European White Stork

European white storks are tall birds that live in wetlands and other warm, open habitats in Europe, India, the Middle East and Africa. They’re well adapted to living in human cities and farmland. They use tall structures such as trees, cliffs, rooftops and telephone poles for building nests, which males and females build together using sticks and other natural materials. A stork’s nest can be 7 feet wide and 10 feet deep! The parents use the same nest to raise several chicks each year.

Storks gather in large groups of up to thousands of birds for their winter migration to portions of Africa. They lack a voice box and communicate with each other mostly by bill clapping and wing flapping. They certainly draw attention with their 5-foot wingspan!