The developmental stages of C. megacephala include egg, larva and pupa. A female fly may lay as many as 200 to 300 eggs, often in human feces, meat or fish. Larval stages include first, second and third instals or growth periods. The eggs take approximately one day to develop, while the larvae take 5.4 days and the pupae 5.3 days. Population numbers as well as body size are greatly influenced by temperature. The adult lifespan of the fly is approximately seven days. The development of C. megacephala is linked to the length of time spent feeding in the larval stage, as well as to temperature; the lower the temperature, the more slowly the larvae develop. In laboratory studies conducted at 27 °C., eggs hatch in 18 hours; the first molt occurs in 30 hours; the second molt in 72 hours; pupation after 144 hours; and the adult emerges after approximately 234 hours. These intervals vary depending on geographical location; other environmental factors also can determine how long flies will stay in the larval stage. Males tend to emerge two or three hours ahead of the females.
The reproduction and survival rates of C. megacephala are closely related to developmental factors, including the amount of available food, and competition from larvae of other species, such as C. rufifacies. In the presence of competing larvae, those of C. megacephala spend less time feeding, leading to early pupation, smaller adults, and early reproduction. C. rufifacies is known to cannibalize maggot masses and is thus a huge competitor.


Chrysomya albiceps is also known to prey on C. megacephala during the larval stage when they must compete for the same food source. Beetles are also known to prey on C. megacephala. C. megacephala is not predaceous in the adult or larval form, preferring to feed on necrophagous material of any kind, such as fish, cows and humans.


Chrysomya megacephala larvae are known to compete with C. rufifacies larvae for food in a mixed-species environment. Research has shown that under specific population densities, C. rufifacies will facultatively feed on other species of maggots and on its own species. When C. rufifacies and C. megacephala larvae are put into cultures separately from one another in high densities, C. megacephala has a higher rate of survival than C. rufifacies. Both species had a lighter adult weight than normal and pupated earlier. The third instar of C. rufifacies will eat Chrysomya megacephala when the larvae are in high density. Despite this predation on Chrysomya megacephala, both species had a lower survival rate, lighter adult weight and pupated early.


C. megacephala is considered important to forensic science because it is one of the first flies to show up on a corpse, and so the time of death can easily be determined when Chrysomya megacephala larvae are found on a body. In many forensic entomology cases either C. rufifacies or Chrysomya megacephala are found on the decaying corpse; mitochondrial DNA is the main method used to determine which subfamily is present. The species' wide geographical distribution and high fecundity also make it useful in forensic cases; C. megacephala is among the most common blowflies found.
Larval dispersion patterns of C. megacephala also make it forensically important. Knowing that, to pupate, larvae move away from the food source to find a safe place to metamorphose, forensic entomologists can accurately calculate a post mortem interval. Knowledge of larval competition is also useful in forensic studies, because it could affect the estimate of the time of death. If only C. rufifacies is found on a body, it is not accurate to use only this species to calculate a time of colonization. The colonization of C. megacephala prior to C. rufifacies must be taken into account.


In any part of the world that uses organophosphates, C. megacephala could prove to be beneficial. Organophosphate compounds are used in agriculture and are highly toxic. Organophosphate poisoning often causes death, and in many cases, by evaluating the body tissue and fluids, the toxin can be identified as the source of the poisoning. However, it is somewhat difficult to evaluate the body tissue in a body that is exceedingly decomposed. Nevertheless, a medical examiner in Hawaii worked on a case in which poisoning by malathion, an organophosphate insecticide, was thought to be the cause of death. The victim’s stomach contents and body fat were examined and found to have contained malathion. The fly larvae of Chrysomya megacephala and Chrysomya rufifacies were also present at the scene on the body and were tested for malathion. Both of these species did contain malathion, but there had been no previous record of organophosphates in their larvae. Studying larvae from decomposed remains may provide an effective method of determining the presence of these toxins in a body that is extremely decayed.


Chrysomya megacephala has a beneficial and practical value apart from being significant in forensic investigations; this blowfly is the source of pollination for mangos in the Australian region. While most areas wish to rid themselves of C. megacephala, Taiwanese farmers have found ways to enhance the population of this blowfly so that more mangos will be pollinated.


Chrysomya megacephala causes myiasis in humans and animals. This causes losses in cattle and fish industries all over the world. Studies are being done on C. megacephala to determine its role as a vector for diarrhea-causing bacteria such as E. coli.


Chrysomya megacephala are known to be the source of accidental (secondary) myiasis in humans, where the flies do not pierce the skin but invade an open wound. The first record of human myiasis caused by C. megacephala and C. rufifacies was in Thailand, where a 53-year-old man had a tumor lesion where the larvae accumulated. Most recorded myiasis cases, however, do not involve the fly. C. megacephala is a carrier of pathogens, such as bacteria, protozoan cysts, and helminth eggs, to human food,  because it lays its eggs on human feces, and will land on human food soon after.
The flies also cause a huge economic problem in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. In these areas sun-drying is the major method of preserving fish, as ice is typically unaffordable. However, blowfly larvae tend to infect these sun-dried fish when the weather is warm and humid. In an experiment, 95% of the infecting flies were found to be C. megacephala. The flies can be controlled by using an odor that the flies are attracted to trap them. Insecticides are also used, although this results in the development of resistance.


Chrysopa oculata is a species of green lacewing in the family Chrysopidae. It is found in North America and Central America. This species was imported to New Zealand in 1926, as a way to control aphid populations, however did not establish in the country.


Chrysopilus thoracicus, the golden-backed snipe fly, is a species of snipe flies in the family Rhagionidae.
  It is usually found in woodland areas of the eastern part of North America.


Chrysosplenium alternifolium is a species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family known as the alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage. It is a mat-forming perennial of wet places that grows between 5 and 15 cm (2 and 6 in) tall. It blooms from March onward.


Alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage is a perennial, mat-forming plant with trailing stems growing to a height of 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in). The fragile three-sided stems are hairy on the lower parts of the plant but smooth above. The alternately arranged leaves are stalked, broad and kidney-shaped with a few rounded shallow teeth and a few hairs. The flowers are surrounded by yellowish-green bracts and have down-turned yellowish-green sepals but no petals. The central flower in the corymb has five lobes and the others four lobes. There are eight stamens and two styles which are fused at the base. The fruit is a bowl-shaped lidded capsule. This plant flowers from April to June.


Alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage is distributed across much of the cooler and wetter parts of Europe. Its natural habitat is streamsides, ditch verges, bogs, woodland seeps, waterside meadows and other wet places. It flowers very early in the year while woodland is relatively unshaded and before leaves have appeared on the trees. Raindrops striking the lids of the seed capsules cause them to be knocked off and the seed dispersed with the water splashes.


This plant is in decline through a large part of its range because of the decrease of suitable wetland habitat. In France, it is protected in the regions of Île-de-France, Picardie, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Limousin and in the central region Centre.


Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus is a species of shrub in the family Asteraceae of the Americas known by the common names yellow rabbitbrush and green rabbitbrush.


Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus grows up to about 150 centimeters (5 feet) in height, with spreading, brittle, pale stem branches. The leaves are up to a few centimeters long and may be thin and thread-like or up to 1 cm wide and oblong. They are glandular, resinous, and sticky.
The inflorescence is a bushy cluster of flower heads, each head 0.5–1 cm long. The flower head is lined with sticky yellow-green phyllaries and contains several yellowish protruding flowers.
The fruit is a hairy achene a few millimeters long with a wispy pappus at the tip. The species grows in sagebrush and woodland habitat.


Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus contains an unusual m-hydroxyacetophenone derivative, named viscidone, and chromanone derivatives.


The plant is widespread across of North American in much of the western United States and western Canada, from British Columbia and Montana south to California and New Mexico, with a few populations in the Black Hills of South Dakota and in western Nebraska, as well as in South America in the Andean valleys of Chile and Argentina.
It grows easily in alkaline and saline soils, and thrives on soils that are rich in calcium. It rapidly establishes in disturbed habitat, including burns, flooded washes, and rockslides, so it is a valuable shrub for revegetating damaged land such as overgrazed rangeland and abandoned mining areas.


It is a larval host to the sagebrush checkerspot and it is an important nectar source in the fall. Range animals such as deer and antelope browse the foliage. It often occurs with Ericameria nauseosa.


There are many subspecies:
C. c. ssp. aurantiaca – found in desert regions
C. c. ssp. claviformis – native to the Mojave Desert and nearby
C. c. ssp. cruciformis – native to the Great Basin region
C. c. ssp. funerea – native to the Mojave Desert
C. c. ssp. integrior
C. c. ssp. lancifolia – (lanceleaf browneyes) – California east of the Sierra Nevada
C. c. ssp. peeblesii – (Peebles' browneyes) – found in Arizona and New Mexico
C. c. ssp. peirsonii – (Peirson's browneyes) – native to Southern California and northern Baja California
C. c. ssp. rubescens – native to Arizona
C. c. ssp. wigginsii
C. c. ssp. yumae – (Yuma browneyes) – found in the Sonoran Desert


Chytonix palliatricula, the cloaked marvel moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from southern Canada to the Gulf Coast. The range extends west into the Great Plains to Nebraska and Oklahoma in the south and Alberta and British Columbia in the north. It is also found in Mexico, Guatemala and Panama.
The wingspan is 28–33 mm. The forewings are olive, light grey, and dark grey with large grey spots and a black and white bar in the fold. Adults are on wing in late spring and summer.
The larvae probably feed on Poaceae species.


Cicadella viridis, the green leafhopper, is a species belonging to the subfamily Cicadellinae of the family Cicadellidae.


This species is present in most of Europe, in eastern Palearctic realm, in the Near East, in the Nearctic realm, and in the Indomalayan realm.


These leafhoppers  inhabit rough grassy areas, peat bogs and mires, wet meadows, near marshes or in swampy habitats, but sometimes live also in drier areas.


The adult males of Cicadella viridis can reach a length of  5.7–7 millimetres (0.22–0.28 in), but the females are quite larger than the males, reaching 7.5–9 millimetres (0.30–0.35 in).
Their pronotum and scutellum are green and yellow. The front head is pale yellow, with two black spots near the compound eyes.  The forewings are turquoise green in the females, blue or dark bluish in males (sexual dimorphism). The abdomen is bluish-black.
The larvae are yellowish and have two brownish stripes running from head to the end of the abdomen.


Adult leafhoppers can mostly be encountered from July through October.
These leafhoppers are polyphagous, feeding on the sap of various species of herbaceous plants, mainly Juncus effusus (Juncaceae sp.), Carex and Scirpus sylvaticus (Cyperaceae sp.), Holcus mollis (Poaceae sp.), Galium palustre (Rubiaceae) and Fabaceae species.
Cicadella viridis may have one or more generations per year. In the colder parts of Europe, there is one generation per year, in the warmer parts two, and in some regions even three generations. In the temperate climate of Europe, females lay eggs in late August - early November. This species overwinters in the egg stage. Nymphs appear in the spring. The transformation of nymphs into adults occurs in June or in July.
The 'Green Leafhoppers' are mainly preyed by spiders (Parasteatoda tepidariorum, Dolomedes fimbriatus, Tetragnatha extensa). Possible parasites are several Dryinidae species. Moreover several parasitoids of the family Mymaridae (Anagrus species) lay their eggs in eggs of these leafhoppers.


The mottled owl (Strix virgata) is a medium-sized owl found in Central and South America from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina. The head and back are mottled brown and the underparts whitish, with vertical bars on the chest and throat. The eyes are dark and the head is round and they do not have ear tufts. They are territorial and found in dry forests and jungles at altitudes of up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft) above sea level.


The mottled owl was described by the American ornithologist John Cassin in 1849 and given the binomial name Syrnium virgatum. In 1999, Wink and Heidrich transferred it to the genus Strix, but this is still contested by some authorities.


The mottled owl is a medium-sized owl with adults reaching 280 to 355 mm (11.0 to 14.0 in) in length. Females are considerably larger than males; the mottled owl shows the greatest degree of sexual dimorphism of any species of owl. The crown, nape and back are mottled in several shades of darkish brown, the facial disc is pale brown and the throat, breast and belly are off-white with distinctive vertical brown streaks. The large eyes are brown, the beak is greyish-yellow or greyish-blue, and the legs and feet are greyish-yellow. There is a darker form of the bird with a buff breast and belly. Mottled owls produce a range of calls which include a hoot used in maintaining territory boundaries, and various whistles, screeches and hisses.


The mottled owl is native to Central and South America. Its range extends from Mexico south to Argentina and Brazil and it is found at elevations up to about 2,500 m (8,200 ft). It inhabits a variety of wooded habitats including rainforest, woodland verges, dry thorn forest, pine/oak woodland and plantations and also open countryside with scattered trees. In some parts of its range it is common and it is often found close to human habitations.


The mottled owl is nocturnal and spends the day in dense vegetation where it may be mobbed by other birds. Its large eyes are adapted for sight at low levels of light, and its hearing is also acute. It is a predator and at night often perches on a branch beside a glade or at the edge of woodland on the lookout for prey. When it detects a small moving object, it swoops down from its perch on silent wings and pounces on its target, which may be a small mammal, a bird, reptile or amphibian or a large beetle, grasshopper or other insect. It is known to prey on bats.
The mottled owl breeds between February and May in Colombia and in September to November in Argentina. It usually nests in a hole in a tree but may also choose an empty nest built by another species. One or usually two white eggs are laid and incubated by the female and both parents care for the young.


The mottled owl has a very wide range and the number of individual birds has been estimated to be somewhere between five hundred thousand and five million. It is listed by the IUCN as being of "Least Concern" on the basis that, though its numbers may be decreasing slightly, they are not doing so at such a rate as would justify putting the bird in a more vulnerable category.


Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant of the family Asteraceae, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Native to the Old World, it has been introduced to North America and Australia. Many varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons (blanched buds), or roots (var. sativum), which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and food additive. In the 21st century, inulin, an extract from chicory root, has been used in food manufacturing as a sweetener and source of dietary fiber.
Chicory is grown as a forage crop for livestock. "Chicory" is also the common name in the United States for curly endive (Cichorium endivia); these two closely related species are often confused.


Substances which contribute to the plant's bitterness are primarily the two sesquiterpene lactones, lactucin and lactucopicrin. Other components are aesculetin, aesculin, cichoriin, umbelliferone, scopoletin, 6,7-dihydrocoumarin, and further sesquiterpene lactones and their glycosides. Around 1970, it was discovered that the root contains up to 20% inulin, a polysaccharide similar to starch.


Common chicory is also known as blue daisy, blue dandelion, blue sailors, blue weed, bunk, coffeeweed, cornflower, hendibeh, horseweed, ragged sailors, succory, wild bachelor's buttons, and wild endive. (Note: "cornflower" is commonly applied to Centaurea cyanus.) Common names for varieties of var. foliosum include endive, radicchio, radichetta, Belgian endive, French endive, red endive, sugarloaf, and witloof (or witlof).


The entire plant is edible.
Raw chicory leaves are 92% water, 5% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and contain negligible fat (table). In a 100 gram (3½ oz) reference amount, raw chicory leaves provide 23 calories (96 J) and significant amounts (more than 20% of the Daily Value) of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, some B vitamins, and manganese. Vitamin E and calcium are present in moderate amounts. Raw endive is 94% water and has low nutrient content.


Root chicory (Cichorium intybus var. sativum) has long been cultivated in Europe as a coffee substitute. The roots are baked, roasted, ground, and used as an additive, especially in the Mediterranean region (where the plant is native). As a coffee additive, it is also mixed in Indian filter coffee, and in parts of Southeast Asia, South Africa, and the southern United States, particularly in New Orleans. In France a mixture of 60% chicory and 40% coffee is sold under the trade name Ricoré. It has been more widely used during economic crises such as the Great Depression in the 1930s and during World War II in Continental Europe. Chicory, with sugar beet and rye, was used as an ingredient of the East German Mischkaffee (mixed coffee), introduced during the "East German coffee crisis" of 1976–79. It is also added to coffee in Spanish, Greek, Turkish, Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian cuisines.
Some beer brewers use roasted chicory to add flavor to stouts (commonly expected to have a coffee-like flavor). Others have added it to strong blond Belgian-style ales, to augment the hops, making a witloofbier, from the Dutch name for the plant.
The roots can also be cooked like parsnips.


Chicory may be cultivated for its leaves, usually eaten raw as salad leaves. Cultivated chicory is generally divided into three types, of which there are many varieties:
Radicchio usually has variegated red or red and green leaves. Some only refer to the white-veined red-leaved type as radicchio, also known as red endive and red chicory. It has a bitter and spicy taste, which mellows when it is grilled or roasted. It can also be used to add color and zest to salads. It is largely used in Italy in different varieties, the most famous being the ones from Treviso (known as radicchio rosso di Treviso), from Verona (radicchio di Verona), and Chioggia (radicchio di Chioggia), which are classified as an IGP. It is also common in Greece, where it is known as radiki and mainly boiled in salads, and is used in pies.
Belgian endive is known in Dutch as witloof or witlof ("white leaf"), indivia in Italy, endivias in Spain, chicory in the UK, as witlof in Australia, endive in France, and chicon in parts of northern France, in Wallonia and (in French) in Luxembourg. It has a small head of cream-colored, bitter leaves. The harvested root is allowed to sprout indoors in the absence of sunlight, which prevents the leaves from turning green and opening up (etiolation). It is often sold wrapped in blue paper to protect it from light, so to preserve its pale color and delicate flavor. The smooth, creamy white leaves may be served stuffed, baked, boiled, cut and cooked in a milk sauce, or simply cut raw. The tender leaves are slightly bitter; the whiter the leaf, the less bitter the taste. The harder inner part of the stem at the bottom of the head can be cut out before cooking to prevent bitterness. Belgium exports chicon/witloof to over 40 countries. The technique for growing blanched endives was accidentally discovered in the 1850s at the Botanical Garden of Brussels in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium. Today France is the largest producer of endive.
Catalogna chicory (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum), also known as puntarelle, includes a whole subfamily (some varieties from Belgian endive and some from radicchio) of chicory and is used throughout Italy.
Although leaf chicory is often called "endive", true endive (Cichorium endivia) is a different species in the genus, distinct from Belgian endive.


Inulin is mainly found in the plant family Asteraceae as a storage carbohydrate (for example Jerusalem artichoke, dahlia, yacon, etc.). It is used as a sweetener in the food industry with a sweetening power 10% that of sucrose and is sometimes added to yogurts as a 'prebiotic'.
Fresh chicory root may contain between 13 and 23% inulin, by total weight.


Chicory is highly digestible for ruminants and has a low fiber concentration. Chicory roots are an "excellent substitute for oats" for horses due to their protein and fat content. Chicory contains a low quantity of reduced tannins that may increase protein utilization efficiency in ruminants.
Some tannins reduce intestinal parasites. Dietary chicory may be toxic to internal parasites, with studies of ingesting chicory by farm animals having lower worm burdens, leading to its use as a forage supplement. Although chicory might have originated in France, Italy and India, much development of chicory for use with livestock has been undertaken in New Zealand.


Cicindela campestris, commonly called the green tiger beetle is a widespread Eurasian species of tiger beetle. It is the type species of the large genus Cicindela.


Adults are typically 12–15 millimetres (0.47–0.59 in) long. The elytra and thorax are green, varying in tone from light to dark, spotted with cream-coloured patches, and in bright sunlight are somewhat iridescent. The eyes are blackish; the legs are brown with whitish hairs. The antennae are long and straight, not clubbed.


The adults are sun-loving. They live in places with dry soils (sandy or chalky), mostly between May and October at the latitude of Britain. Like other tiger beetles, they run fast on their long legs and are most often seen on bare ground, in Britain typically on heather moorland. They can fly fast, making a loud buzzing noise. It can run at speeds of 60 cm per second.


Cicindela campestris is distributed across Europe from Spain in the southwest to Finland in the northeast. Most records are from the UK, Germany, Austria and the south of Sweden. In Britain, records are mainly from dry sandy or heathy areas such as the heathlands of Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset, and the mountains and moorlands of the Scottish Highlands.


The species is divided into several subspecies:
Cicindela campestris atlantis Mandl, 1944
Cicindela campestris balearica Sydow, 1934
Cicindela campestris cyprensis Hlisnikowsky, 1929
Cicindela campestris nigrita Dejean, 1825
Cicindela campestris olivieria Brullé, 1832
Cicindela campestris palustris Motschulsky, 1840
Cicindela campestris pontica Fischer von Waldheim, 1825
Cicindela campestris saphyrina Gené, 1836
Cicindela campestris siculorum Schilder, 1953
Cicindela campestris suffriani Loew, 1943
Cicindela campestris calabrica  Mandl, 1944


Chinery, M. page 110
Wright, Jacqueline. "Beetles on Shotover" (PDF). www.shotover-wildlife.org.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
"Encyclopedia of Life". Cicindela campestris. EOL. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
Tully, JG; Whitcomb, RF; Hackett, KJ; Williamson, DL; Laigret, F; Carle, P; Bové, JM; Henegar, RB; Ellis, NM; Dodge, DE; Adams, J (1998). "Entomoplasma freundtii sp. nov., a new species from a green tiger beetle (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae)". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 48 (4): 1197–204. doi:10.1099/00207713-48-4-1197. PMID 9828421.


