What do leleks eat? Legends and interesting facts about storks. Where does the stork live?

Storks (lat. Siconia) are a genus of fairly large body size, the so-called marsh birds. All representatives of this genus, in strict accordance with the established scientific classification, belong to the order Anciformes or Stork-shaped, as well as the Stork family.

Description of the stork

Representatives of the genus Storks are characterized by the presence of long and naked legs covered with mesh-type skin. The bird has a long, straight and conical beak. The front short toes are connected to each other by a wide membrane and have pinkish claws. In some places there is completely bare skin in the head and neck area.

Appearance

External features are entirely determined by the species characteristics of storks:

• The black stork's upper body is covered with black feathers with greenish and red tints, and the lower part is covered with a white feather. The chest is crowned with rather thick and noticeably shaggy feathers, slightly reminiscent of a fur collar;
• The white-bellied stork is characterized by a predominantly black coloration, as well as pure white underwings and chest. The legs of this stork species are red, and the beak is gray. The skin around the eyes is red, but with the onset of the mating season it acquires a characteristic blue color;
• The white-necked stork has a characteristic black cap on its head, and there is fluffy plumage from the neck area (in the back of the head) to the anterior chest area white. The rest of the plumage is predominantly black with a reddish tint in the shoulder area. There are white feathers on the belly and lower part of the tail, and the coverts are characterized by a dark green color;
• The Malayan woolly-necked stork has black and white main plumage and a red beak. Facial skin without feathers, orange color, with yellowish circles in the eye area. The feathers of adult and young birds outside the breeding season have a more modest, rustic coloring;
• The American stork is characterized by a predominantly white plumage with tail feathers and a black forked tail. The species is distinguished by a blue-gray beak with orange-red leathery areas around the eyes and an iris of pure white coloring;
• White storks have a characteristic white plumage with black tips on the wings, a long neck, as well as a long and thin red beak, long and reddish legs. Due to the blackish coloration when the wings are folded, in Ukraine the bird of this species was called “blackgut”.

Rare Far Eastern storks resemble a white stork in appearance, but have a more powerful black beak and legs that are bright red. Representatives of this species have red, unfeathered skin around the eyes. The chicks have white feathers and a reddish-orange beak.

Character and lifestyle

Very common white storks are inhabitants of low-lying meadows and often settle in wetlands, and also often select areas for nesting near people's homes. Looking for food, storks calmly and leisurely walk around the area, but when they see their prey, they quickly run up and quickly grab it.

This is interesting! Vocal communication is replaced by clicking the beak, in which the stork throws its head back far to the back and retracts its tongue back, due to which the sound is amplified by the well-resonating oral cavity.

Far Eastern storks also live close to water bodies and wet places, but the most important difference between the lifestyle of this species and the white stork is the choice for nests in the most remote and inaccessible places, far from residential areas. settlements.

How long do storks live?

The average life expectancy of different representatives of the Stork genus directly depends on the characteristics of the species and their habitat. White storks are able to live in natural natural conditions about twenty years, but if the rules of captivity are observed, this figure is often much higher.

Many representatives of the Far Eastern storks in captivity lived even to the age of half a century. According to observations, the maximum average lifespan of a black stork in captivity can be three decades, but in natural conditions this figure rarely exceeds sixteen years.

Types of storks

Currently, there are several species of representatives of the Stork genus:

• () - enough large bird, distinguished by its original plumage color. Height does not exceed 110-112 cm with an average weight of 3.0 kg and a wingspan of 150-155 cm;
• White-bellied stork (Siconia abdimii) - relatively small sizes bird, no more than 72-74 cm long and weighing up to one kilogram;
• White-necked stork (Ciconia eriscorus) - a medium-sized representative of the Stork genus, with a body length in the range of 80-90 cm;
• Malayan woolly-necked storks (Сiсonia stormi) - a rare species of the Stork family with a body length of no more than 75-91 cm;
• American stork (Ciconia maguari) - a South American representative of the Stork family, characterized by a body length of 90 cm, a wingspan of no more than 115-120 cm and an average weight of 3.4-3.5 kg;
• White storks (Siсonia сiconia) - large wading birds with a maximum height of at least 1.0-1.25 m with a wingspan of 15.5-2.0 m and a body weight of 3.9-4.0 kg.

This is interesting! The image of a stork is quite widespread in heraldry, and the presence of such a bird on the coat of arms symbolizes forethought and vigilance.

Range, habitats

In Europe there are a couple of species belonging to the genus Storks: the Black Stork (C. nigra) and the White Stork (C. alba). These species belong to the category of migratory birds that appear in Central Europe between February and March. Representatives of the species are not found at all in England.

White-bellied storks live in Africa, from Ethiopia to South Africa, and white-necked storks are found only in Indochina and India, the Philippines and in the tropics of Africa, on the island of Java. Malayan woolly-necked storks are common in Sumatra and Borneo, and are found in southern Thailand, western Malaysia, and Brunei. The bird prefers freshwater biotopes untouched by progress with adjacent low-lying forest zones, and also settles near rivers or in floodplain areas.

This is interesting! The population is found in northern Korea and northeastern China, as well as Mongolia. For wintering, the gregarious species flies to the south and southeast of China, where it lives in humid areas in the form of shallow ponds and rice fields.

