These amazing birds differ from others not only in their beauty, but also in their extraordinary grace. In terms of external parameters, they are similar to a heron, only larger in size.

And the stork’s nest stands out among others in its shape and size. What is so special about it? You can find out where and from what these birds build their nests by reading this article.

Beliefs about the stork

In lovingly called Bela Busel, and in Ukraine - Chernoguz or Leleka. There are no birds in the world with which so many legends, signs and beliefs are associated, and they are all quite sweet and kind.

The very first sign that comes to mind is that the stork is a bird that brings children into families. In the old days, treats were specially laid out for storks on the windows of huts for the sake of bringing children into the house. And cart wheels were installed on the roofs so that storks could make their homes there.

It was believed that a stork's nest on the roof of a house would definitely bring happiness and peace to its owners. And the number of stork chicks also had a certain meaning - the number of chicks, the number of children expected in the family.

Both white and black storks live in nature, the former being the most common.

Stork habitats

White stork - national bird The highest nesting density of this species of birds has been recorded on the territory of this state. Storks usually nest solitarily, but large colonial settlements are also found.

They live in almost all regions of Europe, including the Russian European part. They also exist in Asia (for example, in Uzbekistan).

Storks make their nests in a variety of different and unexpected places, even in some of them. They are not at all afraid of people and settle on trees and roofs of houses in rural settlements.

Many village residents specially prepare places to make it easier for birds to set up nests - they install poles with circles, cut off excess branches on trees. Civilization and people do not frighten storks at all. However, birds still remain wary of humans.

General information about stork nests

This amazingly beautiful and noble bird builds a very large nest (up to 1.5 meters in diameter). The weight of such a home can reach 250 kg. Basically, the stork builds a nest on the roof of a structure built by man, or on broken tree tops near bodies of water (rivers and lakes) or swamps.

As a rule, one nest is used by storks for years. Birds always return to their old home, and the males arrive earlier and guard it until the female returns. But before hatching the chicks, the nest is again put in order and repaired, so its size increases every year. The height is usually 50 centimeters, and the old nest as a result of such reconstructions can reach a height of even 1.5 meters.

In Germany, the oldest stork nest has been used by birds for 381 years.

What is the nest made of?

Storks build nests from twigs and large branches. They line the tray with hay, old grass and straw. Sometimes old rags, wool, paper, etc. are used as lining at the bottom of the nest.

With all this, each nest is built differently. All storks have their own peculiarity in planning the construction of a cozy nest. For example, there is a difference in the construction of nests between white and black storks, about which more detailed information is presented below.

White storks

The most famous of all birds of this species is the white stork, which in Russia nests in the European part of the country. Its wintering places are Africa and India.

The height of the bird is 120 centimeters, its weight is four kilograms. Distinctive feature it is that the stork does not have a voice, but instead knocks with half of its beak, making certain sounds, understandable to almost all surrounding birds.

White storks are monogamous. In a repaired nest, after returning from wintering, they lay from 1 to 7 eggs, then incubate them alternately (both female and male) for about 34 days.

They prefer to settle along the banks of bodies of water: rivers, lakes, swamps. These birds swim, fly, and move surprisingly easily on land (even run after prey). The white stork reaches speeds of up to 45 km per hour in flight. During sleep, he stands on one leg, periodically changing it.

White stork nest

The white stork's nest (outer side) is built from tree branches, the thickness of which reaches even several centimeters. The inside is lined with thinner and softer branches, and plant stems, turf, earth, manure, straw and hay are often found in its walls. The lower part is lined with a rather thick layer of softer material - moss, hay, leaves, dry grass, wool, etc.

You can also find a wide variety of garbage in the nest - old rags, films, papers, pieces of rope, etc.

In Russia, the oldest nests of white storks (about 35 years old) were discovered in the Tver and Kaluga regions. In Western Europe (in Germany, Poland and Hungary) there are nests that are more than 100 years old.

Black storks

Black storks live in the mountains and forests. They prefer to nest in places inaccessible to people, and lay about 5 eggs. They also caring parents, both the female and the male incubate the eggs in turn.

The weight of a black stork is approximately three kilograms. The legs, neck and beak are long. The wingspan reaches 2 meters. During the flight, the stork beautifully stretches its legs and neck, smoothly and slowly flaps its wings.

Unlike the white one, the black stork has a voice. Among other things, the black one, in comparison with the white one, is more thorough in designing its nest - it carefully lays out the branches, using clay and earth.