Cicindela duodecimguttata Dejean, commonly known as the twelve-spotted tiger beetle, is a species of tiger beetle that is 12–15 millimetres (0.47–0.59 in) long and is dark brown to black. In most of the beetles in the species, there are twelve spots on the elytra. The species widespread throughout eastern North America (except the extreme southeastern coastal plain and most of Florida) are commonly found in wet habitats along rivers, moist trails, roads, and paths.


These six subspecies belong to the species Cicindela formosa:
Cicindela formosa formosa Say, 1817 (big sand tiger beetle)
Cicindela formosa generosa Dejean, 1831 (big sand tiger beetle)
Cicindela formosa gibsoni Brown, 1940 (Gibson's sand tiger beetle)
Cicindela formosa luxuriosa Casey
Cicindela formosa pigmentosignata W. Horn, 1930 (big sand tiger beetle)
Cicindela formosa rutilovirescens Rumpp, 1986


Cicindela hirticollis is a species of tiger beetle that is commonly found in sand bars and sandy beaches, is medium-sized, is about 2–14 mm (0.08–0.55 in) long, and is active in the summer. The dorsal surfaces of the head, prothorax, and elytra are dark brown. The elytral markings are very light-colored cream or white. The species' common names are hairy-necked tiger beetle and moustached tiger beetle. Its population is in decline.


Cicindela longilabris, the boreal long-lipped tiger beetle, is a species of flashy tiger beetle in the family Carabidae. It is found in North America.


These three subspecies belong to the species Cicindela longilabris:
Cicindela longilabris laurentii Schaupp, 1884 (Laurent's long-lipped tiger beetle)
Cicindela longilabris longilabris Say, 1824 (long-lipped tiger beetle)
Cicindela longilabris perviridis Schaupp, 1884 (green long-lipped tiger beetle)


Cicindela punctulata has three subspecies, two of which are found in the US:
C. p. catharinae - Can be found in the following Mexican states: Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Hidalgo, México. Can be separated from chihuahuae fairly easily by range (except in Chihuahua, see below), both subspecies are variable in color and pattern, however catharinae can be blackish or coppery colored overall where chihuahuae cannot. Not easily confused with punctulata due to differences in range and patterning.
C. p. chihuahuae - Southwestern US and eastern Chihuahua. Always green or greenish-blue, limited or no spotting on the carapace. Easy to separate from punctulata as there are major differences in pattern and overall color.
C. p. punctulata - Most common subspecies in the United States; found east to Maine, north to Manitoba, west to Montana, and south to Texas. Gray-brown overall, typically has small white spots of the carapace.


Cicindela scutellaris, the festive tiger beetle, is a species of flashy tiger beetle in the family Carabidae. It is found in North America.


These seven subspecies belong to the species Cicindela scutellaris:
Cicindela scutellaris flavoviridis Vaurie, 1950 (chartreuse tiger beetle)
Cicindela scutellaris lecontei Haldeman, 1853 (Leconte's tiger beetle)
Cicindela scutellaris rugata Vaurie, 1950 (rugate tiger beetle)
Cicindela scutellaris rugifrons Dejean, 1825 (festive tiger beetle)
Cicindela scutellaris scutellaris Say, 1823 (festive tiger beetle)
Cicindela scutellaris unicolor Dejean, 1825 (unicolored tiger beetle)
Cicindela scutellaris yampae Rumpp, 1986 (yampa tiger beetle)


The six-spotted tiger beetle, also known as the six-spotted green tiger beetle (Cicindela sexguttata), is a common North American species of Tiger beetles in the Cicindelinae subfamily. It is common in many areas of the states, and is well known. It is recognized for its bright green color and its flight pattern. They're usually harmless and live up to 3 years.


They are commonly found in deciduous forests in between Minnesota, Rhode Island, Ontario and south to Kentucky, and are easily recognizable by their large, white, overlapping mandibles. The adult is 12–14 mm (1/2-5/8") in length, and has fairly long legs. The mandibles give these attractive insects a ferocious appearance. While tiger beetles are voracious predators of small arthropods, they do not bite humans unless handled, and their bite is such a mild pinch that it is barely noticeable. Both the common name and the species name refer to the six small white spots on the beetle's metallic-green to metallic-blue-green elytra. This is not always the case, however, as some individuals may have more spots, fewer spots, or none at all, presumably due to genetic variation. This species is associated with wooded areas and they are often found in sunlit patches clear of undergrowth such as dirt paths and fallen logs where they hunt caterpillars, ants, spiders, and many other kinds of arthropods. Although tiger beetles are not gregarious, many beetles may sometimes be seen in one suitable hunting area. The female lays her eggs in sandy patches, and the larvae burrow into the ground after they hatch. Here they lie in wait until small arthropods pass by, at which time the larvae lunge out of their burrows at their prey. The beetles develop as larvae for about one year before pupating, and the insect has a total lifespan of just under 5 years.


Cicindela tranquebarica, the oblique-lined tiger beetle, is a species of flashy tiger beetle in the family Carabidae. It is found in North America.


These 11 subspecies belong to the species Cicindela tranquebarica:
Cicindela tranquebarica arida A. C. Davis, 1928 (oblique-lined tiger beetle)
Cicindela tranquebarica cibecuei Duncan, 1958
Cicindela tranquebarica diffracta Casey, 1909 (diffracted tiger beetle)
Cicindela tranquebarica inyo Fall, 1917 (oblique-lined tiger beetle)
Cicindela tranquebarica joaquinensis Knisley & Haines, 2007 (Joaquin tiger beetle)
Cicindela tranquebarica kirbyi LeConte, 1867 (oblique-lined tiger beetle)
Cicindela tranquebarica parallelonota Casey, 1914 (oblique-lined tiger beetle)
Cicindela tranquebarica sierra Leng, 1902 (sierra tiger beetle)
Cicindela tranquebarica tranquebarica Herbst, 1806 (oblique-lined tiger beetle)
Cicindela tranquebarica vibex G. Horn, 1867 (wealed tiger beetle)
Cicindela tranquebarica viridissima Fall, 1910 (greenest tiger beetle)


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, southwestern Asia (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, but does not pair for life. 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.


