Stork | Facts & Information

Origin

Since Roman times it was considered holy bird "avis pia et benigna" considered the same today in many areas. Many popular beliefs are connected with this bird: it brings spring, brings good luck to the house where it makes its nest and protects it from fire and lightning, it can foreshadow abundance, luck, health, etc.

It cannot be confused with any other bird: it has long legs and a red beak, the body feathers are white, and the remiges black. Differences between the sexes are almost non-existent: in general the male is larger (on average 3.8 kg) than the female (3.3 kg).

Chickens have a black beak and legs at first. Later, the legs become red-brown, and from the age of nine weeks and the color of the beak gradually pigmented into red.

For a while, however, it will keep the Black color at the tip of the beak. The white stork can also be easily recognized in flight: it has its neck and legs extended, unlike herons, at which in flight the neck is always tight in the shape of an "S".

Stork Food

The age of storks can reach 30 years in captivity.

In Romania, the greatest longevity was recorded in a stork ringed in 1960 in the Danube Delta which was found after 12 years and 6 months in Tanzania.

It is one of the few mute birds. However, it produces a clampanite by striking the two jaws.

Features Stork

The white stork Feeds exclusively on animals. The food is very varied and includes insects (grasshoppers, crickets), larvae, frames, amphibians, small mammals (field mice), snakes and lizards etc.

Undigested remains are released after 1.5 – 2 days, by regurgitation in the form of ingluvies measuring about 50-35 mm, easily found around the nest. Through the analysis of ingluviii can determine the food composition of birds.

Storks feed alone or in groups, on wet lands and in arable areas within a radius of 800-3000 meters from the nest site. The daily food requirement of an adult stork amounted to 500 g (an equivalent, for example, of 16 mice).

During their period of maximum growth, chickens need an even greater amount of food (1200 g). This means that a pair of storks with four chicks gather in one day ap. 5.8 kg of food!

In order to provide this amount of food, the feeding habitat must have an area of 100-800 ha.

The chicks are fed at the nest for 53-55 days by both adults, who gather food. It will then be recourse in the middle of the nest, from where it will be taken by the chicks arranged in the form of a circle that adopts a specific position of "begging" for food.

At first they are fed at intervals of 30 minutes, and after they grow less often, at intervals of 1-2 hours.

The food of small chicks consists of bream, larger insects (grasshoppers, grasshoppers, cockroaches). When they reach the age of three weeks they can already be fed and larger animals: mammals (mice, moles), frogs, lizards, snakes.

On very hot days, parents also bring water to the nest, pouring it from above into the open beaks of the chicks in the form of splashes.

Stork Breeding

He lives on three continents. The spread area of the white stork covers Europe, North Africa, the western part of Asia and part of the Middle East. In Europe it is absent from Britain, Scandinavia, Italy, few – except the Iberian Peninsula – and in Western Europe.

According to the last international white stork census conducted in 1994-1995, the total number of white stork pairs on Earth is around 166,000. The population of the species has declined continuously since the beginning of the last century, with the herd stabilizing only in the last two decades.

But in some countries such as Spain and Portugal there have also been spectacular population increases. The most pairs of storks nest in Poland (over 40 000 pairs); here the highest density of pairs is reached (65-70 pairs/100 km2).

In places that offer them favorable conditions, storks nest in colonies. The largest colony of storks is found on the roof of the Cathedral of Alfaro (Spain) where they nest over 100 pairs. In Marchegg (Austria) a colony consisting of 60 pairs nests exclusively on trees.

In our country, white storks generally prefer low plains and wetlands along the Great Rivers. Avoid large wooded areas. Most storks are found in the north-west and south-west of the country (in Satu Mare and Timia counties), in the intermontane depressions in Eastern and Southern Transylvania (in Harghita, Covasna, Sibiu, Brasov counties) and in the Danube floodplain.

Relatively few storks live in the center of the country (Transylvanian Plain, Cluj and Alba counties), in Dobrogea and in Moldova.

The highest altitude at which the white stork nests in Romania is in the Bilbor area, at over 900 meters. Most pairs (between 28-30) nest in Cristian localities (County). Sibiu) and Sansimion (jud. Harghita).

After for 30-40 years the population of storks in Romania has experienced a continuous decrease, in the last 10-14 years, in some areas of the country there is an increase in the number of pairs. In other areas, the decline in Storks has stopped and stabilized. But there are also regions where the population knows decreasing trends.

The nest. It is located on a sunny and high place with a good view of the feeding areas. It is built of branches, roots, Earth and is lined with straw, hay, grass, dung, sometimes also with paper and rags.

Over the years, after repairs, it can reach impressive sizes reaching a diameter of 1-1.5 m,a height of up to 2m and a weight of 1-2 tons. A new Nest can be built by the pair of storks around 8 days. The pair usually use the same nest for several years in a row.

Some nests can reach several decades old. Thus, the oldest known nest in Romania is found in Gurghiu locality in Mures County. It was built in 1934 and was occupied by storks in 2004.

At the beginning and middle of the last century nests were built only on buildings and trees. With the decrease of the traditional nesting sites (thatched or Reed roofs, side hole baskets) the poles of the electrical networks in the localities have become for storks the most approved supports for Nest placement.

The transition to this way of nesting has been carried out gradually and continues today, throughout the spread area of the species. The first nests built on poles appeared in 1958 in Germany and the Czech Republic.

In Romania, the first nests placed on poles were reported in 1971. The ratio of nests built on Poles reached in Romania in 2004 at about 80-90%.

However, in some regions of the country, nests built on buildings are still quite frequently found. In Brasov and Sibiu counties, for example, there are still many nests built on chimneys.

In Covasna County instead,we can still meet in a fairly large number of nests on sure. Nesting on trees is more prevalent in Muntenia and Oltenia.