White Stork

Ciconia ciconia

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernOmnivoreGrasslandPlatform nestHuge · 3.4 kg

What the White Stork sounds like

Sonogram of the White Stork: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Sonothèque ADVL · Call · Vains, Manche, Normandie, France · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the White Stork: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Sonothèque ADVL · Clacking beak · Saint-Jean-le-Thomas, Manche, Normandie, France · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the White Stork: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Sonothèque ADVL · Bill clattering · Vains, Manche, Normandie, France · CC0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The white stork is a large bird. It has a length of 100–115 cm (39–45 in), and a standing height of 100–125 cm (39–49 in). The wingspan is 155–215 cm (61–85 in) and its weight is 2.3–4.5 kg (5.1–9.9 lb). Like all storks, it has long legs, a long neck and a long straight pointed beak. The sexes are identical in appearance, except that males are larger than females on average. The plumage is mainly white with black flight feathers and wing coverts; the black is caused by the pigment melanin. The breast feathers are long and shaggy forming a ruff which is used in some courtship displays.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the White Stork

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 10 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.

Where to see the White Stork

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 100 countries with regular records, and 11 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 Ireland, Angola, São Tomé & Príncipe, Martinique, Sri Lanka, Andorra, Congo - Brazzaville, Gabon, Costa Rica, China, Turkmenistan.

About the White Stork

The white stork is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. 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. The two subspecies, which differ slightly in size, breed in Europe north to Finland, northwestern Africa, Palearctic east to southern Kazakhstan and southern Africa. 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.

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 White Stork · Maguari Stork vs White Stork

Watch the White Stork on live cams

Beleef de Lente (Experience Spring) stream previewRETURNS MARCH
Beleef de Lente (Experience Spring)Netherlands · Vogelbescherming Nederland
White Stork Nest, TukumsTukums, Latvia · Latvian Fund for Nature
Knepp White Stork CamWest Sussex, England, UK · Knepp Wildland (Kneppflix)
Storchennest GroßefehnGroßefehn, Ostfriesland, Germany · Storchennest Großefehn

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

Learn the White Stork in the BeakBrain App

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