English naturalist Francis Willughby wrote about the white stork in the 17th century, having seen a drawing sent to him by his friend and natural history enthusiast Sir Thomas Brown of Norwich. He named it Ciconia alba. They noted they were occasional vagrants to England, blown there by storms. It was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Ardea ciconia. It was reclassified to (and was designated the type species of) the new genus Ciconia by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Both the genus and specific epithet, cĭcōnia, are the Latin word for "stork", originally recorded in the works of Horace and Ovid. The Latin word survives in most Romance languages (cicogna, cigüeña, cegonha and the like). The word stork is derived from the Old English word storc, and appeared in the 10th-century works the Erfurt Glossary, where the word is equated with Ciconia, and Aelfric's Homilies. The word is related to the Old High German storah, "stork", and similar words in many other European languages, all of which are descended from the Germanic sturko-z.
There are two subspecies:
C. c. ciconia, the nominate subspecies described by Linnaeus in 1758, breeds from Europe to northwestern Africa and westernmost Asia and in southern Africa, and winters mainly in Africa south of the Sahara Desert, though some birds winter in India.
C. c. asiatica, described by Russian naturalist Nikolai Severtzov in 1873, breeds in Turkestan and winters from Iran to India. It is slightly larger than the nominate subspecies.
The stork family contains six genera in three broad groups: the open-billed and wood storks (Mycteria and Anastomus), the giant storks (Ephippiorhynchus, Jabiru and Leptoptilos) and the "typical" storks (Ciconia). The typical storks include the white stork and six other extant species, which are characterised by straight pointed beaks and mainly black and white plumage. Its closest relatives are the larger, black-billed Oriental stork (Ciconia boyciana) of East Asia, which was formerly classified as a subspecies of the white stork, and the maguari stork (C. maguari) of South America. Close evolutionary relationships within Ciconia are suggested by behavioural similarities and, biochemically, through analysis of both mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences and DNA-DNA hybridization.
A Ciconia fossil representing the distal end of a right humerus has been recovered from Miocene beds of Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya. The 24–6 million year old fossil could have originated from either a white stork or a black stork (C. nigra), which are species of about the same size with very similar bone structures. The Middle Miocene beds of Maboko Island have yielded further remains.


The white stork is a large bird. It has a length of 100–115 cm (39–45 in), and a standing height of 100–125 cm (39–49 in). The wingspan is 155–215 cm (61–85 in) and its weight is 2.3–4.5 kg (5.1–9.9 lb). Like all storks, it has long legs, a long neck and a long straight pointed beak. The sexes are identical in appearance, except that males are larger than females on average. The plumage is mainly white with black flight feathers and wing coverts; the black is caused by the pigment melanin. The breast feathers are long and shaggy forming a ruff which is used in some courtship displays. The irises are dull brown or grey, and the peri-orbital skin is black. The adult has a bright red beak and red legs, the colouration of which is derived from carotenoids in the diet. In parts of Spain, studies have shown that the pigment is based on astaxanthin obtained from an introduced species of crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) and the bright red beak colours show up even in nestlings, in contrast to the duller beaks of young white storks elsewhere.
As with other storks, the wings are long and broad enabling the bird to soar. In flapping flight its wingbeats are slow and regular. It flies with its neck stretched forward and with its long legs extended well beyond the end of its short tail. It walks at a slow and steady pace with its neck upstretched. In contrast, it often hunches its head between its shoulders when resting. Moulting has not been extensively studied, but appears to take place throughout the year, with the primary flight feathers replaced over the breeding season.
Upon hatching, the young white stork is partly covered with short, sparse, whitish down feathers. This early down is replaced about a week later with a denser coat of woolly white down. By three weeks, the young bird acquires black scapulars and flight feathers. On hatching the chick has pinkish legs, which turn to greyish-black as it ages. Its beak is black with a brownish tip. By the time it fledges, the juvenile bird's plumage is similar to that of the adult, though its black feathers are often tinged with brown, and its beak and legs are a duller brownish-red or orange. The beak is typically orange or red with a darker tip. The bills gain the adults' red colour the following summer, although the black tips persist in some individuals. Young storks adopt adult plumage by their second summer.


Within its range the white stork is distinctive when seen on the ground. The winter range of C. c. asiatica overlaps that of the Asian openbill, which has similar plumage but a different bill shape. When seen at a distance in flight, the white stork can be confused with several other species with similar underwing patterns, such as the yellow-billed stork, great white pelican and Egyptian vulture. The yellow-billed stork is identified by its black tail and a longer, slightly curved, yellow beak. The white stork also tends to be larger than the yellow-billed stork. The great white pelican has short legs which do not extend beyond its tail, and it flies with its neck retracted, keeping its head near to its stocky body, giving it a different flight profile. Pelicans also behave differently, soaring in orderly, synchronised flocks rather than in disorganised groups of individuals as the white stork does. The Egyptian vulture is much smaller, with a long wedge-shaped tail, shorter legs and a small yellow-tinged head on a short neck. The common crane, which can also look black and white in strong light, shows longer legs and a longer neck in flight.


The nominate race of the white stork has a wide although disjunct summer range across Europe, clustered in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa in the west, and much of eastern and central Europe, with 25% of the world's population concentrated in Poland, as well as parts of western Asia. The asiatica population of about 1450 birds is restricted to a region in central Asia between the Aral Sea and Xinjiang in western China. The Xinjiang population is believed to have become extinct around 1980. Migration routes extend the range of this species into many parts of Africa and India. Some populations adhere to the eastern migration route, which passes across Israel into eastern and central Africa.
A few records of breeding from South Africa have been known since 1933 at Calitzdorp, and about 10 birds have been known to breed since the 1990s around Bredasdorp. A small population of white storks winters in India and is thought to derive principally from the C. c. asiatica population as flocks of up to 200 birds have been observed on spring migration in the early 1900s through the Kurram Valley. However, birds ringed in Germany have been recovered in western (Bikaner) and southern (Tirunelveli) India. An atypical specimen with red orbital skin, a feature of the Oriental white stork, has been recorded and further study of the Indian population is required. North of the breeding range, it is a passage migrant or vagrant in Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden, and west to the Azores and Madeira. In recent years, the range has expanded into western Russia.
The white stork's preferred feeding grounds are grassy meadows, farmland and shallow wetlands. It avoids areas overgrown with tall grass and shrubs. In the Chernobyl area of northern Ukraine, white stork populations declined after the 1986 nuclear accident there as farmland was succeeded by tall grass shrubs. In parts of Poland, poor natural foraging grounds have forced birds to seek food at rubbish dumps since 1999. White storks have also been reported foraging in rubbish dumps in the Middle East, North Africa and South Africa.
The white stork breeds in greater numbers in areas with open grasslands, particularly grassy areas which are wet or periodically flooded, and less in areas with taller vegetation cover such as forest and shrubland. They make use of grasslands, wetlands, and farmland on the wintering grounds in Africa. White storks were probably aided by human activities during the Middle Ages as woodland was cleared and new pastures and farmland were created, and they were found across much of Europe, breeding as far north as Sweden. The population in Sweden is thought to have established in the 16th century after forests were cut down for agriculture. About 5000 pairs were estimated to breed in the 18th century which declined subsequently. The first accurate census in 1917 found 25 pairs and the last pair failed to breed around 1955. The white stork has been a rare visitor to the British Isles, with about 20 birds seen in Britain every year, and prior to 2020 there were no records of nesting since a pair nested atop St Giles High Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1416. In 2020, a pair bred in the United Kingdom for the first time in over 600 years, as part of an re-introduction initiative called the White Stork Project.
A decline in population began in the 19th century due to industrialisation and changes in agricultural methods. White storks no longer nest in many countries, and the current strongholds of the western population are in Portugal, Spain, Ukraine and Poland. In the Iberian Peninsula, populations are concentrated in the southwest, and have also declined due to agricultural practices. A study published in 2005 found that the Podhale region in the uplands of southern Poland had seen an influx of white storks, which first bred there in 1931 and have nested at progressively higher altitudes since, reaching 890 m (3000 ft) in 1999. The authors proposed that this was related to climate warming and the influx of other animals and plants to higher altitudes. White storks arriving in Poznań province (Greater Poland Voivodeship) in western Poland in spring to breed did so some 10 days earlier in the last twenty years of the 20th century than at the end of the 19th century.


