Storks | Ciconiidae

Ooievaars | Cigüeñas

Adults have almost no voice; instead of calling they clatter the bill, the mandibles beating together in a rapid roll while the head is thrown far back over the shoulders. This clattering serves at the changing of the guard on the nest and in driving off an intruder, and carries a long way. Foraging is often done by touch: wading through cloudy water, the bird holds the bill half open below the surface and snaps it shut within hundredths of a second the moment a fish, frog or crayfish brushes against it, while one foot shuffles through the mud to flush prey out. The nest is a bulky structure of sticks high in a tree or on a rock ledge, reused year after year and built up further each time until it grows metres across; the young are fed on food disgorged onto the nest floor. In hot weather liquid droppings are smeared over the legs, which cools the bird as they evaporate.