American storks currently live in South America and the eastern part from Venezuela, up to the territory of Argentina, where they prefer to inhabit exclusively wet areas and agricultural lands. The distribution area of ​​the Far Eastern stork is mainly represented by the territory of our country, including the Far Eastern territory, where the habitats include Primorye and Amur region, the river basins of the Amur, Zeya and Ussuri.

Diet of storks

The prey of the American stork most often includes fish and frogs, crayfish and small rodents, snakes and water insects, as well as some invertebrates. White storks feed on:

• small vertebrates;
• various invertebrate animals;
• frogs and toads;
• snakes and;
• large locusts and grasshoppers;
• earthworms;
• mole crickets and May beetles;
• dead or diseased small fish;
• not too large lizards;
• mammals in the form of mice and rats, moles, hares, and;
• small birds.

White-bellied storks feed mainly on caterpillars and locusts, and also use other fairly large insects as food. White-necked storks are most often found in park areas or near water bodies, where they actively destroy fish, frogs and toads, snakes and lizards, and also actively feed on some invertebrate animals.

Reproduction and offspring

Initially, all representatives of the order Angiformes or Storks from the Stork family nested mainly in trees, near human habitation, where they built a very large nest from branches, the weight of which could easily be several centners. Subsequently, such birds began to actively use roofs to create nests. residential buildings or any other buildings. Currently, storks are increasingly making nests on high-voltage power poles and factory pipes.. The nest created by the stork can serve as a feathered refuge for breeding offspring for several years.

The male stork arrives at the nesting sites several days earlier than the females of this species appear there. Birds arrive in our country at the end of March or at the beginning of April. The male will consider the very first female to appear near the nest as his own, but very often several females fight for the right to give birth to offspring. The male stork takes care of the selected female, making quite frequent and loud clicking sounds with his beak. Similar sounds are made by the male when approaching the nest of a foreign male, after which the owner of the nest uses his beak to attack and strike the enemy.

Depending on the species, the number of eggs laid can vary from two to seven, but most often there are from two to five. Stork eggs are covered with a white shell and are incubated by the pair together. As a rule, males incubate their offspring during the daytime, and females exclusively at night. During the process of changing the brood hen, the birds make a special clacking sound with their beaks and use ritual poses.

Incubation lasts just over a month, after which sighted but completely helpless chicks hatch from the eggs. At the very first time, the hatched stork chicks feed mainly on earthworms, which are actively thrown out of the throats of their parents. Mature chicks are quite capable of independently snatching food directly from the parent’s beak.

This is interesting! The oldest currently known is the stork's nest, which was built by birds of this species on a tower located in eastern Germany and served as a feathered home in the period from 1549 to 1930.

Adult birds vigilantly monitor and control the behavior and health of all offspring, so chicks that are too weak or sick are mercilessly thrown out of the nest. About eight weeks after birth, young storks take flight for the first time under the care of their parents. For almost two, and sometimes three more weeks, such storks are fed and taught to fly well, improving their flying skills by their parents. However, storks acquire complete independence in the last ten days of summer, after which they fly away to warm places for the winter. Adult storks migrate to wintering grounds around September. Birds reach sexual maturity at three years, but prefer to nest later, at about the age of six.

Busel white

The entire territory of Belarus

Stork family - Ciconiidae

In Belarus - C. c. ciconia (the subspecies inhabits the entire European part of the species' range).

Common breeding migratory and transit migratory species. The territory of Belarus is conditionally divided into 3 regions with different densities white stork nesting areas: southern and southwestern regions with high density, central regions with medium density, northern and northeastern regions, where storks are common, and in some places rare.

The appearance of the stork is well known: a long, straight and sharp beak, a long neck and long legs, wide wings. The plumage color is mostly white, only the flight feathers and the back of the back are black. The beak and legs of adult storks are red, but the beak of young storks is dark gray, almost black. The weight of males is 2.9-3.6 kg, females 2.9-3.1 kg. Body length (both sexes) 97-110 cm, wingspan 200-220 cm.

In the last 40 years, the white stork has flown in the second ten days of March - the first ten days of April. The timing of arrival of the white stork shifts by 2–3 days as it moves 1° latitude from the southwest to the northeast of the region. Autumn migration, on the contrary, occurs the same number of days earlier.

Inhabits open spaces mainly in flat areas, often near reservoirs or extensive swamps. Walking at a leisurely pace across a mown meadow or shore of the reservoir, the stork is looking for food. It rests on a nest or on the top of a tree. Capable of soaring flight and can circle in the sky for a long time in rising air currents. This is perhaps the only one of our birds that lacks the ability to make sounds with its vocal apparatus. This bird produces its characteristic “squeaking” due to frequent blows of the upper beak against the lower beak. Thanks to the traditional patronage of the local population, white storks in Belarus are not afraid of humans and since ancient times have nested in populated areas - villages, towns and even small towns. There are especially many stork nests in the villages of Belarusian Polesie, adjacent to open river floodplains - the favorite feeding places of this bird. Among river floodplains or near them, along country roads, on forest edges, you can find nests of white storks outside populated areas. These birds, as a rule, nest in separate pairs, but in the south of Belarus sometimes there are group settlements in which several pairs of storks nest in close proximity.

