White stork

Ciconia ciconia · The white stork is a large, mostly white bird with black wings and red legs and beak, found breeding across Europe, northwestern Africa, western Asia and southern Africa.

Also called European White Stork.

White stork
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
White stork
Photo: Tuxyso / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
White stork
Photo: Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderCiconiiformes
FamilyCiconiidae
GenusCiconia
SpeciesCiconia ciconia

Where it lives

Breeds in Europe, North Africa and western Asia; winters in sub-Saharan Africa.

Fun facts

  • White storks avoid flying over the Mediterranean because the rising warm air they soar on does not form over water, so they detour over land.
  • Flapping flight burns an estimated 23 times more body fat than soaring, which is why storks ride rising warm air whenever they can.
  • A white stork's adult sound is loud bill-clattering, likened to distant machine gun fire, and its throat pouch amplifies the noise.
  • White storks sometimes squeeze moss in their beaks to drip water into their chicks' mouths, a rare example of tool use.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).