Ciconiidae

Ciconiidae is the stork family, order Ciconiiformes, comprising large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long stout bills. It contains 20 living species across six genera and has a nearly cosmopolitan range, absent only from the poles, most of North America and large parts of Australia, with the greatest diversity in tropical Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Storks have heavy bodies and wide wingspans, with the marabou stork reaching a 3.2 meter span, rely on soaring and gliding flight to conserve energy, and build large nests that are reused for many years; the fossil record for the family extends back to the Early Oligocene, roughly 30 million years ago.