13-6-2023 MADRID ZOO PARK, ESPANA - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

 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.

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..

22-8-2022 ATHENS ZOO, GREECE - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4733-Ciconia-ciconia

2-3-2022 TABLAS DE DAIMIEL, LA MANCHA - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4733-Ciconia-ciconia

1-3-2022 ERMITA DE PERALVILLO, LA MANCHA - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4733-Ciconia-ciconia

1-3-2022 PERALVILLO, LA MANCHA - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4733-Ciconia-ciconia

14-8-2021 CRISTO DE LAGUNA, SALAMANCA - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4733-Ciconia-ciconia

28-5-2021 MERIDA, LA MANCHA - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4733-Ciconia-ciconia

 

26-5-2021 MERIDA, ESTREMADURA - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4733-Ciconia-ciconia

 

24-5-2021 TABLAS DE DAIMIEL, LA MANCHA - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4733-Ciconia-ciconia

6-1-2019 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

14-10-2018 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

The White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a majestic bird, notable for its predominantly white plumage with contrasting black flight feathers. Adults boast impressive red legs and long, pointed red beaks. They average a length of 100–115 cm from beak to tail and have a wingspan ranging from 155 to 215 cm.

To identify the White Stork, look for its white body, black wingtips, and distinctive red legs and beak. In flight, they extend their necks and legs, presenting a stretched-out appearance. Juveniles have duller beaks and legs, which become brighter as they mature.

White Storks favor open farmlands, grassy meadows, and shallow wetlands. They avoid dense vegetation, preferring areas where they can easily spot and access their prey.

The White Stork breeds across Europe, northwestern Africa, southwestern Asia, and southern Africa. It is a long-distance migrant, wintering as far south as South Africa and on the Indian subcontinent.

These social birds can be seen in flocks, especially during migration. They are monogamous breeders, with both parents involved in nest building and care of the young. They walk with a slow, steady gait and rest with their heads hunched between their shoulders.

The White Stork is largely silent, but it is known for its bill-clattering display, which resonates from its throat pouch and serves as a form of communication.

White Storks build large stick nests, often reused for several years. Females lay clutches of usually four eggs, with both parents sharing incubation duties. The young fledge after about two months but remain dependent on their parents for a short while thereafter.

The White Stork can be confused with the yellow-billed stork, great white pelican, and Egyptian vulture when seen at a distance in flight. However, differences in beak shape, leg length, and flight posture can help distinguish these species.

As carnivores, White Storks consume a variety of prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, and occasionally small birds. They forage on the ground and in shallow waters.

The White Stork is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN. Its populations have benefited from conservation efforts, leading to reintroduction in areas where it had previously disappeared due to changes in land use and industrialization.

8-7-2018 TABLAS DE DAIMIEL, LA MANCHA - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

30-7-2017 CENTRAL PARK, BUDAPEST - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

The White stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. It eats a wide range of animal prey and takes most of its food from the ground. It does not pair for life but both members of the pair build a large stick nest, which may be used for several years. This conspicuous species has given rise to many legends across its range, of which the best-known is the story of babies being brought by storks.

White storks are found across Europe, Asia Minor, the northern part of Africa, and the Middle East. By the winter months, they migrate into tropical regions of Africa, some parts of the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. White storks prefer to feed in grassy meadows, agricultural fields, pastures, steppes, savannas, and shallow wetlands avoiding areas overgrown with tall grass and shrubs. Breeding grounds include open grasslands, particularly grassy areas which are wet or periodically flooded, and less in areas with taller vegetation cover such as forest and shrubland.

White storks are long-legged wading birds. The sexes are identical in appearance, except that males are larger than females on average. The plumage is mainly white with black flight feathers and wing coverts; the black is caused by the pigment melanin. The breast feathers are long and shaggy forming a ruff which is used in some courtship displays. The irises are dull brown or grey, and the peri-orbital skin is black. The adult has a bright red beak and red legs, the colouration of which is derived from carotenoids in the diet. As with other storks, the wings are long and broad enabling the bird to soar. In flapping flight its wingbeats are slow and regular. It flies with its neck stretched forward and with its long legs extended well beyond the end of its short tail. It walks at a slow and steady pace with its neck upstretched. In contrast, it often hunches its head between its shoulders when resting. Upon hatching, the young White stork is partly covered with short, sparse, whitish down feathers. This early down is replaced about a week later with a denser coat of woolly white down. By three weeks, the young bird acquires black scapulars and flight feathers. On hatching the chick has pinkish legs, which turn to greyish-black as it ages. Its beak is black with a brownish tip. By the time it fledges, the juvenile bird's plumage is similar to that of the adult, though its black feathers are often tinged with brown, and its beak and legs are a duller brownish-red or orange. The beak is typically orange or red with a darker tip. The bills gain the adults' red colour the following summer, although the black tips persist in some individuals. Young storks adopt adult plumage by their second summer.

18-4-2015 SEA OF GALILEE, ISRAEL - WHITE STORK (Ciconia ciconia)

The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average 100–115 cm (39–45 in) from beak tip to end of tail, with a 155–215 cm (61–85 in) wingspan. The two subspecies, which differ slightly in size, breed in Europe (north to Finland), northwestern Africa, southwestern Asia (east to southern Kazakhstan) and southern Africa. The white stork is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Africa from tropical Sub-Saharan Africa to as far south as South Africa, or on the Indian subcontinent. When migrating between Europe and Africa, it avoids crossing the Mediterranean Sea and detours via the Levant in the east or the Strait of Gibraltar in the west, because the air thermals on which it depends for soaring do not form over water.

A carnivore, the white stork eats a wide range of animal prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and small birds. It takes most of its food from the ground, among low vegetation, and from shallow water. It is a monogamous breeder, and both members of the pair build a large stick nest, which may be used for several years. Each year the female can lay one clutch of usually four eggs, which hatch asynchronously 33–34 days after being laid. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs and both feed the young. The young leave the nest 58–64 days after hatching, and continue to be fed by the parents for a further 7–20 days.

The white stork has been rated as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It benefited from human activities during the Middle Ages as woodland was cleared, but changes in farming methods and industrialisation saw it decline and disappear from parts of Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Conservation and reintroduction programs across Europe have resulted in the white stork resuming breeding in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It has few natural predators, but may harbour several types of parasite; the plumage is home to chewing lice and feather mites, while the large nests maintain a diverse range of mesostigmatic mites. This conspicuous species has given rise to many legends across its range, of which the best-known is the story of babies being brought by storks.