About stork chicks

After the storks have built a nest and the chicks have hatched from the hatched eggs, the real fuss begins. Parents will feed them from morning to evening. They are always busy looking for water and food for their chicks. From birth, storks feed on insects.

The food that the chicks grab on the fly is thrown into their mouths from the beaks of their parents. And the water smoothly flows into the beak of the chicks. All this happens within the first two months. The chicks feed very well and gain weight quite quickly.

Storks have a not very pleasant feature - they get rid of sick and weakened chicks.

Young birds that have become stronger and matured begin to look for food on their own, without their parents. Their food includes snakes, insects, lizards, frogs, various rodents etc.

Today in Ukraine, more and more often you can find a stork’s nest on a power pole, a slightly smaller number of them on trees, and even fewer on water towers. The smallest number of nests is on various buildings.

Stork nests are also found on rocks. For example, in Portugal in 1994, more than 2% of nests were built on them. Old dwellings are also found in ruins, on monuments, towers, on straw stacks, heaps of dry branches and manure. There are known cases of nests being detected even on the booms of construction truck cranes and on the ground.

The height of the nest depends on the height of the support. It varies from 0 (on the ground) to several tens of meters (on pipes and other structures). There is a known case of a nest being located on a hundred-meter tower in Spain. Basically, they are built at an average height of 5 to 20 m.

In many regions of Russia, nests are located on water towers, especially in Kaluga region(73% of nests).

In Lithuania in 1994-2000, storks built a nest on an old tree in 52 percent of cases.

Stork display behavior

For mated and breeding birds the center social activity serves as a nest, where you can see their various demonstrations. An interesting fact is that outside the nest, partners tend to ignore each other.

Usually in the spring the male returns to the nest first and protects the home from other storks. A pair forms on the nest. The owner greets strangers approaching storks with a characteristic cracking of his beak, throwing back and lowering his head and spreading his wings. At the same time, he still raises his tail and puffs up the feathers on his neck.

If a female flies to the nest, the demonstrations take on a different character after a while - a welcoming ceremony takes place. At the same time, the male, puffing up his feathers and shaking his head from side to side, greets the couple. When an alien male tries to sit on the nest, the owner takes a threatening pose: he stands motionless on bent legs with his legs apart. different sides wings, with the tail raised, and the head and neck extended forward. The stork has many different displays depending on the situation at hand. Fights may also occur.

A beautiful picture (two storks in a nest) can be seen after a pair has formed. Each of the pair greets the partner flying up to the nest with current demonstrations. Often both birds in the nest show off in a “duet”, fingering each other’s feathers, mostly on the neck and head.

Conclusion

A stork on the roof is the most familiar picture for rural areas. Many artists and photographers capture them there.

It should be noted that not everything is so smooth in the world of storks. Often the nests are occupied by other tenants - sparrows, wagtails and starlings, who raise their offspring in the beautiful cozy nest of the owners of the roofs and harbingers of a happy and prosperous life.

photo of a young storkThe stork is widespread in Ukraine and Belarus. Ukrainian name for stork - blackguz, Belarusian – busel. In Russia, the white stork is distributed in the black earth region of Belgorod, Orel, Kursk, the border of distribution runs through the Lipetsk region. The stork also lives in the Smolensk and Tula regions.

Storks winter in India and Africa. Before leaving for warm regions Large flocks of storks can be seen in the fields (stork summit).

The stork is a little over a meter tall. The wingspan reaches two meters. Storks live up to twenty years. A stork's nest usually hatches from two to five chicks.

The color of the stork is white, only the feathers on the wings are black.

stork photo

Storks are not very afraid of people. They settle near people, making large nests on poles and pipes. They often approach fishermen asking for fish; I even saw competition between a cat and a stork begging for fish.

What do storks eat?

If you see a stork hovering over a pond, it is a stork on the hunt. Once, while fishing, I saw a stork hovering in the middle of the river suddenly fly to a bush five meters from me and pull out a snake from there. The stork noticed the snake from a distance of at least 70 meters, which means the stork has excellent eyesight. The stork collects bugs, worms, catches fry, frogs, and small rodents. In search of prey, the stork walks sedately along the shore, often freezing on one leg while waiting for its prey.

Video - how a stork feeds

Garden stork, photo of ornamental bird figures

Stork figurines are widely used for decorative purposes, both in personal homes and in public places. Stork figurines are mainly made of plaster, three-dimensional and flat, and plywood.

