Max Blösch

Max Bloesch (also Blösch; * June 27, 1908 in Olten, † August 9, 1997 in Solothurn ) was a Swiss gym teacher, who was known by its successful application for the reintroduction of the White Stork in Switzerland as a father stork.

Life

Max Bloesch was born the son of an accountant in Olten. After visiting the Teachers' College in Solothurn and training to physical education teacher at the University of Basel, he initially worked as a teacher at a comprehensive school in the hamlet Huggerwald in the Solothurn community Huggerwald and then as an auxiliary gym instructor at the college Winterthur. Since 1935, Bloesch gym teacher at the city schools Solothurn, which at that time also included the district school, from 1956 until his retirement in 1970 at the district school in Solothurn. The marriage of Max Bloesch with Aline Hottiger († 1977) sprung three daughters and one son.

Use as a father stork

During his time at the teacher's seminar was devoted to Max Bloesch birdwatching, where he developed a special interest for the storks. As Bloesch realized that the stork was close to extinction in Switzerland, he decided to build a stork colony. This was begun in 1948 in Altreu in the Solothurn Selzach community, first with storks from Alsace and Czechoslovakia, then with a larger number of young storks from Algeria. Around 1950 was the stork in Switzerland to be extinct. However, by the stork mother station in Altreu and by the time 22 outposts between Lake Geneva and Lake Constance could reach Bloesch that the stork again in Switzerland permanently settled. In Bloesch death 1997 breeding pairs were counted nationwide 170. For his services as a father stork Bloesch 1983 awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern. In 1986 he was awarded the Adele Duttweiler Prize.

Sports

As field handball player Max Bloesch was a member of the team that won the bronze medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He played a game. As a gym instructor Bloesch was among the pioneers of the use of music in physical education.

Works (selection)

• Netball. Swiss Federal Gymnastics Club, Aarau, 1949 ( 2nd edition 1953).
• Dies from the stork in Switzerland? . 1948-1958, 10 years Stork settlement attempt Altreu. Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach in 1958.
• 20 years Stork settlement attempt Altreu, 1948-1968. Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach in 1968.
• Max Bloesch, Maurice Dizerens, Ernst Sutter: The moult of the flight feathers in the white stork Ciconia ciconia. In: The Ornithological observers. Vol 74, 1977, p 161-188 ( online ( PDF, 2.1 MB) ).
• Three decades of Swiss Stork settlement attempt (Ciconia ciconia) in Altreu, 1948-1979. In: The Ornithological observers. Vol 77, No 3, 1980, pp. 167-194.
• Altreu and its storks. Vogt-Schild, Solothurn 1983, ISBN 3-85962-065-7.
• Max Bloesch, Wendla Boettcher - Streim, Maurice Dizerens: About the moulting of the large feathers at the black stork. In: The Ornithological observers. Vol 84, 1987, p 301-315.
• Lukas Jenni, Wendla Boettcher - Streim, Markus Leuenberger, Elisabeth Wiprächtiger and Max Bloesch: Migration behavior of white storks Ciconia ciconia the reintroduction experiment in Switzerland in comparison with that of the West and the Maghreb population. In: The Ornithological observers. Vol 88, 1991, pp. 287-319.
• The Return of the cigognes. La station d' acclimatation d' Altreu. Vogt-Schild, Solothurn, 1989, ISBN 3-85962-089-4.