”Trembling with the cold, he isn’t yet used to these low temperatures. He arrived yesterday at 15:00 and immediately devoured two kilos of meat,” Stjepan Vokić stated when talking about Croatia’s most famous lovebirds (or storks, to be more precise), Klepetan and Malena.
As Vecernji list/Ivan Halar writes on the 19th of March, 2019, the love story between the two most famous storks in Croatia, Klepetan and Malena, is still very much in bloom. For the seventeenth time, after leaving to head for the warmer regions, Croatia’s beloved stork Klepetan returned to his beloved Malena in the Slavonski Brod area of Brodski Varoš. However, his return this year has occurred earlier than usual because he usually comes back right at the end of March.
Stjepan Vokić, who observed Klepetan trying to re-adjust to the much colder climes is a now retired janitor of a school in Brodski Varoš, he has been taking care of the storks since 1993.
Vokić added that he was surprised by Klepetan’s early return, but says that ”nature knows its own”.
“I saw seven storks flying over the playground and then landing. I went up to them to find out if Klepetan was among them. When I approached them with the meat, Klepetan recognised me and immediately came up to me. After he had eaten, he flew into his nest where Malena was waiting for him,” said Vokić, adding that the pair had already made up for Klepetan’s absence with some ”fun”, and in just a few weeks, Malena will likely lay eggs, meaning that maybe some baby storks might appear on the scene.
”It’s plain to see that the long journey has worn Klepetan out. So, as they’re accustomed to it, I’m bringing them some food,” says Vokić, noting that he took a video of Klepetan’s return, and the footage will soon be released on the Facebook page dedicated to the feathered pair, which his son usually edits.
Have a look at Klepetan and Malena’s unique relationship with their carer here:
“I’m not exactly all about these phones, my years are here…” Vokić concluded with a smirk and a sense of joy in his voice as his birds were safely reunited once again for the seventeenth year in a row.
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Click here for the original article by Ivan Halar for Vecernji list