Black and white pictures of a stork

Latin name– Ciconia ciconia
English name– White stork
Squad– Storks (Ciconiiformes)
Family– Storks (Ciconiidae)
Genus– Storks (Ciconia)

The white stork is the most famous and widespread species of the family; in many parts of its range the species has become synanthropic, i.e. has adapted well to life next to a person.

Conservation status

By international status The white stork is one of the species whose position in nature causes the least concern. However, in different parts Its abundance varies across its vast range. IN western parts The number of white storks is declining, despite people's favorable attitude towards these birds. This is probably due to the intensification agriculture, reducing the food supply of birds, as well as their poisoning due to the intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers. In Russia, on the contrary, the number of storks is increasing as a result of a decrease in the use of agricultural areas. The global white stork population numbers 150,000 breeding pairs, and about one third of them live in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. As for regional protection, the white stork is included in the Red Book of Kazakhstan.

Species and man

About the white stork different nations There are many legends and beliefs. Since ancient times, it has been considered a symbol of longevity and marital fidelity. Parents explained to their children that it is storks that bring children to people.
The Slavs and Baltic peoples considered the stork a symbol of prosperity and happiness. If a stork's nest appeared on the hut, consent, health and a good harvest awaited the owners. People believed that storks settle only with good and hardworking people, and avoid the homes of evil and lazy people. In fairy tales, the stork is always a positive hero, saving his owners from fires, snakes and other misfortunes. The Poles believed that storks, circling in the sky, dispersed thunderclouds.
In Germany, in honor of the spring arrival of storks, festivities, festive processions were held, and bells were rung.
IN Ancient Greece People, seeing the first stork in the spring, knelt down.
IN Ancient Rome there was a “stork law”, according to which adult children were obliged to take care of elderly parents; It was believed that storks feed their parents.
In Morocco, it was believed that storks are people who fly from a distant island in the form of birds, and then again acquire human form.
In Moldova, the stork is a symbol of viticulture. There is also a beautiful legend about this: storks in their beaks brought bunches of grapes to the besieged soldiers and saved them. The Turks believed that the stork's nest was a talisman against lightning and fires.
Armenians considered storks to be sacred birds that protected fields and brought warmth.
In Belarus, the white stork is one of the national symbols.
The image of storks is in the coats of arms of many European cities.
White storks easily make contact with humans, and they can often be seen in peasant yards, walking with poultry.

Distribution and habitats

The nesting range of the white stork is very extensive: the Iberian Peninsula, Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia and Transcaucasia, south-eastern regions Central Asia. In Russia in lately The range is expanding to the east and northeast, and white storks are regularly found in Karelia and the Middle Volga region.
White storks winter in tropical Africa and in India, and some birds from Central Europe fly to Asian wintering grounds.
White storks are inhabitants of low-lying meadows and wetlands; often settle near human habitation.

Appearance

The white stork is a fairly large bird: its length is 102 cm, its height is more than 1 m, and its weight is about 4 kg. The plumage is white, the flight feathers are black. In a standing bird, the entire back part of the body appears black, which is reflected in the Ukrainian name of the bird - Chernoguz. The feathers of the lower part of the neck are elongated and ruffled. The beak and legs are red, the throat pouch, frenulum and iris are black.

Lifestyle and social behavior

White storks – migratory birds. The bulk of the European population winters in tropical Africa, the rest in India. Young birds fly to winter on their own, separately from adults, usually at the end of August. Migration of adults occurs in September-October. Immature birds usually remain in their wintering areas for the next summer.
White storks fly very well and, although they flap their wings smoothly and rarely, they fly quite quickly. In flight, they keep their neck stretched forward and their legs back. Storks can soar in the air for a long time, almost without moving their wings.

Nutrition and feeding behavior

The food spectrum of white storks is very diverse and variable due to the location of this population. Their main food is small vertebrates and various invertebrate animals. The favorite food of European storks are frogs, toads, snakes (including poisonous vipers), as well as large grasshoppers and locusts. However, white storks willingly eat earthworms, various beetles, small fish (including dead ones), lizards, small rodents, chicks and eggs of birds. Thus, the “peace-loving kind” stork is a real predator. Living in villages, storks deftly catch chicks and ducklings that have become separated from their mothers. During wintering, storks often feed on locusts.
Looking for food, storks slowly walk on land or water, and when they see prey, they quickly and deftly grab it.

