White Stork

Meet the White Stork!

The White Stork is a migratory bird that heralds the end of winter with its arrival (around February).

Very similar to the American Stork (also called "White Stork" or "Common Stork"), it neither one of the largest nor the smallest of its species. It can reach 115 centimeters in length, with a wing span of up to 195 centimeters.

Adults have orange and red beaks and legs (the beak measures between 14 and 19 centimeters). In young individuals, these parts are dark gray.

What are its habits?

When it returns, it always goes back to the nest it abandoned the previous year. Nests are usually built on top of towers and on churches: they are platforms of twigs up to two meters in diameter.

First the males arrive, then the females: first they rebuild their nest, then they pair up. The sound made by the stork to communicate with other storks is the noisy clattering of its beak..

Conservation

Extinct

Extinct in the wild

Critically endangered

Endangered

Vulnerable

Near threatened

Least concern

Insufficient data

Not evaluated

DID YOU KNOW ...

The drying of marshy lands and wetlands, in addition to the use of insecticides, has caused this species to have disappeared from many regions, and it is scarce in Western Europe. In Spain it is still a common bird.