Males arrive first at the nesting site, females 3–4 days later. Appearing in the spring already in the last ten days of March, storks immediately occupy old nests. They are located, as a rule, in trees, but often there are nests built on the roofs of houses and barns, water towers, and power line supports. Sometimes storks make nests in unusual places- for example, on hay stacks, well cranes and even on the boom of a non-working crane. They often occupy bases for nests specially arranged by people in the form of wooden frames or wheels mounted on trees. Birds usually nest in single pairs; group settlements of 4–10 or more pairs are also known.

The nest is a bulky structure made of twigs and branches mixed with bundles of hay and straw. Over the years, it becomes even more massive, as it has been in use for many years and is constantly being built up. A flat tray, as a rule, is lined with a rather thick layer of soft material, in particular straw, hay, scraps of felt, wool, old rags, scraps of paper and rope, feathers, etc. The height of the nest is 40-115 cm, diameter 70-230 cm; tray depth 8-12 cm, diameter 35-40 cm. Construction of a new nest lasts about 8 days.

A full clutch contains from 2 to 6 (usually 4) eggs (as an exception, a clutch of 7 eggs has been recorded in Europe). Egg weight 100 g, length 73 mm (67-79 mm), width 52 mm (47-53 mm). The shell is white, yellowish when exposed to light. When incubating, it may acquire a grayish tint; granularity is relatively weakly expressed.

The bird begins laying eggs in the last ten days of April or early May. Eggs are laid at intervals of 2–3 days. There is one brood per year. The male and female incubate for 29-30 or 33-34 days. They usually begin incubation after laying the second egg. The chicks stay in the nest for quite a long time, making their first flight no earlier than on the 50th day of life (in the second half of July - early August). Before this, adults regularly bring food to the chicks, and in the first weeks of their life, one of the adult birds is constantly on the nest, guarding the brood and protecting the chicks from the sun in hot weather, and from rain in rainy weather. The chicks stay in the nest for 54–63 days. For approximately 15–17 days after departure, the parents feed the young. At the age of 70 days, young birds become independent.

An interesting, not entirely understood phenomenon is often observed in the nesting behavior of storks - the throwing out of the nest of one or two eggs or chicks. If the thrown chick is put back into the nest, storks in most cases (but not always!) throw it out again. As a rule, the weakest chick of the brood is discarded. Perhaps this behavior is associated with the difficulty of feeding the entire brood in years that are unfavorable in terms of food.

Not all pairs of storks nest. Birds first begin nesting at the age of three, some at the age of six, and a small number at the age of two.

In August, families of storks form pre-migration aggregations - flocks of 20-40, rarely up to 100 or more adult and young birds, which are found in meadows, fields, forest edges, and human settlements. By the end of August, most of these flocks have already left the territory of Belarus; in September you can see mainly small “belated” groups or single, often sick birds.

The white stork's food range is very wide: frogs, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, lizards and snakes, fish, small rodents, etc. There are known cases of storks eating small birds and even small hares. Quantitative relationships different objects food varies greatly depending on the area and season of the year.

During the 1995–1996 national bird census. (as part of the V International White Stork Census), 11,807 nesting pairs were registered, of which 97% successfully raised chicks.

The number of white storks in Belarus at the end of the twentieth century. was estimated at 10.5–13 thousand pairs. According to the 2004 national census, about 21.5 thousand pairs of white storks (9% of the world population of the species) nested in Belarus, and 5874 nesting pairs in the Brest region. According to the latest national census (2014-2015), the number of white storks in Belarus is estimated at 22–22.5 thousand breeding pairs and already accounts for 10% of the world population.

The maximum recorded age in Europe is 39 years.

Olga Vasilevskaya, Pinsk district (Brest region)

These feathered creatures have always amazed those around them with their amazing grace: a long flexible neck, impressive, thin legs that lift them high above the ground, a meter or more in height (although females are slightly smaller than their males).

Stork – bird, having a conical shape, a pointed, long and straight beak. The feather outfit of such winged creatures is not replete with bright colors, it is white with black additions. True, in some species the black color predominates over the white areas.

The wings are impressive in size, with a span of about two meters. The head and majestic neck have interesting - naked, completely featherless areas, covered only by skin of red, in some cases yellow and other shades, depending on the variety.

The legs are also bare, and the mesh skin on them is red. Birds' fingers, equipped with membranes, end in small claws pink shade.

Such birds are classified by biologists as belonging to the order of storks, which is also called wading birds. And all its representatives are members of the extensive stork family. It’s just a pity that for all their beauty, these representatives of the bird kingdom do not have a pleasant voice, but communicate with each other by clicking their beaks and emitting a hiss.

What kind of bird is a stork?: migratory or not? It all depends on the area that such birds choose as their habitat. These graceful creatures are found in many areas of Eurasia. And with the onset of cold weather, they usually go to spend the winter in African lands or in the vast regions of India known for their excellent climate.

It happens that storks choose favorable areas of southern Asia for relocation. Those of them that settle on warmer continents, for example, in or South, do without winter flights.

Kinds

The genus of these birds includes about 12 species. Their representatives are similar in many ways. However, they are also endowed with differences, which consist in the size and color of the feather cover, but not only. They also differ in character, habits and attitude towards people.

Distinctive features appearance can be observed storks in the photo.

Let's take a closer look at some of the varieties:

• The white stork is one of the most numerous species. Adults can reach a height of 120 cm and a weight of approximately 4 kg. The color of their feathers is almost completely snow-white, while the beak and legs are red.

