Ciconiiformes

Tall, striking birds, storks are a familiar sight around wetlands. They resemble cranes and herons, but are generally more heavily built. The birds are usually obvious in open country when feeding, nesting, or migrating, but numbers of several species have declined drastically recent years.

Additional information

Two species, Jabiru (Jabiru mycteria) and Marabou (Leptoptilos crumeniferus), have an inflatable neck sac; in the latter's case, the sac often hangs below the bill. The African and Asian openbills (genus Anastomus), as their name implies, have a bill that is partly open along its length. This feature seems to be an adaptation for removing mollusks from their shells.

Some species are solitary, especially when not breeding, but most storks are highly social. The birds often feed or roost together in flocks occasionally numbering thousands of individuals. Foraging methods vary between the different genera. The four Mycteria storks, which have a slightly decurved tip of the bill, mostly feed in shallow water, where they walk with the bill slightly open, swaying the head from side to side, and occasionally also opening the wings as if to shade the surface of the water; as soon as the bill touches the prey, it snaps shut. Openbill storks take large apple snails, frogs and crabs from muddy water edges and soil turned by plows. The other species feed by walking slowly and watching the ground or shallows in front of them for movements, before pouncing and stabbing with the bill. Abdim's Stork (Ciconia abdimii) follows locust swarms or outbreaks of insect larvae, and gathers in large numbers at grass fires to feed on fleeing insects and other animals.

Taxonomy

Number of genera: 6

Number of species: 19

A list of all species can be found here.