Systematic research into migration of the white stork began with German ornithologist Johannes Thienemann who commenced bird ringing studies in 1906 at the Rossitten Bird Observatory, on the Curonian Spit in what was then East Prussia. Although not many storks passed through Rossitten itself, the observatory coordinated the large-scale ringing of the species throughout Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Between 1906 and the Second World War about 100,000, mainly juvenile, white storks were ringed, with over 2,000 long-distance recoveries of birds wearing Rossitten rings reported between 1908 and 1954.


White storks fly south from their summer breeding grounds in Europe in August and September, heading for Africa. There, they spend the winter in savannah from Kenya and Uganda south to the Cape Province of South Africa. In these areas, they congregate in large flocks which may exceed a thousand individuals. Some diverge westwards into western Sudan and Chad, and may reach Nigeria.
In spring, the birds return north; they are recorded from Sudan and Egypt from February to April. They arrive back in Europe around late March and April, after an average journey of 49 days. By comparison, the autumn journey is completed in about 26 days. Tailwinds and scarcity of food and water en route (birds fly faster over regions lacking resources) increase average speed.
To avoid a long sea crossing over the Mediterranean, birds from central Europe either follow an eastern migration route by crossing the Bosphorus in Turkey, traversing the Levant, then bypassing the Sahara Desert by following the Nile valley southwards, or follow a western route over the Strait of Gibraltar. These migration corridors maximise help from the thermals and thus save energy.
In winter 2013–2014, white storks were observed in southern India's Mudumalai National Park for the first time.
The eastern route is by far the more important with 530,000 white storks using it annually, making the species the second commonest migrant there (after the European honey buzzard). The flocks of migrating raptors, white storks and great white pelicans can stretch for 200 km (125 mi). The eastern route is twice as long as the western, but storks take the same time to reach the wintering grounds by either.
Juvenile white storks set off on their first southward migration in an inherited direction but, if displaced from that bearing by weather conditions, they are unable to compensate, and may end up in a new wintering location. Adults can compensate for strong winds and adjust their direction to finish at their normal winter sites, because they are familiar with the location. For the same reason, all spring migrants, even those from displaced wintering locations, can find their way back to the traditional breeding sites. An experiment with young birds raised in captivity in Kaliningrad and released in the absence of wild storks to show them the way revealed that they appeared to have an instinct to fly south, although the scatter in direction was large.


White storks rely on the uplift of air thermals to soar and glide the long distances of their annual migrations between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. For many, the shortest route would take them over the Mediterranean Sea; however, since air thermals do not form over water, they generally detour over land to avoid the trans-Mediterranean flights that would require prolonged energetic wing flapping. It has been estimated that flapping flight metabolises 23 times more body fat than soaring flight per distance travelled. Thus, flocks spiral upwards on rising warm air until they emerge at the top, up to 1,200–1,500 m (3,900–4,900 ft) above the ground (though one record from Western Sudan observed an altitude of 3,300 m (10,800 ft)).
Long flights over water may occasionally be undertaken. A young white stork ringed at the nest in Denmark subsequently appeared in England, where it spent some days before moving on. It was later seen flying over St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, and arrived in a poor condition in Madeira three days later. That island is 500 km (320 mi) from Africa, and twice as far from the European mainland. Migration through the Middle East may be hampered by the khamsin, winds bringing gusty overcast days unsuitable for flying. In these situations, flocks of white storks sit out the adverse weather on the ground, standing and facing into the wind.


The white stork is a gregarious bird; flocks of thousands of individuals have been recorded on migration routes and at wintering areas in Africa. Non-breeding birds gather in groups of 40 or 50 during the breeding season. The smaller dark-plumaged Abdim's stork is often encountered with white stork flocks in southern Africa. Breeding pairs of white stork may gather in small groups to hunt, and colony nesting has been recorded in some areas. However, groups among white stork colonies vary widely in size and the social structure is loosely defined; young breeding storks are often restricted to peripheral nests, while older storks attain higher breeding success while occupying the better quality nests toward the centres of breeding colonies. Social structure and group cohesion is maintained by altruistic behaviours such as allopreening. White storks exhibit this behaviour exclusively at the nest site. Standing birds preen the heads of sitting birds, sometimes these are parents grooming juveniles, and sometimes juveniles preen each other. Unlike most storks, it never adopts a spread-winged posture, though it is known to droop its wings (holding them away from its body with the primary feathers pointing downwards) when its plumage is wet.

A white stork's droppings, containing faeces and uric acid, are sometimes directed onto its own legs, making them appear white. The resulting evaporation provides cooling and is termed urohidrosis. Birds that have been ringed can sometimes be affected by the accumulation of droppings around the ring leading to constriction and leg trauma. The white stork has also been noted for tool use by squeezing moss in the beak to drip water into the mouths of its chicks.


The adult white stork's main sound is noisy bill-clattering, which has been likened to distant machine gun fire. The bird makes these sounds by rapidly opening and closing its beak so that a knocking sound is made each time its beak closes. The clattering is amplified by its throat pouch, which acts as a resonator. Used in a variety of social interactions, bill-clattering generally grows louder the longer it lasts, and takes on distinctive rhythms depending on the situation—for example, slower during copulation and briefer when given as an alarm call. The only vocal sound adult birds generate is a weak barely audible hiss; however, young birds can generate a harsh hiss, various cheeping sounds, and a cat-like mew they use to beg for food. Like the adults, young also clatter their beaks. The up-down display is used for a number of interactions with other members of the species. Here a stork quickly throws its head backwards so that its crown rests on its back before slowly bringing its head and neck forwards again, and this is repeated several times. The display is used as a greeting between birds, post coitus, and also as a threat display. Breeding pairs are territorial over the summer, and use this display, as well as crouching forward with the tails cocked and wings extended.