Only the feathers bordering the wings are black, and therefore, when folded, create the impression of darkness in the back of the body, for which such winged creatures in Ukraine received the nickname “Blackguz”.

They nest in many areas of Eurasia. They are widespread in Belarus and are even considered its symbol. Birds usually fly to African countries and India for the winter. To people White stork treats them with trust, and such representatives of the winged kingdom very often build their nests in close proximity to their homes.

White stork

• The Far Eastern stork, sometimes also called the Chinese and black-billed stork, belongs to rare species and is protected in, as well as in Japan and China. Such birds nest on the Korean Peninsula, in Primorye and the Amur region, in the eastern and northern regions of China, and in Mongolia.

They prefer wetlands, trying to locate themselves away from people. With the onset of winter, birds move to more favorable areas, most often to the south of China, where they spend their days in swamps and rice fields, where they can easily find food for themselves.

These birds are larger than the white stork. Their beak is also much more massive and black in color. Around the eyes, an attentive observer may notice red areas of bare skin.

The black beak distinguishes it from other relatives of the Far East.

• Black stork- a little-studied species, although numerous. Lives and lives sedentary in Africa. On the territory of Eurasia it is quite widespread, especially in the reserves of Belarus, and lives in abundance in the Primorsky Territory.

Birds can travel from unfavorable areas to southern Asia for wintering. Representatives of this species are somewhat smaller than their relatives from the previously described varieties. They reach a weight of about 3 kg.

The shade of the feathers of these birds, as the name suggests, is black, but with a slightly noticeable copper or greenish tint. Only the belly, undertail, and lower chest are white in such birds. The periocular areas and beak are red.

Birds of this species nest in deep forests, most often near small ponds and swamps, and in some cases in the mountains.

Black stork

• The white-bellied stork is a small creature compared to its relatives. These are birds weighing only about a kilogram. They live mainly in Africa and live sedentary lives there.

They have white underwings and chest, which presents a great contrast with the black feathers of the rest of the body. And the latter became the reason for the name of the species. Hue stork beak This variety is gray-brown.

And during the mating season, the skin at the base of the beak becomes bright blue, which is a characteristic feature of such birds. They nest in trees and rocky coastal areas. This happens during the rainy season, for which representatives of the described species are nicknamed rain storks by the local population.

White-bellied stork is a small representative of the family

• The white-necked stork is found in various areas Asia and Africa, taking root well in tropical forests. The height of birds is usually no more than 90 cm. The background color is mainly black with a touch of red, the wings have a greenish tint.

As you can understand from the name, the neck is white, but on the head it looks like there is a black cap.

The white-necked stork has white downy neck plumage

• The American stork lives in the southern part of the continent indicated in the name of the species. These are not very large birds. By plumage color and appearance resemble a white stork, differing from it only in the shape of a forked black tail.

Elderly individuals are distinguished by their grayish-blue beak. Such birds nest near ponds in thickets of bushes. Their clutch consists of a very small number (most often about three pieces) of eggs, which is not enough in comparison with other varieties of fellow storks.

The newly born offspring are covered with white down, and only after three months do the cubs become similar in color and feather structure to adults.

Pictured is an American stork

• The woolly-necked Malayan stork is a very rare, almost endangered species. Such birds live, in addition to the country indicated in the name, in Thailand, Sumatra, Indonesia, and other islands and countries with similar climates.

Usually they behave carefully, with extreme caution, hiding from human eyes. They have a special charcoal feather color, their faces are naked and covered only with orange skin, without feathers.

There are yellow circles around the eyes, reminiscent of glasses. Unlike many other species of storks, representatives of this species build small nests. In them, only two cubs grow from one clutch. After a month and a half of growth, the chicks of this species become completely independent.

The woolly-necked Malayan stork is the rarest of the family.

Lifestyle and habitat

These birds choose meadow lowlands and marshy areas to live. Storks usually do not form large flocks, preferring solitude or living in small groups. The exception is the wintering period, then the societies in which such birds gather can number up to several thousand individuals.

An interesting fact is that during long flights, storks are even able to sleep in the air. At the same time, the breathing and pulse of these living beings becomes less frequent. But in this state their hearing only becomes more sensitive, which is necessary for birds in order not to get lost and not to get separated from the flock of their relatives.

For this type of rest in flight, a quarter of an hour is enough for birds, after which they wake up and their bodies return to normal.

During long flights, storks are able to fall asleep in flight without losing their “course”

When communicating with each other, storks are not characterized by sentiment, because these graceful, beautiful-looking birds beat their sick and weakened relatives to death without any pity. Although with practical point From a perspective, such behavior is very reasonable and contributes to healthy natural selection.

It is interesting that in the works of writers of antiquity and the Middle Ages stork often presented as the personification of caring for parents. There are widespread legends that such birds touchingly care for elderly individuals when they lose the ability to care for themselves.

Nutrition

Despite their beauty, storks turn out to be very dangerous for many living creatures, because they are birds of prey. Their biggest delicacy is frogs. Just like the heron stork-like bird even externally, they feed on many creatures living in bodies of water, catching them in shallow water.

They love fish very much. Their varied diet also includes shellfish. In addition, storks love to feast on large insects; on land they catch lizards and snakes, even poisonous snakes. It is curious that these birds also pose a serious threat to small mammals, such as gophers, moles, mice, and rats.

