Black Stork

Ciconia nigra

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernFishWoodlandPlatform nestHuge · 2.9 kg

What the Black Stork sounds like

Sonogram of the Black Stork: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Tanguy Loïs · Call · Monfragüe, Caceres, Extremadura, Spain · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The black stork is a large bird, measuring between 95 and 100 cm (37 and 39 in) in length with a 145-to-155 cm (57-to-61 in) wingspan, and weighing around 3 kg (6.6 lb). Standing as tall as 102 cm (40 in), it has long red legs, a long neck and a long, straight, pointed red beak. It bears some resemblance to Abdim's stork (C. abdimii), which can be distinguished by its much smaller build, predominantly green bill, legs and feet, and white rump and lower back. The plumage is black with a purplish green sheen, except for the white lower breast, belly, armpits, axillaries and undertail coverts.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Black Stork

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is September, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Black Stork

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 102 countries with regular records, and 7 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Norway, Finland, Burkina Faso, Mali, Laos, Yemen, Andorra.

About the Black Stork

The black stork is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae. Measuring on average 95 to 100 cm from beak tip to end of tail with a 145-to-155 cm (57-to-61 in) wingspan, the adult black stork has mainly black plumage, with white underparts, long red legs and a long pointed red beak. A widespread but uncommon species, it breeds in scattered locations across Europe, and east across the Palearctic to the Pacific Ocean. It is a long-distance migrant, with European populations wintering in tropical Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asian populations in the Indian subcontinent.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Black Stork vs White Stork · Asian Woolly-necked Stork vs Black Stork · Black Stork vs Maguari Stork · African Woolly-necked Stork vs Black Stork

Watch the Black Stork on live cams

Black Stork Nest, Riga ForestsRiga, Latvia · Latvian Fund for Nature
Black Stork Nest, EstoniaEstonia · Kotkaklubi (Eagle Club Estonia)
Black Stork Nest, BolewiceBolewice, Poland · Eagle Conservation Committee (KOO)

Browse all 118 bird cams worldwide, live and seasonal, by region and species.

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