White stork
Ciconia ciconia (Linnaeus, 1758)
The white stork (Ciconia ciconia), also called the European white stork, is a bird in the family Ciconiidae and the order Ciconiiformes. It is a medium-sized, migratory bird with an adult body mass of 3.446 kg and a wingspan of 1.91 m, living in grassland and foraging on the ground.
Quick facts about the white stork
Its diet category is omnivore and its trophic level is carnivore, with main foods including amphibia, common frog, earthworm, edible frog, grasshopper, gryllidae, insect, locust, mole, reptile, soricidae and vole. It lays a clutch of 4 eggs once per year, incubated for 33.5 days, and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 3.33 kg – 3.54 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- 1 m – 1.15 msrc for Length
- Wingspan
- 1.91 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 39 years – 48 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- amphibia, common frog, earthworm, edible frog, grasshopper, gryllidae and 6 moresrc for Main food
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 33.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 3.5 years – 4 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the white stork?
Photos of the white stork
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the white stork live?
Not recorded
What is the white stork?
The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average 100–115 cm (39–45 in) from beak tip to end of tail, with a 155–215 cm (61–85 in) wingspan. The two subspecies, which differ slightly in size, breed in Europe north to Finland, northwestern Africa, Palearctic east to southern Kazakhstan and southern Africa. The white stork is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Africa from tropical Sub-Saharan Africa to as far south as South Africa, or on the Indian subcontinent. When migrating between Europe and Africa, it avoids crossing the Mediterranean Sea and detours via the Levant in the east or the Strait of Gibraltar in the west, because the air thermals on which it depends for soaring do not form over water.
A carnivore, the white stork eats a wide range of animal prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and small birds. It takes most of its food from the ground, among low vegetation, and from shallow water. It is a monogamous breeder, and both members of the pair build a large stick nest, which may be used for several years. Each year the female can lay one clutch of usually four eggs, which hatch asynchronously 33–34 days after being laid. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs and both feed the young. The young leave the nest 58–64 days after hatching, and continue to be fed by the parents for a further 7–20 days.
The white stork has been rated as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It benefited from human activities during the Middle Ages as woodland was cleared, but changes in farming methods and industrialisation saw it decline and disappear from parts of Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Conservation and reintroduction programs across Europe have resulted in the white stork resuming breeding in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It has few natural predators, but may harbour several types of parasite; the plumage is home to chewing lice and feather mites, while the large nests maintain a diverse range of mesostigmatic mites. This conspicuous species has given rise to many legends across its range, of which the best-known is the story of babies being brought by storks.
From the Wikipedia article “White stork” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White_stork&oldid=1384724990), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the white stork sound like?
Is the white stork endangered?
The white stork is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the white stork classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCiconiiformes
- familyCiconiidae
- genusCiconia
- SpeciesCiconia ciconia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Ardea ciconia, Ciconia alba, Ciconia linnéi
Other names and names in other languages (139)
- European white storkEnglish
- WHSTEnglish
- WitooievaarAfrikaans
- GrootwitsprinkaanvoëlAfrikaans
- WitsprinkaanvoëlAfrikaans
- StòòrchAlbanian
- لقلق أبيضArabic
- لقلق ابيضArabic
- Ciguenya blancaAragonese
- CigoñaAsturian
- cigüeñaAsturian
- ХъахӀаб лакълакъAvaric
- Ağ leyləkAzerbaijani
- SchtoachBavarian
- Белы буселBelarusian
