20 Interesting Facts About Storks

1. Storks are wading birds with long legs, necks, and beaks. Their closest relatives are similar-looking wading birds, such as flamingos, ibises, and herons.
2. Storks have around 20 species, present in all continents except Antarctica. However, most species are in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Their habitat includes rivers, lakes, marshes, wetlands, and tropical forests.
3. Storks are usually large, but their size differs according to the species. Hammerkop is the smallest stork, with two feet in height. The Marabou stork is the tallest, reaching up to 5 feet.
4. Storks are diurnal and carnivore birds. Most species eat small aquatic and land animals such as fish, frogs, rats, mice, and insects. Some species also feed on carrion. The most famous carrion-eater is the Marabou stork that depends primarily on carrion, garbage, and feces as its food. 
5. Storks are almost completely voiceless due to undeveloped syrinx (a vocal organ in birds). The only sound they produce is clattering their bills loudly under excitement.
6. The flight of storks inspired the invention of aviation in the late 19^th Century. Two German brothers invented the weight-shift hand glider after observing flights of this wading bird. One of these brothers, Otto Lilienthal, started making glides from a hill in 1891 and completed 2,000 fights in five years. Later, the Wright Brothers achieved the first airplane flight in 1903. (Source)
7. There are two main types of storks due to their distinct features. Typical storks have straight bills, while six members of wood storks (also known as wood ibises) have curved bills, similar to that of ibises. 

   

   Storks have various colors and types of bills

   
   
8. Storks build their nests in trees, rock ledges, or on buildings using sticks and grasses. These nests are large and can be as deep as 9 feet. A pair may use a single nest for years. Storks continuously add building materials to their nests, making them exceptionally heavy after a few years. Therefore, nests in urban areas may cause damage to buildings or poles. 
9. Monk parakeets build their nests near or inside storks’ nests. It enables them to take advantage of the aggressive defense of storks against hawks and other predators. Researchers have observed this behavior of these parrots in their native (Brazil) and non-native (Spain) locations. (Source)
10. A female stork may lay two to five eggs in a clutch. Both parents incubate eggs and guard the nest for nearly two months until the chicks leave to start their individual lives.
11. Some stork species are monogamous. However, they can change their mates after migrations and may migrate without their mates.
12. A male stork named Klepetan has been returning from Africa to Croatia every year in spring for the last 16 years after covering a distance of over 13,000 km. The purpose of the arrival of this bird at the same place is to meet the injured female stork (Malena), which can’t fly. The love story of two birds is famous all over Croatia. (Source)
13. Like most birds, male storks are slightly larger than females and have longer and heavier bills. Size is the only visible difference between the two genders.
14. Various stork species can live for 25 to 35 years in their natural habitat, while their lifespan increases in captivity. The longest age recorded for storks is 39 in the wild and 48 in captivity. 
15. Open-billed storks have bills especially designed to eat water snails. There is a wide gap when they close their mandibles. However, they can hold slippery snails through their enclosed curved tip and sharp edges of the bill.
16. In 2022, scientists discovered fossils of colossal flying storks living alongside hobbit-size humans in eastern Indonesia 60,000 years ago. These and other historic flying storks were scavengers of herbivore animals. The disappearance of their main food source, an extinct close relative of elephants, caused the extinction of these birds. (Source)
17. The myth of storks delivering human babies is present in the folklore of Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and North Africa. Historians believe that this myth originated centuries ago in Germany and Norway. 
18. According to a recent report, many storks have abandoned their migration from Europe to Africa due to climate change. The adult storks stay in Spain during winter and get their food (worms, insects, and rodents) from garbage. (Source)
19. Adult storks have very few predators due to their large size and sharp bills. However, several birds, raccoons, and skunks can steal eggs from their nest.
20. Storks sometimes kill and throw their smallest and weakest chick from the nest. It usually happens in larger broods with four or more chicks. The reason for this infanticide behavior is to increase the chances of survival for other chicks.