hatched in Kovilj

⚡️ Latest news from Kovilj.
The chicks hatched strictly on schedule. The quiet life of the stork parents is over. Now they scour the area in 2 shifts looking for food. The frogs and snakes are terrified.

Unfortunately the drone's zoom is so-so. But you can make out the little pterodactyl-like stork chicks. Without a drone, for now you can only see the parents. To see the little ones without special equipment, come in midsummer. The babies will already be meowing away and trying to fly. And in August they'll be the first to fly off to Africa.

There'll be a video too, I promise)

Published May 14, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

Kovilj's stork chicks: drone video

Remember our May trip to Kovilj? Back then we got lucky and filmed freshly hatched stork chicks. Tiny babies 😍
And here's the drone video) The quality isn't great because of the zoom. We didn't want to fly close and make the parents and their kids nervous.

Now, a month later, the stork chicks look completely different. We're thinking of organizing another outing in a couple of weeks. We'll see how they're doing and show you.

If anyone has already been, show us, molimo vas))

Published June 18, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

Kovilj's stork chicks in July: grown up and flying

July is the perfect time to check how our stork chicks in Kovilj are doing. We went, here's the photo report📸
In short, it seems there are more storks in Kovilj right now than people)
Our youngsters have grown even more, and now you can only tell them apart from their parents by their black beaks. They're already flying around AND roaming the area looking for food 🐸🐍. And basically wherever you look, there are storks.

So if you haven't been to Kovilj yet, now's the time. Remember, the young ones will fly off to Africa as early as August, and the adult storks in September.

More photos in the comments ⏬

Here you can see what the freshly hatched stork chicks looked like😍

And here's a video with the stork chicks

Strange and funny facts about storks

And I've gathered all the information about the village of Kovilj in one place🌾

Chapel of St. Petka and the miraculous oak

Kovilj Monastery

Kovilj, the “capital” of storks

Published July 24, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

The storks are back: off to Kovilj and a winery

Finally we can say it — the storks are back! And they're already rushing all over Kovilj with twigs in their beaks, urgently finishing their nests.

Upd! We're postponing due to weather conditions. To April 4

So it's time for us too!
📍 April 4 On March 28 we're heading to our beloved Kovilj — and this time it's fully "all inclusive" 😉

According to locals there are about 40 stork nests in the village, let's see how many we count.
And of course, we'll enjoy the pastoral views of the Serbian countryside: cows, horses, swans — the full set of village zen.
At Kovilj Monastery we'll take a look at the frescoes and drop by the monastery shop.

Next — Stari Slankamen. We'll walk along a picturesque trail up the loess hill, see one of the most beautiful views of the Danube and the Bačka plain, and look at the ruins of a Roman fortress.

And then we dash off to a new winery 🍷
At sunset, in a cozy meadow with an amazing view, a tasting and roštilj awaits us (2 glasses of wine and food included).
You can taste wine in a dignified manner… or you can play football or just run around on the grass — especially if you're a kid 😄

In short: get ready for a day full of adventures and discoveries. A photo walk through the countryside along the Danube, a bit of farm life, a sunset with wine and, as always, great company.
And yes — just an hour's drive from Belgrade.

💰 Price:
70€ adults
60€ children

Included: transfer, a lecture about storks, a guide, a winery tour, 2 glasses of wine and roštilj.
For kids, roštilj can be swapped for spaghetti bolognese.

Extra expenses: souvenirs, wine (if two glasses turn out not to be enough 😉)

The trip will go ahead if a group of at least 12 people is formed.
Prices for the winery's extra services — in the comments.

Sign up in the comments

Published March 18, 2026 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

A lone stork and the postponed trip to Kovilj

Here's the news: on Saturday we met a lone stork on the way to Vršac. And now we simply can't wait to visit their Serbian residence in Kovilj, where they nest on literally every pole!
The storks have definitely arrived, and it looks like they brought a cyclone with them🌀 The weather forecast is intriguing and a little nerve-racking: it changes almost every hour🙈.

But we're still hoping to make it out on Saturday, March 28, to Kovilj — to see the storks and then stop by a winery for a picnic.

No longer hoping — postponed to April 4.

These photos were taken by EdShots last year.

You can see last year's storks via the links and read interesting facts about them and about Kovilj
And let's keep our fingers crossed

Here you can see what the freshly hatched stork chicks looked like😍

And here's a video with the stork chicks

Strange and funny facts about storks. Plus places where large gatherings of storks have also been spotted

Next, information about the village of Kovilj🌾

Chapel of St. Petka and the miraculous oak

Kovilj Monastery

Kovilj, the “capital” of storks

Published March 23, 2026 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

Photo exchange April 4 Storks-Ruins-Wine

Who else didn't believe until the very last moment that the weather would be good today😂

Well, what can I say — you can't spoil a good thing!
Today was a very calm and contemplative trip. We simply took it all in)
Storks flew above us, storks walked next to us, storks sat in their nests, and it was soooo beautiful!
Kovilj, as always, straight to the heart! It feels like time stands still there!

On the way to Stari Slankamen we admired the fields of the Bačka plain and the loess hills.
In the town itself we touched — I'm not afraid to say it — world history and geology, and even saw a 15th-century Turkish warehouse!

