Black stork

The black stork is a large member of the stork family Ciconiidae, first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, measuring 95 to 100 centimetres long with a wingspan of 145 to 155 centimetres and predominantly black plumage set off by white underparts, long red legs and a pointed red bill. It is a widespread but uncommon species with scattered breeding sites across Europe, notably Portugal, Spain and central-eastern regions, extending east across the Palearctic to the Pacific; European birds winter in tropical sub-Saharan Africa and Asian birds in the Indian subcontinent, migrating around the Mediterranean via the Levant, the Strait of Sicily or the Strait of Gibraltar, while a separate population in southern Africa does not migrate at all. Unlike the related white stork it is shy and wary, frequenting marshes, rivers and other inland waters alone or in pairs and wading slowly to catch amphibians, small fish and insects. Pairs nest in large forest trees far from human settlement, laying two to five greyish white eggs that incubate for 32 to 38 days, with chicks fledging after 60 to 71 days.