Stork Facts

European White Stork Facts

More than you ever cared to learn!

Storks are large,

(1 meter, that's tall!)

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relatively silent birds,

although wooing their mates

with a bill-clattering display will produce a

s.t.a.c.c.a.t.o

machine-gun-like rattle.

(how charming)

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Nests of branches, grass, dirt, rags, and paper

(anything they can get their beaks on, I guess)

will be used repeatedly, up to hundreds of years!

(my house is only 40;

I guess it'll be needing a couple of additions)

Many nests have grown to over 2 m in diameter and nearly 3 m in depth!

(BIG)

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Completion of the structure is often signaled by the addition of

one leafy branch

to the edge of the nest.

(how cute, like a garnish)

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European Storks have been building their nests on man-made structures such as roofs, towers, chimneys, telephone-poles, and haystacks since the Middle Ages, as well as using natural spots; cliff edges, trees and sometimes even the ground.

(lazy storks)

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Both male and female incubate the 3-5 eggs for 34 days.

(awww)

After 8 weeks of gentle care, the young ones fledge.

(off they go...)

Storks mature in 4 years, ultimately living nearly 30 years!

(some of them, anyway, according to some ornithological leg banding research)

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If you spot a bunch of silly looking big 'ole sticks on top of my chimney, let me know. I'll make sure not to start any fires.

(At least for a few hundred years!)

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!