All of the above are also included in their diet. Storks can even eat rabbits.

These birds are extremely skilled hunters. It is important that by walking back and forth on their long legs, they are not just walking, but tracking down the desired prey. When the prey appears in their field of vision, the birds run up to it with agility and dexterity and grab it with their strong long beak.

Such birds feed their young with semi-digested burps, and when the offspring grow a little older, the parents throw rain water directly into their mouths.

Fish and frogs are the favorite delicacy of storks

Reproduction and lifespan

The nests of storks of most common species are built gigantic and wide, so much so that small birds such as sparrows and starlings often manage to nest their chicks around the edges.

Such capacious structures serve for many years, often being passed on to subsequent generations. And these birds choose a place to build their chicks’ habitat for a long time. There is a known case that occurred in Germany when white storks used one nest built on a tower for four centuries.

These are monogamous winged creatures, and the emerging family unions of such birds are not destroyed throughout their lives. Married couples who remain faithful to each other, participate in the construction of nests, are engaged in incubation and feeding of offspring with enviable unanimity, sharing all the burdens among themselves this process.

True, mating rituals, depending on the variety, are distinguished by their peculiarities, as well as the order in which the male chooses his mate. For example, it is customary for white stork cavaliers to choose as their spouse the first female to fly up to his nest.

Next, the new mistress lays eggs in quantities of up to seven pieces. Then incubation lasts about a month, and up to two months - the period of raising the chicks. Parents usually turn out to be cruel to sick and weak cubs, throwing them out of the nest without pity.

After 55 days from the moment of birth, the first flight of the young usually occurs. And after a couple of weeks, the chicks become so mature that they are ready to exist on their own. The new generation grows up towards autumn, and then stork family disintegrates.

Within a month, the chicks acquire plumage, and after another month they try their first flights.

Young animals, maturing purely physically, turn out to be ready to have their offspring at an age of approximately three years. And after a year or two, sometimes three, they create their own family unions.

The lifespan of such birds is natural conditions reaches 20 years of age. However, in captivity, this period can increase significantly with satisfactory care and maintenance.

When it comes to talking about what the white stork eats, for some reason everyone remembers frogs first (remember yourself), although they do not form the basis of its diet. This representative is unpretentious to food; it catches all kinds of small animals found underfoot - from worms to small rodents. It was only possible to swallow. But, first of all, the stork feeds on a variety of insects; in dry areas they can account for up to 99 percent of the prey.

Storks swallow their prey whole. All kinds of small things are swallowed immediately, and large insects and rodents are first killed with blows of the beak, and then only eaten. Sometimes you can see how a stork, before eating, “chews” a caught mouse with its beak for a while, as if tasting it. Maybe he can play, letting her go and then grabbing her again, like a kitten. Large and dry prey, if there is water nearby, the stork first rinses in it for some time until it becomes such that it can be easily swallowed. It also first washes contaminated caught frogs and fish.

Birds search for prey on the ground or in shallow water. They don’t like to go far into the water - you rarely see a stork at a depth of more than 20-30 centimeters. Hunting techniques can be varied. More often, storks actively search for prey. Everyone is familiar with the picture: a stork walks sedately in the grass. At the same time, he can make sudden throws, freeze in place, and sometimes even beat with his wings. Birds often accompany herds of cows, herds of horses, working tractors or combines.

The favorite feeding place of storks is fresh mowing. You can see these birds even near a fire strip in the grass. This doesn’t happen often here, but in Africa storks like to gather where local residents burn the savannah during the dry season. As soon as they see the smoke, birds from everywhere begin to flock to the fire, concentrating behind the wall of fire. They walk along the still smoking burnt stems and catch insects. Sometimes hundreds of birds gather at such fires. Storks also fly into a freshly plowed field, collecting worms and insect larvae.

Another hunting option is waiting for prey, which is typical for herons. The stork is able to keep watch near a mouse hole, waiting for one of its inhabitants to stick his nose out. As a rule, the duration of such waiting does not exceed several minutes, but once a bird was observed “guarding” a mouse hole for 20 minutes. In muddy, shallow water bodies, the stork often hunts “by touch”: it moves its beak through the water, quickly closing and opening it until it comes across a tadpole or something else. It collects earthworms by probing soft soil with its beak. The stork can also catch flying prey, for example, dragonflies or other insects. Sometimes he even knocks them down with his wings. When kept in captivity, he quickly learns to grab food thrown to him with his beak, as dogs do.

Among the insects in the stork's diet there are such dangerous pests as the beetle beetle, the turtle bug, various beetles, and the beet weevil. But most of all he loves the so-called Orthoptera. These include grasshoppers, crickets, tops and the notorious locust. At wintering sites in Africa, storks eat so many locusts that in the languages ​​of a number of African tribes the white stork is called “locust eater” or “locust bird”. The fame of the destroyer of this dangerous pest is so entrenched in it that in Afrikaans (the language of the white population of the Republic of South Africa) even one of the official scientific names for the white stork is “large locust bird.” However, it is justified to some extent for Ukraine. In the past there were many devastating “raids” of locusts in the southern provinces. Even now, despite the huge arsenal chemicals combat and the use of aviation, it can turn flourishing lands into a barren desert in a matter of days. One can imagine what a disaster locusts were for peasants earlier.