The white stork breeds in open farmland areas with access to marshy wetlands, building a large stick nest in trees, on buildings, or on purpose-built man-made platforms. Each nest is 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) in depth, 0.8–1.5 m (2.6–4.9 ft) in diameter, and 60–250 kg (130–550 lb) in weight. Nests are built in loose colonies. Not persecuted as it is viewed as a good omen, it often nests close to human habitation; in southern Europe, nests can be seen on churches and other buildings. The nest is typically used year after year especially by older males. The males arrive earlier in the season and choose the nests. Larger nests are associated with greater numbers of young successfully fledged, and appear to be sought after. Nest change is often related to a change in the pairing and failure to raise young the previous year, and younger birds are more likely to change nesting sites. Although a pair may be found to occupy a nest, partners may change several times during the early stages and breeding activities begin only after a stable pairing is achieved.
Several bird species often nest within the large nests of the white stork. Regular occupants are house sparrows, tree sparrows, and common starlings; less common residents include Eurasian kestrels, little owls, European rollers, white wagtails, black redstarts, Eurasian jackdaws, and Spanish sparrows. Paired birds greet by engaging in up-down and head-shaking crouch displays, and clattering the beak while throwing back the head. Pairs copulate frequently throughout the month before eggs are laid. High-frequency pair copulation is usually associated with sperm competition and high frequency of extra-pair copulation; however, extra-pair copulation is infrequent in white storks.
A white stork pair raises a single brood a year. The female typically lays four eggs, though clutches of one to seven have been recorded. The eggs are white, but often look dirty or yellowish due to a glutinous covering. They typically measure 73 mm × 52 mm (2.9 in × 2.0 in), and weigh 96–129 g (3.4–4.6 oz), of which about 11 g (0.39 oz) is shell. Incubation begins as soon as the first egg is laid, so the brood hatches asynchronously, beginning 33 to 34 days later. The first hatchling typically has a competitive edge over the others. While stronger chicks are not aggressive towards weaker siblings, as is the case in some species, weak or small chicks are sometimes killed by their parents. This behaviour occurs in times of food shortage to reduce brood size and hence increase the chance of survival of the remaining nestlings. White stork nestlings do not attack each other, and their parents' method of feeding them (disgorging large amounts of food at once) means that stronger siblings cannot outcompete weaker ones for food directly, hence parental infanticide is an efficient way of reducing brood size. Despite this, this behaviour has not commonly been observed.
The temperature and weather around the time of hatching in spring is important; cool temperatures and wet weather increase chick mortality and reduce breeding success rates. Somewhat unexpectedly, studies have found that later-hatching chicks which successfully reach adulthood produce more chicks than do their earlier-hatching nestmates. The body weight of the chicks increases rapidly in the first few weeks and reaches a plateau of about 3.4 kg (7.5 lb) in 45 days. The length of the beak increases linearly for about 50 days. Young birds are fed with earthworms and insects, which are regurgitated by the parents onto the floor of the nest. Older chicks reach into the mouths of parents to obtain food. Chicks fledge 58 to 64 days after hatching.
White storks generally begin breeding when about four years old, although the age of first breeding has been recorded as early as two years and as late as seven years. The oldest known wild white stork lived for 39 years after being ringed in Switzerland, while captive birds have lived for more than 35 years.


White storks consume a wide variety of animal prey. They prefer to forage in meadows that are within roughly 5 km (3 mi) of their nest and sites where the vegetation is shorter so that their prey is more accessible. Their diet varies according to season, locality and prey availability. Common food items include insects (primarily beetles, grasshoppers, locusts and crickets), earthworms, reptiles, amphibians, particularly frog species such as the edible frog (Pelophylax kl. esculentus) and common frog (Rana temporaria) and small mammals such as voles, moles and shrews. Less commonly, they also eat bird eggs and young birds, fish, molluscs, crustaceans and scorpions. They hunt mainly during the day, swallowing small prey whole, but killing and breaking apart larger prey before swallowing. Rubber bands are mistaken for earthworms and consumed, occasionally resulting in fatal blockage of the digestive tract.
Birds returning to Latvia during spring have been shown to locate their prey, moor frogs (Rana arvalis), by homing in on the mating calls produced by aggregations of male frogs.
The diet of non-breeding birds is similar to that of breeding birds, but food items are more often taken from dry areas. White storks wintering in western India have been observed to follow blackbuck to capture insects disturbed by them. Wintering white storks in India sometimes forage along with the woolly-necked stork (Ciconia episcopus). Food piracy has been recorded in India with a rodent captured by a western marsh harrier appropriated by a white stork, while Montagu's harrier is known to harass white storks foraging for voles in some parts of Poland. White storks can exploit landfill sites for food during the breeding season, migration period and winter.


White stork nests are habitats for an array of small arthropods, particularly over the warmer months after the birds arrive to breed. Nesting over successive years, the storks bring more material to line their nests and layers of organic material accumulate within them. Not only do their bodies tend to regulate temperatures within the nest, but excrement, food remains and feather and skin fragments provide nourishment for a large and diverse population of free-living mesostigmatic mites. A survey of twelve nests found 13,352 individuals of 34 species, the most common being Macrocheles merdarius, M. robustulus, Uroobovella pyriformis and Trichouropoda orbicularis, which together represented almost 85% of all the specimens collected. These feed on the eggs and larvae of insects and on nematodes, which are abundant in the nest litter. These mites are dispersed by coprophilous beetles, often of the family Scarabaeidae, or on dung brought by the storks during nest construction. Parasitic mites do not occur, perhaps being controlled by the predatory species. The overall effect of the mite population is unclear, the mites may have a role in suppressing harmful organisms (and hence be beneficial), or they may themselves have an adverse effect on nestlings.
The birds themselves host species belonging to more than four genera of feather mites. These mites, including Freyanopterolichus pelargicus, and Pelargolichus didactylus live on fungi growing on the feathers. The fungi found on the plumage may feed on the keratin of the outer feathers or on feather oil. Chewing lice such as Colpocephalum zebra tend to be found on the wings, and Neophilopterus incompletus elsewhere on the body.
The white stork also carries several types of internal parasites, including Toxoplasma gondii and intestinal parasites of the genus Giardia. A study of 120 white stork carcasses from Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg in Germany yielded eight species of trematode (fluke), four cestode (tapeworm) species, and at least three species of nematode. One species of fluke, Chaunocephalus ferox, caused lesions in the wall of the small intestine in a number of birds admitted to two rehabilitation centres in central Spain, and was associated with reduced weight. It is a recognised pathogen and cause of morbidity in the Asian openbill (Anastomus oscitans). More recently, the thorough study performed by J. Sitko and P. Heneberg in the Czech Republic in 1962–2013 suggested that the central European white storks host 11 helminth species. Chaunocephalus ferox, Tylodelphys excavata and Dictymetra discoidea were reported to be the dominant ones. The other species found included Cathaemasia hians, Echinochasmus spinulosus, Echinostoma revolutum, Echinostoma sudanense, Duboisia syriaca, Apharyngostrigea cornu, Capillaria sp. and Dictymetra discoidea. Juvenile white storks were shown to host less species, but the intensity of infection was higher in the juveniles than in the adult storks.
West Nile virus (WNV) is mainly a bird infection that is transmitted between birds by mosquitos. Migrating birds appear to be important in spread of the virus, the ecology of which remains poorly known. On 26 August 1998, a flock of about 1,200 migrating white storks that had been blown off course on their southward journey landed in Eilat, in southern Israel. The flock was stressed as it had resorted to flapping flight to return to its migratory route, and a number of birds died. A virulent strain of West Nile virus was isolated from the brains of eleven dead juveniles. Other white storks subsequently tested in Israel have shown anti-WNV antibodies. In 2008 three juvenile white storks from a Polish wildlife refuge yielded seropositive results indicating exposure to the virus, but the context or existence of the virus in Poland is unclear.


