The storm that hit eastern Macedonia left collapsed roofs, broken facades and damage running into millions of denars. It also left something smaller and quieter - young storks knocked out of their nests around Štip and Kočani, with no nest and no chance.

Staff at the Češinovo-Obleševo municipality found them and took them in. Every day they provide proper care, food and water until the birds fully recover. Two of the young storks are already ready to fly, and for the rest the care continues until they are able to return to the wild and rejoin their flock.

The stork is not a random bird for this part of Macedonia. It is the symbol of the region, the one that returns to the same chimney every summer and by which people know the village is still alive. When what is left of that bird is a few fallen chicks in the municipal courtyard, the image is symbolic as much as biological.

Mayor Jordanče Kostadinov announced that a care centre for this protected species will be built, allowing the municipality to respond more efficiently and professionally to similar natural disasters. The municipality has also issued an open call for residents to help with caring for and feeding the young storks.

A municipality paying people to carry water to fallen storks is not saving an ecosystem - it is a small thing in the big picture of species protection. But it is exactly the kind of small thing institutions usually do not do, because nobody demands it of them and nobody will measure it. That is why it is worth mentioning.

The bird centre, when and if it gets built, will be the test of whether this was a solution or just a good week. Until then, two young storks taking off again above Češinovo-Obleševo is news enough.