Vocalization

White storks do not have a voice in the usual sense of the word. They communicate with each other by clicking their beaks, which completely replaces vocal communication for them. At the same time, storks strongly throw back their heads and retract their tongues. The resulting large resonating oral cavity amplifies the sound, so that the cracking of the storks’ beaks can be heard over a long distance.
White stork chicks make sounds reminiscent of a cat's meow.

Reproduction, parental behavior and raising offspring

The traditional nesting site of the white stork is tall trees, where they build huge nests, often near human settlements. Gradually, storks began to nest not only in trees, but also on the roofs of houses, on water towers, on power line supports, on factory chimneys, as well as on special platforms built by people specifically to attract storks to nest. Sometimes an old cart wheel serves as such a platform. The same nest is often used by storks for many years, and since a couple annually repairs and renews the nest, it can reach very impressive sizes (over 1 m in diameter and 200 kg in weight). In the “lower floors” of such a huge nest, other, smaller birds often settle - sparrows, starlings, wagtails. Often such nests are passed on by storks “inheritedly” from parents to children.
When building or repairing nests, storks sometimes pick up smoldering branches or firebrands in peasant yards. In this case, not only the stork’s nest can burn down, but also the house on the roof of which it is located. This is where the legend comes from: if you offend a stork, it can burn down the offender’s house.
Males arrive at nesting sites several days earlier than females and occupy their nests. In Russia, the arrival of storks occurs in late March - early April. The male is ready to leave the first female that appears in his nest, and if another one appears (often last year’s mistress), there is an obvious struggle between them for the right to remain in the nest. Interestingly, the male does not take part in this “dispute”. The winning female remains in the nest, and the male greets her by throwing back his head and loudly clicking his beak. The female, in response, also throws back her head and clicks her beak. This behavior of the birds refutes the widespread belief that storks are incredibly loyal to each other. Changing females on the nest is a fairly common occurrence. After courtship and mating, the female lays from 1 to 7 (usually 2-5) white eggs, which the couple incubates in turn. Typically, the female incubates at night and the male incubates during the day. The change of birds on the nest is accompanied by special ritual poses and clicking of beaks. Incubation lasts about 33 days. The hatched chicks are sighted and have black beaks. but completely helpless. At first, parents feed the chicks with earthworms, passing them “from beak to beak” and gradually switch to other types of food. During feeding years, all the chicks grow in the nest; if there is a lack of food, the younger ones often die. It is well known that adult storks mercilessly throw weak and sick chicks out of the nest. So in this case, the legends about the “nobility and kindness” of storks do not entirely correspond to reality.
For the first time, young storks try to fly under the supervision of their parents at the age of 54-55 days. Then, for another 14-18 days, the brood stays together, and during the day the chicks “practice” flight, and fly to their native nest to spend the night.
At the age of 70 days they leave the nest completely. At the end of August, the young fly away for the winter alone, without their parents, who remain at the nesting sites until September. It’s amazing how young storks independently unmistakably find wintering sites that they have never been to.
White storks become sexually mature at 3 years old, but many individuals begin nesting much later, at 6 years old.

Lifespan

In nature, white storks live for about 20 years.

Life at the Moscow Zoo

Now in our zoo on the Old Territory there lives a pair of white storks who came to us quite recently.
The white stork's daily diet includes 350 g of fish, 350 g of meat, 2 mice and 5 frogs, a total of about 800 g of food.

Everyone knows what a stork looks like. If you haven’t met in person, many people know the stork from photos or from numerous brands that use the bird’s image in their logos.

Storks belong to the order Cioridae (anklefish) and are part of the large stork family. The genus of storks includes 7 species of birds, common in Eurasia, Africa and South America.

Stork in flight.

Description

These are large, long-legged, long-necked birds, about 100 cm high. The wingspan of an adult reaches 1.5-2 m. Their legs are devoid of feathers and covered with red mesh skin, and their webbed fingers end in short pink claws. There are also patches of bare red or red skin on the neck and head. yellow. The straight, elongated beak has a pointed conical shape. The color of the plumage is various combinations of black and white flowers. Females are slightly smaller than males, but otherwise the birds look the same.

An interesting feature of storks - practically complete absence vote. These birds are extremely taciturn and use hissing and clicking beaks to communicate.

Do storks live separately or not? in large groups, and their existence is closely related to various freshwater biotopes where birds feed and nest.

Stork in the field.

What do storks eat?