The stork also prevents the descent of the peasants’ “favorite” - the spinning top or the “cabbage grower”. Anyone who has a vegetable garden can tell a lot about it. As studies have shown in various European countries, from Spain to the former USSR, tops make up from 5-10% to a third of the stork’s diet in summer. Ornithologist A.P. Krapivny studied the feeding of the white stork in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. It turned out that in the food that adult birds brought to the chicks, tops made up about 8% by number and almost 14% by weight. One portion brought to the connector contained as many as 113 mole crickets! In the Masurian Lake District (Poland), 31% of white storks contained the remains of click beetle larvae (wireworms), 14% - weevils, 16% - thistles.

In years with outbreaks in the number of mouse-like rodents, they are eaten in large numbers not only by white storks, but also by black storks, which feed mainly on small fish and other aquatic animals. So, according to F.I. Strautman, in 1946 in the Irshavsky district of the Transcarpathian region, during a surge in the number of mouse-like rodents, several specimens of mice and voles were found in the stomachs of killed black storks.

The hunting efficiency of storks can be quite good. According to calculations made in Poland, one bird caught 44 mice, 2 young hamsters and one frog within an hour, the second caught 25-30 crickets per minute! Continuous observations of one stork carried out by scientists showed that it caught at least 1037 different animals over the course of 10.5 hours, an average of 1.6 per minute. The hunting success of birds depends on terrain conditions and the type of prey, but on average, about half of the attacks are effective.

The daily requirement of an adult stork is about 700 grams of food. In the summer, in order to feed themselves and raise an ever-hungry crowd of chicks, birds have to search for prey almost all daylight hours. According to the calculations of Polish ornithologists, a medium-sized stork family - a pair of adult birds and 2-3 babies - consumes about 2.5 centners of food during the period of feeding the chicks. To raise offspring, storks must receive approximately one and a half kilograms of earthworms, a kilogram of frogs, or 700 grams of small rodents every day.

Apparently it was not in vain that the popular belief arose that a village in which many storks nest need not worry too much about good harvest. According to scientists, it is the destruction of locusts and many others dangerous pests was one of the reasons why in the distant past the stork was respected as a sacred bird.

V.M. Grishchenko (www.birdlife.org.ua)

The stork family includes large birds with a long, pointed beak. The hind toe of storks is poorly developed, the front three toes are connected at the base by a small swimming membrane. The vocal cords and membranes are reduced, so storks are almost mute birds. They do not have a crop; they have a claw on the wing (on the first finger of the hand). In flight, the neck is stretched forward.

This family includes 17 species of birds, grouped into 9 genera, distributed on all continents, but in North America they inhabit only the very south of the continent. Most species live in hot countries of the eastern hemisphere. There are 27 known fossil species of storks.

White stork(Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird with high legs, a long neck and a long beak. Its weight is 3.5-4 kg, wing length is 58-61 cm. The color of the plumage is predominantly white, the ends of the wings are shiny, black. When the wings are folded, it seems that the entire back of the bird’s body is black, hence its Ukrainian name - Chernoguz. The beak and legs are red. The bare skin around the eyes and the front of the chin are black. Females are slightly smaller than males and do not differ in color.

The white stork nests in Europe north to southern Sweden and Leningrad, east to Smolensk, Bryansk and Orel, in North-West Africa, in Asia Minor to Western Iran, in Transcaucasia, in Central Asia (eastern parts of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan).

In addition, the white stork nests in eastern Asia, in the Amur region and Primorye, south to Korea, and on the islands of Japan. White storks winter in Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and the southern part of the United Arab Republic, Pakistan, India and Indochina, Korea and the southern part of the Japanese Islands.

White storks are monogamous birds. The same pair of storks can nest in a nest they built for several years in a row. The spring arrival of white storks occurs quite quickly. According to the observations of D.N. Kaigorodov, these birds occupy the nesting area in the European part of the USSR for 17 days, usually from March 23 to April 9. However, there are later and more early dates

arrival. Males arrive earlier than females. According to European authors, the white stork, returning from its African wintering grounds, flies an average of 200 km per day.

Storks first begin nesting at the age of three (more than half of nesting birds), but some begin to breed later, sometimes even at the age of 6 years. A small number of birds begin breeding at the age of 2 years.

Stork nests are bulky, usually have a diameter of at least a meter, and if an old nest is occupied, which is renovated and completed by storks, then the diameter can reach one and a half meters. The construction of a new nest lasts approximately 8 days. It is built by both members of the couple. Occasionally, white storks build a second nest, which serves them for sleeping or as a guard post. Young birds that have not yet nested also make nests.

Sometimes charred twigs, pieces of semi-burnt twigs or wood chips are found in stork nests, apparently picked up by birds at the site of a fire in a meadow or on the river bank. If the firebrand is not completely extinguished, the fire can be fanned by the wind, and thus the stork “sets fire” to its nest. A similar case was described, for example, by A.V. Fedosov for Sevsk (Bryansk region). When the storks' nest, located at the very top of the roof of one bell tower, suddenly began to smoke, both adult birds began to throw down the flaming twigs and branches. The situation was saved only by the fire brigade arriving on time. Such cases probably served as the basis for the legend that storks, if the owner of the house destroys their nest, bring a burning brand in their beak and set fire to the house of the inhospitable owner.

