Like all storks, it has long legs, a long neck and a long straight pointed beak. Description A juvenile feeding on an insect The Middle Miocene beds of Maboko Island have yielded further remains. The 24–6 million year old fossil could have originated from either a white stork or a black stork ( C. nigra), which are species of about the same size with very similar bone structures. Ī Ciconia fossil representing the distal end of a right humerus has been recovered from Miocene beds of Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya. Close evolutionary relationships within Ciconia are suggested by behavioural similarities and, biochemically, through analysis of both mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences and DNA-DNA hybridization. Its closest relatives are the larger, black-billed Oriental stork ( Ciconia boyciana) of East Asia, which was formerly classified as a subspecies of the white stork, and the maguari stork ( C. maguari) of South America. The typical storks include the white stork and six other extant species, which are characterised by straight pointed beaks and mainly black and white plumage. ![]() ![]() The stork family contains six genera in three broad groups: the open-billed and wood storks ( Mycteria and Anastomus), the giant storks ( Ephippiorhynchus, Jabiru and Leptoptilos) and the "typical" storks ( Ciconia). ![]() It is slightly larger than the nominate subspecies. asiatica, described by Russian naturalist Nikolai Severtzov in 1873, breeds in Turkestan and winters from Iran to India. ciconia, the nominate subspecies described by Linnaeus in 1758, breeds from Europe to northwestern Africa and westernmost Asia and in southern Africa, and winters mainly in Africa south of the Sahara Desert, though some birds winter in India. Both the genus and specific epithet, cĭcōnia, are the Latin word for "stork". It was reclassified to (and was designated the type species of) the new genus Ciconia by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. It was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Ardea ciconia. They noted they were occasional vagrants to England, blown there by storms. 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.Įnglish naturalist Francis Willughby wrote about the white stork in the 17th century, having seen a drawing sent to him by his friend and natural history enthusiast Sir Thomas Brown of Norwich. 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. 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 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. The white stork has been rated as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The young leave the nest 58–64 days after hatching, and continue to be fed by the parents for a further 7–20 days. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs and both feed the young. Each year the female can lay one clutch of usually four eggs, which hatch asynchronously 33–34 days after being laid. It is a monogamous breeder, and both members of the pair build a large stick nest, which may be used for several years. It takes most of its food from the ground, among low vegetation, and from shallow water. 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.Ī carnivore, the white stork eats a wide range of animal prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and small birds. 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. ![]() 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. 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. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. The white stork ( Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae.
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