Storks eat exclusively animal food. Different types to a greater or lesser extent they consume fish, shellfish, frogs, snakes, poisonous snakes, lizards, large insects. The diet often includes small mammals: rats, mice, moles, gophers, rabbits. Storks track their prey by leisurely walking, and when they notice the victim, they run up and grab it. The offspring are first fed by belching from semi-digested food, and then earthworms are thrown into the chicks' mouths.

The stork stayed for the winter.

Features of reproduction

Storks are monogamous and the male and female jointly build the nest, incubate and feed the offspring. The mating rituals of the species differ, for example, the male white stork does not choose a companion, but considers the first female to fly up to the nest as his.

These birds build nests that are unique in size and durability, which are used from generation to generation. Therefore, one of the favorite topics of professional photographers is photos of storks in the nest. The record belongs to white storks, who built and occupied a nest on one of the German towers for almost 4 centuries.

Females lay from 1 to 7 eggs, the incubation period lasts about 30 days. Up to 1.5-2 months, the chicks are completely dependent on their parents, and in the fall the family breaks up. Birds reach sexual maturity at 3 years, and create their own families at 4-6 years. IN wildlife Storks live about 20 years; in captivity they can live twice as long.

Stork nest in a village near Nikolaev, Ukraine.

Storks in the nest.

Stork in the nest.

The most famous, numerous and widespread species of stork, one of the symbols of Belarus. Most of them nest in Europe and Asia, and winter in India and Africa. Small populations live sedentary Western Europe and South Africa.

The height of adult individuals reaches 100-120 cm with a body weight of about 4 kg. The plumage is completely white, only the tips of the wings are black, the beak and limbs are red. The folded wings cover the back of the body, which looks black, which is why in Ukraine this bird is called the Blackgut.

The white stork nests on the roofs of residential and commercial buildings, power line supports, and chimneys of abandoned factories. It builds giant nests; small birds nest in their walls - starlings, sparrows, wagtails. There are from 1 to 7 white eggs in a tray, incubation lasts for 33 days. Weak and sick chicks are mercilessly thrown out of the nest. The flight of young birds occurs 55 days after birth; after another 2 weeks, young birds become independent and, without waiting for their parents, go to wintering.

Stork on takeoff.

White stork in the sky.

White stork in flight.

White stork in flight.

The bird is also known as the black-billed stork, the Chinese stork, or simply the Far Eastern stork. Initially it was considered a subspecies of the white stork, but has recently been identified as a separate species. The population is about 3 thousand individuals, which are protected by Russia, China and Japan as rare, endangered birds.

The nesting sites of the Far Eastern stork are located in the Amur region and Primorye, on the Korean peninsula, Mongolia and northeastern China. The birds spend the winter in rice fields and swamps in the southern regions of China.

Unlike the white stork, these birds are larger, their beak is black and more massive, and their legs are colored intense red. The main difference is the area of ​​bare red skin around the eyes. These birds avoid people and make nests in swampy, inaccessible areas. Their nests are as high and wide as those of the white stork. The clutch consists of 2-6 eggs.

Far Eastern white stork in flight.

A numerous but little-studied species, widespread throughout Eurasia. Largest quantity birds are found in the swampy areas of the Belarusian Zvonets reserve; in Russia, the largest population lives in the Primorsky Territory. For the winter, black storks migrate to south Asia, with the exception of settled birds living in southern Africa.

These storks average size, height about 100 cm and body weight up to 3 kg. The color is black with a slight greenish or copper tint. The lower chest, belly and undertail are white. The limbs, beak and skin around the eyes are red.

The black stork avoids humans and nests in old dense forests near swamps and shallow reservoirs, sometimes in the mountains. The nests are built high and massive, the clutch contains from 4 to 7 eggs. After 30 days of incubation, the chicks hatch one by one and are completely helpless for about 10 days. The ability to stand on their feet appears only 35-40 days after birth, and young storks leave the nest at the age of 2 months.

A black stork catches a fish.

Black stork on the lake.

A species of stork that lives sedentary on the African continent from Ethiopia to South Africa. The bird population is quite large and its condition is not in danger.

These are small storks, about 73 cm high and weighing no more than 1 kg. The birds received their name due to the white color of the chest and underwings, forming a contrast with the main black plumage. The white-bellied stork has an olive-gray beak. Its legs and eye area are red, and during the breeding season, a patch of bare skin at the base of its beak turns bright blue.

