The white stork is a member of the stork family of the storiform order Stork.The white stork was once identified as three subspecies: named subspecies, Central Asian subspecies and Oriental subspecies.[14]Its body length is about 111 cm.The mouth is straight, thick and flat on the side;The body feathers are white except that the flying feathers are black with copper green metallic luster;The naked area around the eyes, feet and toes are red, and the mouth is black.[15]
The white stork is distributed in China except in the northwest, Tibet, Guangdong, Guangxi and Macao. It is also distributed in the southeast of Siberia in the Far East of Russia, in the west to Blagoveshchensk (Hailanpao), and in the south to Xingkai Lake.[15]It lives in open plains and grasslands, often near streams, ponds, marshes and other slow flowing wetlands, and likes to live in groups.[16]They feed on large insects, fish, amphibians and small mammals.[15]The breeding period of white stork is from March to May, with 3-5 eggs per litter.The incubation period is about 33 days.The service life can reach more than 30 years.[16]
The population of white stork continues to decline.The main reasons are wetland pollution, conversion of marsh drainage to farmland, massive use of pesticides, collision with power transmission lines and killing.[17]In 2018, it was rated as endangered (EN) by the World Conservation Union Red List of Endangered Species.[18]The white stork was once a common species in China, but now it is extremely rare. In 1989, it was listed as a national first-class key protected wild animal.[17]
The white stork is a large bird with a body length of 90-115cm, a wingspan of 195-215cm and a weight of 3000-3500g.The service life is 26 years.The wings are long and wide, and can glide.In flight, the neck extends forward and the legs extend backward beyond the tail tip.Similar to other storks, its legs, neck and beak are very slender.The feathers are mainly white, and the wings have black feathers.Main wing feather, aileron featherPrimary covert, upper wingLarge covert, Shoulder featherWinglet featherIt is black with green or purple luster.The base of the primary feather is white, and the outer edge and tip of the inner primary feather and secondary feather are silver gray, and gradually turn black inward.The lower part of the front neck has long, lanceolate feathers that can stand upright during courtship.The bird's beak is red, with a straight beak, no upward tilt, a thick beak base, and gradually tapering toward the tip.The exposed skin around the eyes, eyeliner and throat is black,irisIt is brown or gray,orbital cavityThe surrounding skin is black.The legs of adult birds are bright red.Male and female are identical in appearance, but generally male is larger than female.The feathers of young birds are light brown and gray, and the beak, eyes, eyes and throat are black.[1-2]
weight♂2570-2600g,♀2150-2747g;Body length♂1000-1100mm,♀1046-1172 mm
features
The mouth is straight, thick and flat on the side;The body feathers are white except that the flying feathers are black with copper green metallic luster;The naked area around the eyes, feet and toes are red, and the mouth is black
The head and neck of adult birds are almost bare, with sparse brown gray fine hairs;The back, wings and tail feathers are black, with green metallic luster;The proximal end of the larger secondary coverts has copper green spots and fine bands;The longest shoulder feather and the innermost secondary flight feather have wide white feather margins, and the under wing coverts are black
The black stork has black upper body feathers with green purple metallic luster, and white chest and abdomen feathers;The mouth and legs are red;Gender similarity;The adult beak is long and straight, the base is thick, and gradually becomes thin toward the apex;Long feet, webbed front toe base
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Bald stork
Black Stork
Habitat environment
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The white stork mainly lives in open and remote plains, grasslands and marshes, especially in rivers, lakes, ponds, and canal banks with sparse treesswampOn the ground.Sometimes they also live and move in paddy fields with shore trees far away from residential areas.In winter, it mainly inhabits large open lakes and marshes.Will avoid tall weeds andbushesArea of birth.[3]
Life habits
