Storks belong to the order Totimplate birds stork family, which also includes Heron and threskiornithidae.The most famous member of this family is the white stork.He is known by numerous legends and tales.
Since time immemorial, the white stork was considered a revered bird, he was associated with good luck, prosperity and happiness.With the white stork is due a large number of legends and stories in Europe and in the East, where it acts as a guardian of the family hearth and protector from evil spirits.Previously it was thought that the stork flew contributes to the appearance in the family of the long-awaited child, so to help these birds waited for childless families.
In connection with the cut-back of the vocal cords in the adult storks almost no voice.Most often you can hear the clicking of beak used for greetings.White Stork - a bird is beautiful and large enough, it can reach a weight of four kilograms.Wingspan of up to 205 centimeters, and the length of the body can reach 120 centimeters.White Stork has a long neck, long legs and a long beak.The plumage of males and females (females are a little smaller than the size of the males) are the same: they are covered with white feathers, with the exception of the black wings.According to popular legend, God gave stork white plumage, and the devil - black wings, so it symbolizes the eternal struggle between good and evil.White storks live long enough, their average life expectancy can be up to 20 years.
main area of the bird distribution is the Iberian peninsula, the whole of Europe as well as North Africa and Asia.Winter white storks in India and the African continent, and in Asia sent many birds from Central Europe.During spring migration they have to fly 200 kilometers a day.The main migration routes of white storks are flights across the Mediterranean Sea, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Bosporus and the Isthmus of Suez.You can see the huge accumulation of white storks at high altitude in spring and autumn.
basis for the supply of white storks are a variety of invertebrates and vertebrates are not large, they extracted on land and in water.Small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish and insects - the food is very fond of this bird.White Stork eats even small leverets that determines its predatory character.Often storks use inedible objects mistakenly taken for food, which leads to blockage of the digestive tract and death.
principal place of settlement of white storks are the roofs of houses, outbuildings, rare - rocks and trees.Many white storks use the same nests over a century, passing them from generation to generation.They bravely defend their nests and chicks of other birds.To build a new nest, the bird requires more than a week, so the white stork is often renovating the old place settlement.The nest can reach impressive sizes.As a rule, contained in a clutch of four to five eggs.White storks hatch the eggs one by one, and a month later the chicks hatch helpless to become independent at the age of 70 days.
Currently, the number of white storks every year due to reduced chemicalization and intensification of agricultural production, so that there is reduction of food supply of birds.
