18 Facts About Black stork

Black stork is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae.

Unlike the closely related white stork, the black stork is a shy and wary species.

Black stork is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but its actual status is uncertain.

Black stork named it Ciconia nigra, from the Latin words for "stork" and "black" respectively.

The word stork is derived from the Old English word storc, thought to be related to the Old High German storah, meaning "stork", and the Old English stearc, meaning "stiff".

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Black stork is a member of the genus Ciconia, or typical storks, a group of seven extant species, characterised by straight bills and mainly black and white plumage.

The black stork has brown irises, and bare red skin around its eyes.

Black stork prefers more wooded areas than the better-known white stork, and breeds in large marshy wetlands with interspersed coniferous or broadleaved woodlands, but inhabits hills and mountains with sufficient networks of creeks.

The black stork is a rare vagrant to the British Isles, turning up in the warmer months—particularly in spring—generally in the south and east.

East of the Ural Mountains, the black stork is patchily found in forested and mountainous areas up to 60°?63° N across Siberia to the Pacific Ocean.

The black stork prefers to construct its nest in forest trees with large canopies where the nest can be built far from the main trunk—generally in places far from human disturbance.

Black stork parents have been known to kill one of their fledglings, generally the weakest, in times of food shortage to reduce brood size and hence increase the chance of survival of the remaining nestlings.

Black stork mainly eats fish, including small cyprinids, pikes, roaches, eels, budds, perches, burbots, sticklebacks and muddy loaches.

The black stork wades patiently and slowly in shallow water, often alone or in a small group if food is plentiful.

The black stork follows large mammals such as deer and livestock, presumably to eat the invertebrates and small animals flushed by their presence.

Black stork numbers have declined for many years in western Europe, and the species has been extirpated as a breeding bird from the northwestern edge of its range, including the Netherlands and the Nordics.

The black stork vanished from the Ticino River valley in northern Italy, with hunting a likely contributor.

Since October 2021, the black stork has been classified as Moderately Depleted by the IUCN.