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The white stork usually acts in groups in other seasons except in breeding season.especiallymigrateIn the season, there are usually dozens or even hundreds of animals.Looking for food, they often walk in pairs or small groups near the water or on the grass and marsh, with light and vigorous steps, and peck at food while walking.At rest, one or both legs often stand on the beach or grass beside the water, and the neck shrinks into an s-shape.Sometimes he likes to fly and hover over his habitat.When taking off on the ground, you need to run for a distance on the ground first, and use force to stir up both wings. You can fly up only after obtaining a certain lifting force.When flying, extend your neck forward and your feet behind your tail.It can not only fly with wings, but also use hot air to hover and glide in the air.She is alert and timid.If there are intruders, they often show a unique threat behavior.That is, through the rapid flapping of the upper and lower mouths, a "flapping" mouth sound is emitted, accompanied by a series of behavioral actions such as the neck stretching upward, the head leaning backward, then stretching downward, swinging left and right, the two wings half open and the tail up, and the feet constantly moving.[3]
Walk alone or in pairs on the bank of the pond or on the open marsh grassland, and peck while walking.Sometimes I still stand on the ground for a long time.It is a kind of quiet bird with gentle temperament and silent activity.However, during the breeding period or when interfered by intruders, it can also make a "clatter" sound by pressing the upper and lower mouths.Its food mainly includes frogs, tadpoles, toads, snakes, lizards, earthworms, grasshoppersMolluscsCrustaceans, insects and insect larvae, and sometimes small mammals such as rats and bird eggs.They often feed alone or in small groups, or in large groups in food rich areas.Foraging is mainly in the daytime, and sometimes in the night with the moon.The way of foraging is mainly visual.When looking for food, lean forward, extend head and neck forward, walk with light and slow strides, quickly catch food with your mouth after finding it, and sometimes find food in the water through touch detection.Often stand on the ground to rest after a full meal, and sometimes insert the mouth into the feathers under the front neck.When looking for food in the water, it is mainly through touch.Usually walk alone in the shallow water near the water, sometimes enter the belly deep water, and slowly walk forward while inserting the half open mouth into the water from time to time.In addition to animal food, they occasionally eat a small amount of plant food such as plant leaves, mosses and seeds, as well as sand and pebbles.[4]
The white stork is a migratory bird, mainly migrating to tropical Africa and the Indian subcontinent for winter.The migration mainly depends on the rising hot air flow for high-altitude gliding movement, which can make use of little energy for long-distance migration. Therefore, they often avoid the vast forests and waters. If they must pass, they must also find the narrowest place to pass.The migration time is mostly from the morning to the afternoon when the weather is hottest, and the daily migration distance can reach 100-200 kilometers.When taking off on the ground, you should first run a distance on the ground, and vigorously flap your wings. You can fly only after you obtain a certain lifting force.During flight, the head and neck are stretched forward and the feet are stretched backward, far beyond the tail feathers.It can not only incite two wings to fly with drum wings, but also use the rising hot air flow to glide at high altitude. Especially during migration, when flying with drum wings, the two wings agitate slowly, which seems leisurely, and often alternates with gliding.The speed of the two wings is 170 times per minute, the flight speed is 40-47 kilometers per hour, the flight height can reach 1600 meters to 3600 meters, and even appears over the Himalayas at 4300 meters during the migration.The longest migration distance from the breeding ground in Europe to the wintering ground in South Africa can reach more than 20000 kilometers.It was once recorded in Germany that a 25 year old European white stork migrated about 500000 kilometers in total in his lifetime.In autumn, most of them leave the breeding ground from the middle to late August to early September, and in spring, they leave the wintering ground from March to April.During migration, there are large groups, each group usually has more than 500 animals, and the highest record is more than 21000 animals.[4]
Distribution range
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Origin: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Democratic Republic of the CongoCote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, KazakhstanKenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, PakistanPalestine, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain (Canary Islands).
Uncertain origin: Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Traveling birds: Antigua and Barbuda, Congo, Finland, Gambia, Iceland, Ireland, Liberia, Norway, Russian Federation, St. Helena, Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha Islands, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, United Kingdom.