A full clutch contains from 2 to 5 eggs, most often 4-5, but sometimes storks incubate only 1 egg, rarely 7 eggs in a clutch. Apparently, the number of eggs in a clutch is influenced by feeding conditions of the year. In addition, young birds starting to breed for the first time lay fewer eggs than older ones. The eggs are white with a slight shine.

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Their size is as follows: the long axis is on average 73.8 mm, the short axis is 53.8 mm.

Eggs are not laid daily, but at intervals of 2 and sometimes even 3 days. Birds usually begin incubation after laying the second egg. Both parents incubate for 33-34 days. The hatched chicks are helpless, but sighted, covered with white down. They sit in the nest for 54-55 days, and after leaving the nest they are fed by their parents for another 14-18 days. The chicks become independent at the age of approximately 70 days.

Shortly before departure, white storks gather in small groups, sometimes in flocks; during wintering they sometimes stay in flocks of thousands. Departure begins at the end of August - September, sometimes delays until October. Birds fly during the day and at high altitudes, often resorting to soaring flight. They move south about twice as slow as they flew in the spring. Some birds sometimes remain in their nesting area for the winter, for example in Denmark.

European storks have two main routes of autumn migration. Birds nesting west of the Elbe are drawn to the Iberian Peninsula, cross the Strait of Gibraltar and then settle for the winter in western Africa in the strip of steppes between the Sahara and the tropical rainforest region. About 4 thousand birds of Central European origin, about 110 thousand from the Iberian Peninsula, 140 thousand storks from Morocco and about 50 thousand birds from Algeria and Tunisia winter in this area. About a third of the birds wintering in West Africa (breeding in Tunisia and eastern Algeria) fly to their wintering grounds directly south, across the middle Sahara, while others, including European storks, fly through Morocco and the western parts of the Sahara.

Eastern storks, that is, nesting in Europe east of the Elbe, are drawn to the Bosphorus in the fall, fly through Asia Minor and Palestine, then along the Nile Valley to Sudan and settle for the winter over a considerable distance East Africa between southern Sudan and South Africa. A small number of storks settle somewhat earlier: they can winter in Ethiopia and very few - in South Arabia. Many young storks remain on summer time in the African wintering area or stay on spring migration 2000-3000 km from their homeland. Adult birds that linger at wintering sites in South Africa can sometimes nest there. From the eastern flyway there is a small branch further east. Along the northern shores of the Persian Gulf, it brings birds to Northern India.

White storks make flights using mainly soaring flight, and fly in a narrow front, choosing the most aerodynamically favorable terrain. Storks naturally avoid flying over the sea.

White storks feed on animal food, eating frogs, lizards, various insects, shellfish, fish and small mammals: mice, voles, small hares and speckled ground squirrels. On occasion, they may grab a small bird or chick. When feeding, storks slowly walk around, but, having noticed prey, they can quickly run up to it.

White storks sometimes perform a kind of “cleansing of their ranks” in the fall. They beat weak birds to death. Apparently, this circumstance served as the basis for stories about the presence of “courts” among white storks, which end death penalty"guilty" bird.

The lifespan of a white stork is approximately 20-21 years. In one zoo in the UAR, a tame stork lived to be 24 years old.

It is noted that for last years V Western Europe In some places there is a decrease in the number of white storks. So, they completely or almost completely disappeared in Switzerland. In this regard, the number of these birds was counted. A census of the number of white storks in the Soviet Union, carried out in 1958, made it possible to establish the presence of 26,103 residential nests in our country. This is probably an underestimate, but it still gives some idea of ​​how many white storks nest here. There are very few storks in the Far Eastern part of the range. There it is apparently an endangered bird that deserves especially careful protection.

Black stork(C. nigra) is somewhat smaller than the white one: its wing length is on average 54 cm, weight is about 3 kg.

The plumage of this bird is predominantly black with a greenish and copper-red metallic tint, the ventral side of the body is white. The beak, legs, throat, unfeathered patch on the bridle and near the eyes are bright red.

This stork is widespread. It nests in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and then from Germany and the Balkan Peninsula east to the shores of the Sea of ​​Japan and Sakhalin. To the north, its nesting area extends to Leningrad, Tomsk and the Aldan basin. In the south it is found up to the shores of the Persian Gulf. This bird is not found in the south of the steppe part of the USSR and in the deserts of Central Asia. Black storks winter in Africa, sub-Saharan Africa (however, relatively few birds cross the equator), as well as in the Ganges basin and southeast China.

The black stork is a forest bird. A prerequisite for its nesting is a combination of old forests or at least groups of old trees with hard-to-reach swamps of various types, open banks of rivers and lakes.

In most of its range, the black stork nests in sparsely populated areas that are difficult for humans to access.

Like all ankle-dwelling birds, the black stork is a monogamous bird; it begins breeding at the age of three. Soon after arrival, which happens in late March - early April, the pair begins to build a nest, building it on tall spreading trees, but usually not at the top, but on the side branches, 1.5-2 m from the trunk. Black storks do not form colonies. Their nests are usually located no closer than 6 km from one another, only in Eastern Transcaucasia they are located at a distance of only 1 km, and sometimes there are two residential nests on the same tree. Nests are also made in rock niches and on high cliffs. The same nest serves black storks for a number of years. Thus, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha there is a known nest in which black storks hatched chicks for 14 years in a row.