🍷And we wrapped up the trip at a wonderful winery with a tasting of wine and meat against an incredible backdrop.
The kids raced around the meadow non-stop, officially becoming the happiest people of the day.
And we… well, we did our best too — we tasted everything we could 😂 Watched the sunset and reluctantly headed back.

A wonderful, simply wonderful day. Thanks to everyone for the company, the conversations and the atmosphere!
Share your photos, videos and impressions — let this day live on a little longer 🫶🏻

Next trip — April 19 to Sremski Karlovci (announcement coming soon). Vidimo se! 🤗

Published April 4, 2026 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

What storks feed their chicks

Happiness has come to the storks! The chicks have hatched! And now the parents are in their busy season: from morning till night they cruise the marshes and fields in search of food for their gluttonous offspring.

Storks are predatory birds and not too picky in their culinary preferences: frogs, snakes, lizards, fish, grasshoppers, earthworms — anything that didn't manage to run, hop or crawl away goes on the menu.
But, as Irina @lar_f told us during the lecture, there have been more serious cases — storks have even managed to eat a cat and a baby goat. Someone was clearly veeery hungry.

And on our trip we finally had a traveler with a super lens, thanks to whom we could see these beauties in literally every detail. Now the Kovilj storks have not only chicks, but also great photos.

The Kovilj storks — through the eyes of Vadim - Relocant in Serbia.

Published May 16, 2026 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

Perlez — another stork village in Vojvodina

There's a small village in Vojvodina — Perlez. It's located not far from Zrenjanin, among endless fields and canals. Recently the local news reported that lots of stork nests had been spotted there. So we had to go and check)

A bit of history
Perlez appeared in the 18th century, in the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The village was named after General Johann Perlas — he was in charge of settling these lands after the Ottoman Empire left.
After that — the classic Vojvodina mosaic:
Serbs, Germans, Hungarians — lived side by side, built, fought, left and came back.
After World War II the German population disappeared, and the village changed a lot — like the whole region.

What it's like here now
Perlez is not a “touristy place” at all.
Everything is as in any Vojvodina village: quiet streets, old houses with long yards, gardens, chickens, dogs, grapevines. Neatly trimmed lawns, and generally very clean.
The Danube–Tisa–Danube canal runs nearby.
And right from the edge of the village begins Carska bara, one of Serbia's best-known nature reserves.
It's a world of water, reeds and birds: herons, cormorants, wild ducks, and sometimes you can spot beavers.
Nearby is also Stara Tisa, the old river bed, where it's even quieter and there are almost no people.

And most importantly — storks!
We came here for them. And there really are a lot of them here.
Nests on poles, on roofs. The storks themselves are everywhere: in the fields, along the roads, by the water and in the sky.
But there's a catch — here they're more skittish than in Kovilj.
You can't get close to the nests: they fly away, move to another spot, keep their distance.

To be honest, I don't see much point in visiting Perlez) Personally, Kovilj is still number one for me.
You won't find landscapes like those in Perlez, and the storks in Kovilj are much friendlier towards people. But you can safely add this village to the stork-watching map)

Published April 27, 2026 · Open the post in Telegram ↗

SHOCK CONTENT!

Our team finally made it to the place with the most storks in Serbia.

Many of you have surely heard about the unfinished shopping centre near Novi Sad that, instead of shoppers, was taken over by… storks. We had to go and check it out…

And you know what — it's absolutely true.
There's just an indecent number of storks here (A TON!).
Officially, ornithologists have counted 75 active nests. Now imagine the scale: each nest has on average four chicks. For comparison, in Kovilj three stork chicks is already an excellent result, and more often there are only two.

The little ones have grown noticeably, but don't dare to fly yet. In one of the photos I specially counted the birds — it came to more than a hundred storks in a single shot.

The most amazing thing — why here of all places?
White storks usually settle near marshes, meadows and rivers, where they can catch frogs, insects, mice and fish. There's indeed plenty of water around this place. The huge metal structures of the unfinished building turned out to be a perfect base for nests — safe, high up and nobody bothers them.

But there's one more reason, a rather unexpected one.

A landfill site is nearby. And this is one of those rare cases where human waste… actually helps nature. Of course, rubbish is far from a good thing, but food waste becomes an extra source of food. Storks aren't fussy birds at all. They gladly feed not only in marshes but also at landfills, especially when there's such a horde of hungry chicks to feed.

It's a real paradox: an unfinished building that never became a shopping centre has unexpectedly turned into the biggest “residential complex” for storks.

By the way, white storks are very conservative. If a nest works out well, they return to it every spring. Some families live in the same place for decades, constantly adding to their home. Old nests can reach two meters in diameter, weigh more than a ton, and are considered among the largest bird structures in Europe.

It's an amazing sight, of course, so many storks in one place. Storks warming themselves on a hillock in the rays of the setting sun, rows of nests on pillars. Gorgeous!
But note that they nest very high up, and without a drone or a decent zoom there's sadly not much to do here.

Related: Interesting and slightly strange facts about storks

Published July 6, 2026 · Open the post in Telegram ↗