White stork

    Ciconia ciconia

Castilian: Cigüeña blanca

Catalan: Cigonya blanca

Gallego: Cegoña branca

Euskera: Amiamoko zuria

CLASIFICACIÓN:

Orden: Ciconiiformes

Family: Ciconiidae

Migratory status: Summer resident

CONSERVATION STATUS:

On the National List of Threatened Species, it appears in the “Of Special Interest” category.

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THREATS

Flying into electric cables, the loss of nests, the use of pesticides and the loss of its feeding habitat due to expanded farming.

Length / size: 95-110 cm / 180-218cm

Identification: Large bird with characteristic white plumage, black flight plumage, and a red bill. In flight its neck and legs are outstretched.

Song: Practically silent, although when its mate is in the nest, it makes the typical bill clappering sound.

Diet: It feeds on arthropods (for example, grasshoppers) and to a lesser extent mammals (rodents, small lizards, chicks of other birds), invertebrates, and even rubbish.

Reproduction: It builds the nest in large trees and human structures (churches, water tanks, chimeneys, etc.); the nest is made of all kinds of materials (branches, grass, paper, plastic) and can be reused for a few years (nests measuring 2.5 m in height, 2 m in diameter and weighing 2 tonnes have been observed). Incubation is performed by both adults, although mostly by the female, who is fed by her mate, with which she will spend the rest of her life.

HABITAT

It is a bird that is very close to humans and it occupies very open and varied areas, primarily pasturelands, irrigation systems, and grasslands. It avoids mountainous areas, and has recently been seen in landfills.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: During breeding season it is distributed throughout the western half of the peninsula, from the Cantabrian mountain range to the Pyrenees in the north and Cádiz in the south, also reaching Galicia and the Ebro River valley; in winter, part of the population does not migrate and concentrates in the marshes of the Guadalquivir, the irrigation canals of Vegas Altas del Guadiana and other towns where there is a guaranteed food supply.

In Castile and León: It is distributed throughout the entire community, with the largest breeding concentrations in León, Salamanca, Zamora and Segovia.

Movements and migrations: The peninsula is a mandatory passageway for this typical trans-Saharan migrant: once it reaches Gibraltar it crosses the strait moving south, moving along the coasts until reaching sub-Saharan Africa. Some specimens go east toward the Nile Valley and the Rift Valley on their way to South Africa.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of 33217 breeding pairs (2004 data).

In Castile and León: There is an estimated population of 12017 breeding pairs (2004 data).