The nest is made of branches, sometimes so thick that the bird can barely cope with them. With the help of turf, earth and clay, these branches are glued together. Compared to the white stork’s nest, the black stork’s nest is made neater and more skillfully; it has a more or less regular hemispherical shape.

A complete clutch of a black stork consists of 4 eggs, but sometimes there are more - up to 6 eggs, sometimes there are 2 or 3 eggs in a clutch. Eggs are laid at intervals of two days, and birds begin to incubate approximately one day after laying the first egg. Both male and female incubate. The duration of incubation in most cases is 35-46 days, but sometimes the chicks begin to hatch after 30 days of incubation. Often there are one or two unfertilized eggs (babbles) in a clutch, so there are usually fewer chicks in the nest than there were eggs.

The chicks hatch covered with thick white or slightly grayish down. Their beak is brightly colored, orange at the base and greenish-yellow at the tip. The chicks spend a long time (about 10 days) in a lying position, then in a sitting position, and only at the age of 35-40 days they begin to stand on their feet. At the age of 50 days, already fully fledged, but still in the nest, they gain weight that exceeds the weight of their parents, then they lose a little weight, since their parents feed them less intensively at this time. Young storks fly out of the nest at the age of 64-65 days.

Already at the beginning of August, families and small flocks of black storks begin to move south, but the departure can be delayed until late autumn.

Black storks feed on animal food. These can be fish (even up to 25 cm in size), frogs, various aquatic insects, and occasionally reptiles. Sometimes in the stomachs of these storks you can find aquatic plants. The feeding areas of this bird are large. Storks often fly to feed at distances of up to 5 km from the nest; there are cases when they had to fly even 10 km. Parents feed their chicks 4-5 times a day, less often in rainy weather. In Belovezhskaya Pushcha there is a known case when an adult bird immediately brought 48 frogs to its chicks with a total weight of 454 g.

During the flight, black storks, like white storks, constantly resort to soaring. The general appearance of a flying bird is as follows: wide wings, long legs thrown back, neck extended.

The genus belongs to the stork family gaping stork(Anastomus), representatives of which are very similar in appearance to the white and black storks already described, but at first glance they are clearly distinguished from them by their more powerful beak and especially by the fact that when the beak is closed, in its apical part there remains a clearly visible gap between the beak and the beak . Hence the name - gaping stork.

This genus includes 2 species. The Asian razini stork A. oscitans has white plumage with greenish-black flight and tail feathers, and a dull green beak. The Asian gaping stork is smaller than all other storks. It is widespread in the south

Asia from India to Southern China and Thailand. It nests in colonies, making nests on large bushes and trees growing near water or in water. It feeds on freshwater mollusks and other invertebrate animals, as well as fish.

Breeds in Central and South America from Mexico to Argentina brazilian yabiru(Jabiru mycterica).

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This is a large stork. Its beak is long and curves slightly upward at the end. The head and neck of the yabiru are not feathered and have a dark bluish-black color. The base of the neck is reddish-orange. The body is predominantly white.

The Brazilian yabiru places its huge nests on the most tall trees. It feeds on fish, frogs, worms and snails. Other species of yabiru inhabit South Asia, Australia and tropical Africa.

Species of the genus are very different in appearance from other storks marabou(Leptoptilus). African marabou(L. crumeniferus) - large heavy bird/

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When you look at it, your attention is immediately drawn to its large, featherless head and huge massive beak. In a calmly sitting bird, the beak usually lies on a kind of pillow, which is a fleshy protrusion of the neck not covered with feathers. The plumage color of the African marabou is white, but the back, wings and tail are dark gray, blackish. Wing length 70 cm, beak length 30 cm, weight 5-6 kg.

The marabou, or as it is often called for its “solemn,” military-type gait, adjutant, is widespread in tropical Africa. The marabou makes its huge nests in trees, such as baobabs, sometimes even in villages. Often nests next to pelicans, forming mixed colonies.

The marabou feeds mainly on carrion, but on occasion it eats frogs, lizards, rodents and insects, in particular locusts. Often this bird can be seen soaring in the air, looking out for prey together with vultures. The vultures gathered for carrion treat the approaching marabou with great “respect,” since the blows of the marabou’s powerful beak are dangerous even for such large birds.

Two other species of marabou (L. dubius and L. javanicus) inhabit India and the islands of Indonesia up to Kalimantan. These marabou are similar to the African marabou, but smaller.

Animal life: in 6 volumes. - M.: Enlightenment. Edited by professors N.A. Gladkov, A.V. Mikheev - (Grallatores) a detachment of birds, very diverse in appearance, distinguished by more or less long and thin wading legs (q.v.) (only rarely Bottom part the lower leg is feathered), living along the banks of rivers, lakes and seas, in swamps and rarely in fields.... ...

Or the storks (Herodines s. Ciconiae) a detachment of birds that used to be united together with waders and rails into one group of ankle-dwellers (see Ankleids). C. are widespread in all zoogeographical regions. This includes five families: 1) ibises... ... encyclopedic Dictionary F. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

This term has other meanings, see Stork (meanings). Storks ... Wikipedia

- (Ciconiidae), family of storks. Dl. 76 152 cm. The beak is long, straight or slightly curved up or down. The wings are long and wide, some A. can soar for a long time. Most species are voiceless (there are no vocal muscles of the lower larynx) and... ... Biological encyclopedic dictionary