- Бусел белыBelarusian
- Бял щъркелBulgarian
- ধলা মানিকজোড়Bangla
- C'hwibon wennBreton
- cigonya blancaCatalan
- Ош цӓрлӓнгӹMari
- Шурӑ аистChuvash
- حاجیلەCentral Kurdish
- لەکلەکی سپیCentral Kurdish
- čáp bílýCzech
- Biôłi bòcónKashubian
- Ciconia GwynWelsh
- Ciconiaid GwynWelsh
- Hvid StorkDanish
- HausstorchGerman
- KlapperstorchGerman
- WeißstorchGerman
- Běły bóśonLower Sorbian
- Λευκός ΠελαργόςGreek
- blanka cikonioEsperanto
- Cigüeña blancaSpanish
- valge-toonekurgEstonian
- Zikoina zuriBasque
- Amiamoko zuriBasque
- Amiamoko ZuriaBasque
- کلک سفیدPersian
- لک لک سفیدPersian
- kattohaikaraFinnish
- StorkurFaroese
- Cigogne blancheFrench
- AarebaareNorthern Frisian
- CicogneFriulian
- EarrebarreWestern Frisian
- Corr bhánIrish
- Storc bánIrish
- Corra bhànScottish Gaelic
- Cegoña brancaGalician
- Stork baneManx
- GalantoyiHausa
- Bijela roda - бијела родаSerbian (Latin)
- חסידה לבנהHebrew
- गैबरHindi
- bijela rodaCroatian
- Běły baćonUpper Sorbian
- fehér gólyaHungarian
- Սպիտակ արագիլArmenian
- Bangau putihIndonesian
- HvítstorkurIcelandic
- Cicogna biancaItalian
- シュバシコJapanese
- シュバシコウJapanese
- ლაკლაკიGeorgian
- ПсыхэуэщӀыбыпцӀэKabardian
- Ақ дегелекKazakh
- ಬಿಳಿ ಕೊಕ್ಕರೆKannada
- 유럽황새Korean
- 홍부리황새Korean
- HacîleqleqKurdish
- Whybon wynCornish
- Hwibon wynnCornish
- Nkumbinkumbikwn
- StorchLuxembourgish
- Wäisse StorchLuxembourgish
- Wäisse StuerkLuxembourgish
- ХӀажилаглагlbe
- Witte storkLimburgish
- Zicognalld
- baltasis gandrasLithuanian
- SvētelisLatvian
- baltais stārķisLatvian
- штркMacedonian
- Бел штркMacedonian
- വെൺബകംMalayalam
- Ċikonja BajdaMaltese
- श्वेतबलाकMarathi
- पांढरा करकोचाMarathi
- ထုံးစပ်ဖြူငှက်Burmese
- AadboorLow German
- सेतो गरुडNepali
- EiberDutch
- ooievaarDutch
- UiverDutch
- storkNorwegian
- Leakaboswana le LešweuNorthern Sotho
- CigonhaOccitan
- Chicon·nhePicard
- bocian białyPolish
- SicògnaPiedmontese
- cegonha-brancaPortuguese
- Cicogna alvaRomansh
- KokosturkoRomany
- Barza albăRomanian
- Barză albăRomanian
- Белый аистRussian
- БузёкRusyn
- StohpoháigirNorthern Sami
- VilgesháigirNorthern Sami
- bocian bielySlovak
- bela štorkljaSlovenian
- ShuramuroveShona
- MokoroaneSouthern Sotho
- LejlekuAlbanian
- Bela rodaSerbian
- Бела родаSerbian
- CicňnniaSardinian
- StoarkSaterland Frisian
- vit storkSwedish
- Korongo mweupeSwahili
- செங்கால் நாரைTamil
- นกกระสาขาวThai
- LeylekTurkish
- Ak LeylekTurkish
- leKolowaneTswana
- leKololwaneTswana
- LekôlôlwaneTswana
- GumbaTsonga
- лелека білийUkrainian
- Hạc trắngVietnamese
- IngwamzaXhosa
- OoievèrZeelandic
- 白鸛Chinese
- 歐洲白鸛Chinese
- 白鹳Chinese
- uNogolantetheZulu
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the white stork
Other species in the same genus Ciconia.
Black stork
Ciconia nigra
Asian woolly-necked stork
Ciconia episcopus
Abdim's stork
Ciconia abdimii
Boyce's stork
Ciconia boyciana
Maguari stork
Ciconia maguari
Storm's stork
Ciconia stormi
CompareWhite stork vs Black storkWhite stork vs Asian woolly-necked storkWhite stork vs Abdim's storkWhite stork vs Boyce's stork
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the white stork?
The white stork is a bird of the family Ciconiidae in the order Ciconiiformes. It is medium-sized by adult body mass.
How heavy is a white stork?
An adult White stork weighs 3.446 kg, with reported values from 3.325 to 3.538 kg. Its wingspan is 1.91 m.
What does the white stork eat?
Its main foods are amphibia, common frog, earthworm, edible frog, grasshopper, gryllidae, insect, locust, mole, reptile, soricidae and vole. Its diet category is omnivore.
Is the white stork endangered?
No. The white stork is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a white stork live?
The white stork has a lifespan of 39 years, with values up to 48 years reported.
How many eggs does a white stork lay?
The white stork lays 4 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 33.5 days.
When does a white stork reach maturity?
The white stork reaches sexual maturity at 3.7 years, with reported values from 3.5 to 4.0 years.
Who named the white stork?
The white stork was named Ciconia ciconia by (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). White stork (Ciconia ciconia). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-stork
“White stork (Ciconia ciconia).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-stork.
@misc{white_stork_2026,
title = {White stork (Ciconia ciconia)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-stork},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}