# White Stork

Region: Europe
Source: https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/stork/

The white stork is an elegant bird with a white body, black wings, and a red beak and legs. After raising its chicks in Europe, it flies all the way to Africa for the winter. For a long time, people have seen it as a bird that brings good luck.

## Quick facts

- **Habitat**: It breeds in Europe's countryside fields and spends the winter in Africa.
- **Diet**: It eats frogs, small snakes, and insects.
- **Size and weight**: Height 100–115cm, wingspan 200–220cm.
- **Lifespan**: About 30 years
- **Conservation status**: Least Concern
- **Fun facts**: Every year it flies thousands of km and returns to the same nest! / It can't make calls, so it talks by clattering its beak.

## Learn more

### Long legs in a white tuxedo, an elegant hunter of the sky

The mysterious secrets of the white stork that we never knew

### The secret of its elegance

The white stork's unique charm points

- **Red-rimmed eyes** — bare red skin around the eyes gives it a striking look.
- **Great height** — a very tall bird, standing 100–115cm.
- **Sturdy long legs** — perfect for finding food in shallow water or grass.

### Why are its wingtips black?

A smart choice for both beauty and survival

- **Melanin pigment** — the black feathers are rich in melanin, which prevents feather wear.
- **Long-distance flight** — this protects the stork safely through its arduous flights spanning thousands of kilometers.

### Using its beak instead of its voice!

The stork's unique way of talking, called "clattering"

- **A degenerated voice organ** — its vocal structure never developed, so it can't make the typical cries of most birds.
- **A rattling sound** — it rapidly clacks its upper and lower beak together, communicating with a lively sound like castanets.
- **Expressing emotion** — it uses this sound to greet a mate or warn off enemies approaching the nest.

### What does it eat?

A skilled ecosystem hunter of rice paddies and wetlands

- **Habitat** — it favors rural fields, flooded rice paddies, and shallow wetlands.
- **A carnivorous diet** — a carnivorous bird that mainly hunts frogs, fish, small snakes, and insects.
- **A farming calendar** — it feeds heavily on food that becomes abundant along with the rice-farming cycle, raising its chicks healthily.

### A giant home in the sky

The stork's remarkable nest, passed down through generations

- **An enormous size** — it builds a massive nest, about 1.5m across and weighing as much as 250kg.
- **A homing instinct** — every year, it flies thousands of kilometers and returns to the exact same nest to lay eggs.
- **A multi-family home** — small birds like sparrows also live as tenants in the gaps of the stork's giant nest.

## More animals from this region

- [Brown Bear](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/brownbear/)
- [Eurasian Lynx](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/lynx/)
- [Reindeer](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/reindeer/)
- [European Bison](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/wisent/)
- [Hedgehog](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/hedgehog/)
- [Red Fox](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/redfox/)

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All images and videos were made with AI to capture each animal's features, so they may look different from the real animals. The animal information comes from public sources and may contain mistakes.