Storks | Ciconiidae

Ooievaars | Cigüeñas

The bill is straight and pointed and serves both for probing in shallow water and for seizing prey on dry land; the menu runs from frogs, lizards and mice to large insects and refuse from rubbish tips. At the nest the birds clatter the bill with the head thrown far back; this clattering takes the place of song. They void onto their own legs to keep cool, which often leaves them looking whitewashed rather than red. The nest is a bulky heap of sticks on a roof, pole, crag or treetop, reused for years and growing ever heavier; the young are fed by the parents disgorging food onto the nest floor.