Size: Height; 100-115cm tall. Wingspan; 160cm. Weight; 5-10kg.

Habitat and Distribution: They are found throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East in a wide range of habitats near to water.

Age: 25 years in the wild but up to 48 years in captivity.

Groups and Breeding: From the age of three or four years old, these birds form life-long monogamous pairs. They breed in loose colonies of 40-50 individuals within groups of a few pairs. Three to six eggs are laid which hatch after around 35 days. Eggs and young are cared for by both parents, with the young being fed every hour by regurgitated food until the young reach 10 days. Young fledge at around 60 days and become independent one to three weeks later.

Diet: These birds are carnivorous eating a wide range of food including insects, scorpions and spiders, frogs, fish, rodents, reptiles, worms and hatchlings or eggs of ground-nesting birds.

• White Stork nests are huge, measuring two metres across and up to three metres deep made from sticks, branches, rags and paper.
• During migration the White Stork forms groups of up to 1000 individuals.
• White Storks are important cultural icons in Europe. The arrival of a White Stork was once thought to herald the arrival of a new baby and was regarded as a symbol of fertility. They are also the official birds of Lithuania and part of the symbol for the city of The Hague, Netherlands.
• These storks attempted to nest in Edinburgh in 1416!