The black stork is included in the Red Book (list of endangered species) of the Kemerovo region and Russia. The bird belongs to the stork family. An adult specimen weighs about 3 kg, males are slightly larger than females. The stork has long slender legs, the height of a bird is about a meter, sometimes a little more. Thanks to the wingspan of one meter and a half, it can float in the air for a long time.
The head, neck, back and wings of the stork are of black color, the abdomen and the tail are white. Fertile adult storks (those above the age of 3), have the coat of bright, saturated colors, feathers on the head, neck and back shimmer with bronze, emerald, amethyst and claret tints. Feathers on the chest are slightly disheveled. The beak, legs and non-feathered areas of skin around the eyes are red.
The color of feathers of young specimens is slightly faded, the skin around the eyes is of greenish-brown shade. The birds shed feathers every year, from February to May. Black storks are very secretive, thus many of their habits became known only after the advent of high-quality portable video equipment. The birds prefer to settle away from people, they make their nests on trees, deep in the woods, near reservoirs of water like swamps, lakes and rivers. Sometimes storks occupy abandoned nests of large birds of prey.
Black storks are diurnal birds. They feed on frogs, fish, invertebrates, do not mind having small rodents or lizards. The birds are monogamous — they make couples for a lifetime. Families are very close-knit. If a pair builds a nest, the male brings large boughs, and the female lays them and binds with mud. The couple returns to the same nest every spring for several years.
After wintering, the male comes first (in late March — early April), tidies up the nest and waits for the female. She lays 4-7 eggs in lots, sometimes during a week, so that the chicks in the nest are often of different time of birth. The male and female hatch eggs in turn, and when the chicks are hatched, they regurgitate food for them 4–5 times a day. On hot days, the male brings water in the jowl for the female and chicks.
Although adult storks have no enemies in nature, the population is recovering very slowly and the species is still considered endangered. There are several reasons for this. By cutting down forests, people reduce the habitat of the birds. Besides, hatched chicks are defenseless. Sometimes they fall prey to martens and other predators.
But most storks die during migration. For the winter, the birds fly to warm lands — Asia or Africa. In Lebanon and Syria, hunting for black storks is a popular fun. In Israel, owners of water reservoirs cover them with nets in an effort to protect fish from hungry birds. Storks sit on the surface of the water and become entangled in the net. If people do not come to rescue the birds in time, they die.
In captivity, black storks live for up to 22 years, but in the wild, they rarely overcome the 10-year threshold. However, there are exceptions: there is a documented case when an 18-year-old female returned from Africa and delivered two chicks. The age of the birds is determined by ringing.
The head, neck, back and wings of the stork are of black color, the abdomen and the tail are white. Fertile adult storks (those above the age of 3), have the coat of bright, saturated colors, feathers on the head, neck and back shimmer with bronze, emerald, amethyst and claret tints. Feathers on the chest are slightly disheveled. The beak, legs and non-feathered areas of skin around the eyes are red.
The color of feathers of young specimens is slightly faded, the skin around the eyes is of greenish-brown shade. The birds shed feathers every year, from February to May. Black storks are very secretive, thus many of their habits became known only after the advent of high-quality portable video equipment. The birds prefer to settle away from people, they make their nests on trees, deep in the woods, near reservoirs of water like swamps, lakes and rivers. Sometimes storks occupy abandoned nests of large birds of prey.
Black storks are diurnal birds. They feed on frogs, fish, invertebrates, do not mind having small rodents or lizards. The birds are monogamous — they make couples for a lifetime. Families are very close-knit. If a pair builds a nest, the male brings large boughs, and the female lays them and binds with mud. The couple returns to the same nest every spring for several years.
After wintering, the male comes first (in late March — early April), tidies up the nest and waits for the female. She lays 4-7 eggs in lots, sometimes during a week, so that the chicks in the nest are often of different time of birth. The male and female hatch eggs in turn, and when the chicks are hatched, they regurgitate food for them 4–5 times a day. On hot days, the male brings water in the jowl for the female and chicks.
Although adult storks have no enemies in nature, the population is recovering very slowly and the species is still considered endangered. There are several reasons for this. By cutting down forests, people reduce the habitat of the birds. Besides, hatched chicks are defenseless. Sometimes they fall prey to martens and other predators.
But most storks die during migration. For the winter, the birds fly to warm lands — Asia or Africa. In Lebanon and Syria, hunting for black storks is a popular fun. In Israel, owners of water reservoirs cover them with nets in an effort to protect fish from hungry birds. Storks sit on the surface of the water and become entangled in the net. If people do not come to rescue the birds in time, they die.
In captivity, black storks live for up to 22 years, but in the wild, they rarely overcome the 10-year threshold. However, there are exceptions: there is a documented case when an 18-year-old female returned from Africa and delivered two chicks. The age of the birds is determined by ringing.