The breeding period is from April to June.Usually, small groups of several to more than 10 animals move to breeding sites.When they first move here, they usually do not immediately enter the breeding grounds, but forage on the banks of some rivers and lakes that are beginning to melt, or hover over them to find nests and feeding grounds.In late March, they began to disperse into pairs and enter their breeding sites in pairs.The nest area is mostly selected in the open grassland and farmland swamp area with no or less interference, rich food, sparse trees or small jungle.Sometimes, they also choose the forest belt that is several kilometers to more than 10 kilometers away from the water area, swamp and other feeding places.They often nest in pairs on willows, elms and poplars.[3]
The nest is usually located on the top branch of a tree and is formed by piling up dry branches.There is withered grass, feather and moss or no cushion inside.The height from the nest to the ground varies depending on the environment and tree height.Usually 3-17 meters high.Nesting starts from the middle of March to the end of March.Male and female parent birds nest together.Male birds usually go out to find and transport nest materials, while female birds stay on the nest to build nests.The nest is discoid and has a large structure, with an outer diameter of 120-230 cm, an inner diameter of 50-74 cm, a depth of 15-35 cm, and a height of 50-200 cm.If the nest is not disturbed and damaged, or if the breeding is successful in the same year, the nest will continue to be used next year, but every year the male and female parent birds will repair and heighten the old nest, so the nest often becomes quite large with the increase of utilization years.[3]
The earliest spawning time is from the end of March to the beginning of April.But most of them lay eggs in mid April.Each nest lays 4-6 eggs, which are white in color, oval in shape, with an average size of 75.8 × 56.6 mm and an average weight of 129.7 grams.Hatching begins after the first egg is laid.The hatching is shared by both male and female parent birds, but mainly female birds, which rotate 2-4 times a day, and all eggs are hatched by female birds at night.The incubation period is 31-34 days.Young birds are late birds.When hatching, the whole body is covered with light brown feathers, and the mouth is black.The chicks are fed by both male and female parent birds.When the chicks grow to 55 days, they can fly back and forth in a short distance near the nest.After 60-63 days of age, they will fly away from the nest area with the parent birds to find food, and will not return to the nest.[3]
The European white stork has a wide distribution range and is not close to the critical value standard of vulnerable and endangered species survival (distribution area or fluctuation range is less than 20000 square kilometers, habitat quality, population size, fragmentation of distribution area). The population trend is stable, so it is evaluated as a species without survival risk.[5]
The Oriental White Stork was once a common bird in East Asia, and even used to nest on the church roof in Tokyo, Japan. However, during 1868-1995, due to illegal hunting, pesticide and chemical poison pollution, the population of the Oriental White Stork gradually decreased in Japan, and only a small number of overwintering individuals were occasionally found in winter.The breeding population distributed in North Korea and South Korea also disappeared in the early 1970s.Due to the dense population and the development of industry and agriculturerussian far east The remaining breeding grounds in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces in northeast China have also become extremely small. In 2009, there were less than 3000 wild oriental white storks in the world.
From March 17 to 18, 2022, a bird watcher will see the Oriental White Stork, a national first-class protected animal and known as the "national treasure of bird kingdom", in Xinhui Yinhuwan Wetland Park for two consecutive days.[12]
Cultural connotation
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In Europe, people call the white stork "the bird for sending children".It is said that the white stork, the bird for sending children, will have a baby and be happy if it nests on the roof of the house.Therefore, in the countryside of Europe, you can often see a platform built on the roof chimney of the house, which is specially prepared for the white stork.For thousands of years, it seems that white storks have indeed built their nests and will soon give birth to children.The scientific theory is that in ancient times, when someone in the master's family was pregnant, the family would burn a fire for heating more than ordinary parents, and the white stork would prefer to nest at the chimney of such a family.Over time, kind-hearted people still regard the white stork as an auspicious bird to send children, which has become a folk custom.Disney Animation also skillfully uses this folk allusion. When innocent children ask their parents how they came to this world, their parents will say "it was sent by the white stork".[9]
During the Three Kingdoms period in China, Lu Ji, Wu Guo, wrote "Mao Shi Lu Shuguang Yao", in which he said: "The stork is also a stork. It is as big as a swan, with a long neck, red beak, white body, black tail and wings; the tree nest is as big as a wheel, and the egg is like a three liter cup." The red beaked stork here obviously refers to the European white stork, indicating that it was once distributed in the Central Plains of China at that time.The decline of European white stork population is mainly due to the environmental pollution caused by the conversion of marsh drainage to farmland, the massive application of pesticides, and the climate change, resulting in the loss and deterioration of its habitat, the reduction of food, and the increase of mortality.[4]
Famous essayist from Tiantai, Taizhou, Zhejiang, ChinaLu LiHe wrote an article "Crane", in which he described that when he was 17 or 18 years old, his neighbor caught a bird near the flat head pool, "with long feet and a pointed beak, a tassel crown on his head, and white feathers".At first, I thought it was a crane, and rushed home to raise it. I saw that the bird "looked really beautiful, with long and thin feet, and walked in a big way, like a" prime minister's step "," there was a cluster of tassel hairs on the head, slightly yellow, and the tail was very short "," always shrinking the head and neck, sometimes standing on the left foot, sometimes standing on the right foot, sometimes standing on both feet, looking at people with golden red eyes.”They kept the bird for a long time. One day, his uncle came and knew it was a bird“Long legged egret”。 The beautiful bird described by Lu Chun should actually be called "white stork". It lives in the woods and reeds on both sides of Shifeng River.[10]