The local name of the bird is the rain stork, this is due to the beginning of nesting, which occurs during the rainy season, when the birds gather in large groups on rocky shores and trees. The clutch consists of 2-3 eggs.

White-bellied stork on a dried tree.

A numerous species of storks, widespread in Africa and Asia. Three subspecies live in tropical forests Kenya and Uganda, on the islands of Borneo, Sulawesi, Bali, Lombok and Java, in the Philippines, Indochina and India.

The height of an adult stork is 80-90 cm. The birds are black with a reddish tint on the shoulders and green on the wings. The belly and undertail are white, and there is a black cap on the head. A distinctive feature of the white-necked stork is its snow-white lush plumage, reminiscent of a scarf, draped from the back of the head and neck to the middle of the chest.

White-necked stork in flight.

The white-necked stork spread its wings.

A white-necked stork bathes.

A South American species of stork that lives over a large area from Venezuela to Argentina.

These are birds of medium height, about 90 cm in height and weighing 3.5 kg. In appearance they strongly resemble a white stork, but differ in their black forked tail, red-orange areas of bare skin around the eyes and a white iris. Old birds can be identified by their bluish-gray beaks.

Birds avoid dense forests, preferring to nest in bushes near water. Nests are built at a height of 1 to 6 m, sometimes directly on the ground. The clutch contains 2-3 eggs, newborn chicks are covered with white down, gradually darken and at 3 months they are practically no different from their parents.

American stork in the sky.

One of the rarest storks, classified as an endangered species. The habitat covers the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia, Sumatra, Kalimantan, southern Thailand, Brunei and western Malaysia. Birds live secretly, often alone or in small groups, so photos of storks of this species are very rare.

These are small birds with a height of 75 to 91 cm. The plumage color is coal black, the back of the head and undertail are white. The bird's face is completely devoid of plumage and is covered with orange skin with wide yellow “spectacles” around the eyes. The beak and legs are red. The nests are built small, only 50 cm wide and about 15 cm high. The offspring consists of 2 chicks that are able to fly 45 days after birth.

The white stork is part of the stork family, which includes 17 species of birds. It lives in Europe, Asia Minor and Central Asia, Africa. It prefers to settle in damp places, this can be swampy areas, wet meadows, arranging nests not far from human habitation.

Weight 3 – 4 kg, height 120cm, length up to 115cm. The span of long and wide wings is 160 -200 cm. He has long red legs long neck and a long, strong red beak. The plumage is white and the flight feathers are black. Vigilant dark eyes are “rimmed” with a black stripe around them.

European white storks, for the winter they fly to South Africa, this happens in September - early October. Young birds fly away earlier than their parents - in August.

Before departure, they gather in large flocks of up to several thousand. This is a heavy bird, in order to take off you must first run a few meters, vigorously flapping its wings. They rise high into the sky, stretching their legs and neck. Their flight speed can reach 75 km/h. In one day they can fly about 200 km. They fly well, soaring in the sky for a long time, gaining altitude.

Birds feed mainly on frogs, insects, lizards, mice and fish. He walks leisurely in search of food, as if on a walk, but when he notices living creatures, he rushes after it and catches it. The stork likes to relax - stand on one leg.

After winter, the birds return in early April. Young couples build a nest from branches and twigs, lining the tray with feathers, wool, rags and other found materials that the builders consider necessary. Their nests are large, from 1.5 meters in diameter. They build them on tree branches and on the roofs of houses.

People attract beautiful birds for nesting by displaying baskets and cart wheels. Established couples meet at the old nest, repair it, complete it and equip it again. Such buildings weigh several centners. If one of the partners did not return due to death, then you must first find a soul mate, and then take care of the nest.

As a rule, the male flies to the nest first, the female a little later. It happens that a new one drops into the nest a female, and a little later a faithful friend arrives. The girls sort things out, and things can come to a fight. The male does not interfere in female squabbles, apparently he thinks there is no need to be late - I am always in demand.

Storks have a beautiful courtship ritual. First, when they meet, they greet each other by loudly knocking their beaks, spreading their tail and wings, then throwing their heads back, placing them on their backs, and pulling them forward again. At the same time, they can whistle and hiss. The female will lay 3-6 white eggs and will incubate them in turns for about a month.

The parents feed the born chicks with worms and bring water in their beaks. The weak and sick are thrown out of the nest. The chicks need the protection and warmth of their parents, they are too helpless. After two months, the chicks attempt to fly. While they are honing their flight skills, and this period lasts two weeks, their parents continue to feed them.