Storks | Ciconiiformes

Ooievaarachtigen | Cigüeñas

Storks are large wading birds with long legs, a long neck and a heavy, tapering bill; the front toes are joined at the base by a small web, which gives purchase on soft ground. The wings are broad and long, with widely spread primaries: on them the birds circle in rising warm air and glide from thermal to thermal, neck stretched out and legs straight behind. Great distances are covered this way with few wingbeats, but it calls for open country and sun. In some species the head and neck are bare or thinly feathered. In hot weather liquid droppings are voided over the legs, which cools the bird as they evaporate. Foraging is done on foot, in shallow water and in open grassland.

Families in this order

Storks | Ciconiidae1 speciesAdults 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.