The white stork is a distinctive large wading bird which has a white plumage with black flight feathers and wing coverts. The black colouration is caused by the pigment melanin and carotenoids in their diet.Adult white storks have long pointed red beaks, long red legs with partially webbed feet on the end and a long, slender neck. They have black skin around their eyes and their claws are blunt and nail-like. Males and females are identical in appearance, however, males are slightly larger in size. The feathers on the chest are long and form a ruff which is sometimes used when performing courtship displays.The white stork’s wings are long and broad which enables the bird to soar easily on air thermals. The storks wingbeats when flapping, have a slow but regular pattern. Like most wading birds, white storks are a spectacular sight when soaring through the air, with their long necks out-stretched forwards and their long legs out-stretched backwards well beyond the end of its short tail. They flap their huge, broad wings as little as possible to save energy.
White storks nest in central and eastern Europe, spending the winter in Africa. About one quarter of the population of white storks live in Poland.

The white stork’s preferred habitats are riverbanks, marshes, swamps, ditches, grasslands and meadows. White storks tend to avoid areas that are overgrown with tall trees and shrubs.
The white stork is completely diurnal (active during the day). Its preferred feeding grounds are shallow wetlands, grassy meadows and farmland. The white stork is a carnivore and feeds up on a variety of animal from both the ground and from shallow water. Prey includes amphibians, reptiles such as lizards, snakes and frogs, insects, fish, small birds and mammals.
Storks are a family of birds (Ciconiidae). They usually live near shallow bodies of water where they wade through the water, and catch small animals, like frogs, crabs, or small fish. Many species of stork are migratory, they spend the summer and the winter in different places. There are 19 different species of stork, in 6 genera.
Probably the best known stork is the White Stork. It is known to build large nests in high places, like on chimneys. Stork nests are often very large. They may be used for many years. Beforehand, people believed storks were monogamous, that they only had one partner in life. More recent research has shown though, that they may change partners. They are attached to a nest almost as much as to a partner.
The Marabou Stork, which lives in Africa, has a wingspan of up to 320 cm. This makes it the largest bird still alive, together with the Andean Condor.

Wood Storks breed in fresh and brackish forested wetlands. They forage in wetlands, swamps, ponds, and marshes with water depths of around 4–12 inches. They tend to use open wetlands more frequently for foraging than closed canopy wetlands. Storks roost in trees along the water's edge.
Wood Storks primarily eat fish and other aquatic invertebrates, but sometimes take seeds, amphibians, nestlings, and reptiles. They walk slowly through wetlands with their bill in the water, feeling for prey. When they feel something on their bill, they quickly snap it closed, swallowing the prey whole. To find prey they also push their feet up and down in the water or flick their wings to startle prey. Storks also visually search for prey, but more frequently use their bill to feel for it, especially in muddy waters.

Wood Storks nest in trees above standing water. They build nests in cypress swamps, in oaks in flooded impoundments, in mangroves, and in flooded areas with black gum and Australian pine. Almost any tree or shrub will do as long as standing water is present.
NEST DESCRIPTION
Males and females gather sticks from the surrounding areas. Together they build a large, bulky stick nest 3–5 feet wide. They line the nest with greenery that eventually gets covered in guano, which helps hold the nest together. Nest building typically takes 2–3 days, but the pair continues to make improvements throughout the nesting period.

Wood Storks are social birds that forage in groups and nest in colonies. Small groups of storks forage in wetlands, frequently following each other one by one in a line. In the late afternoon, when temperatures rise, Wood Storks often take to the sky, soaring on thermals like raptors. They nest in tight colonies with egrets and herons and generally show little aggression, but if a bird or mammal threatens them, they may pull their neck in, fluff up their feathers, and walk toward the intruder. Threats are also met with bill clattering and jabbing. Despite the myth that Wood Storks mate for life, pairs form at the breeding colony and stay together only for a single breeding season. Males initially are hostile to the female, but once he accepts her into the territory he starts preening her and offering her sticks.