The white stork's decline due to industrialisation and agricultural changes (principally the draining of wetlands and conversion of meadows to crops such as maize) began in the 19th century: the last wild individual in Belgium was seen in 1895, in Sweden in 1955, in Switzerland in 1950 and in the Netherlands in 1991. However, the species has since been reintroduced to many regions. It has been rated as least concern by the IUCN since 1994, after being evaluated as near threatened in 1988. The white stork is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Parties to the agreement are required to engage in a wide range of conservation strategies described in a detailed action plan. The plan is intended to address key issues such as species and habitat conservation, management of human activities, research, education, and implementation. Threats include the continued loss of wetlands, collisions with overhead power lines, use of persistent pesticides (such as DDT) to combat locusts in Africa, and largely illegal hunting on migration routes and wintering grounds.
A large population of white storks breeds in central (Poland, Ukraine and Germany) and southern Europe (Spain and Turkey). In a 2004/05 census, there were 52,500 pairs in Poland, 30,000 pairs in Ukraine, 20,000 pairs in Belarus, 13,000 pairs in Lithuania (the highest known density of this species in the world), 10,700 pairs in Latvia, and 10,200 in Russia. There were around 5,500 pairs in Romania, 5,300 in Hungary and an estimated 4,956 breeding pairs in Bulgaria. In Germany, the majority of the total 4,482 pairs were in the eastern region, especially in the states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1296 and 863 pairs in 2008 respectively). Apart from Spain and Portugal (33,217 and 7,684 pairs in 2004/05 respectively), populations are generally much less stable. In the eastern Mediterranean region Turkey has a sizeable population of 6,195 pairs, and Greece 2,139 pairs. In Western Europe the white stork remains a rare bird despite conservation efforts. In 2004 France had only 973 pairs, and the Netherlands 528 pairs. In Denmark, the species had consistently bred since the 15th century, peaking at several thousands pairs around 1800. Afterwards it began declining mainly due to habitat loss (especially conversion of wetlands and meadows into modern farming), with only a few tens of breeding pairs in 1974 and none in 2008. Since then, it has reestablished itself and the population has slowly started to increase, reaching 8 pairs in 2022. In Armenia the population of the white stork slightly increased in the period between 2005 and 2015, and by last data reached 652 pairs.
In the early 1980s, the population had fallen to fewer than nine pairs in the entire upper Rhine River valley, an area closely identified with the white stork for centuries. Conservation efforts successfully increased the population of birds there to 270 pairs (in 2008), largely due to the actions of the Association for the Protection and Reintroduction of Storks in Alsace and Lorraine. The reintroduction of zoo-reared birds has halted further declines in Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. There were 601 pairs breeding in Armenia and around 700 pairs in the Netherlands in 2008, and few pairs also breed in South Africa, typically recent colonists from within the normal wintering population. In Poland, electric poles have been modified with a platform at the top to prevent the white stork's large nest from disrupting the electricity supply, and sometimes nests are moved from an electric pole to a man-made platform. Introductions of zoo-reared birds in the Netherlands has been followed up by feeding and nest-building programs by volunteers. Similar reintroduction programs are taking place in Sweden, and Switzerland, where 175 pairs were recorded breeding in 2000. Long-term viability of the population in Switzerland is unclear as breeding success rates are low, and supplementary feeding does not appear to be of benefit. However, as of 2017, 470 adults and 757 young ones were recorded in Switzerland. Historically, the species' northern breeding limit was at Estonia, but it has moved slowly northwards (possibly due to warmer temperatures) into Karelia and in 2015 the first ever known breeding happened in Finland.
In August 2019, 24 juveniles were released at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, and others at a site near Tunbridge Wells and at the Wintershall Estate, near Godalming, as part of a project to reintroduce the white stork as a breeding species in South East England, for the first time since 1416. In 2020, the program was successful with the birth of five baby storks.


Due to its large size, predation on vermin, and nesting behaviour close to human settlements and on rooftops, the white stork has an imposing presence that has influenced human culture and folklore. The Hebrew word for the white stork is chasidah (חסידה), meaning "merciful" or "kind". Greek and Roman mythology portray storks as models of parental devotion. The 3rd century Roman writer Aelian citing the authority of Alexander of Myndus noted in his De natura animalium (book 3, chapter 23) that aged storks flew away to oceanic islands where they were transformed into humans as a reward for their piety towards their parents. The bird is featured in at least three of Aesop's Fables: The Fox and the Stork, The Farmer and the Stork, and The Frogs Who Desired a King. Storks were also thought to care for their aged parents, feeding them and even transporting them, and children's books depicted them as a model of filial values. A Greek law called Pelargonia, from the Ancient Greek word pelargos for stork, required citizens to take care of their aged parents. The Greeks also held that killing a stork could be punished with death. Storks were allegedly protected in Ancient Thessaly as they hunted snakes, and widely held to be Virgil's "white bird". Roman writers noted the white stork's arrival in spring, which alerted farmers to plant their vines.
Followers of Islam revered storks because they made an annual pilgrimage to Mecca on their migration. Some of the earliest understanding on bird migration were initiated by an interest in white storks; Pfeilstörche ("arrow storks") were found in Europe with African arrows embedded in their bodies. A well-known example of such a stork found in the summer of 1822 in the German town of Klütz in Mecklenburg was made into a mounted taxidermy specimen, complete with the ornate African arrow, that is now in the University of Rostock.
Storks have little fear of humans if not disturbed, and often nest on buildings in Europe. In Germany, the presence of a nest on a house was believed to protect against fires. They were also protected because of the belief that their souls were human. German, Dutch and Polish households would encourage storks to nest on houses, sometimes by constructing purpose-built high platforms, to bring good luck. Across much of Central and Eastern Europe it is believed that storks bring harmony to a family on whose property they nest.
The white stork is a popular motif on postage stamps, and it is featured on more than 120 stamps issued by more than 60 stamp-issuing entities. It is the national bird of Lithuania, Belarus and Poland, and it was a Polish mascot at the Expo 2000 Fair in Hanover. Storks nesting in Polish villages such as Żywkowo have made them tourist attractions, drawing 2000–5000 visitors a year in 2014. In the 19th century, storks were also thought to only live in countries having a republican form of government. Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid mentioned storks in his poem Moja piosnka (II) ("My Song (II)"):
For the land where it's a great travesty

To harm a stork's nest in a pear tree,

For storks serve us all ...

I am homesick, Lord! ...
— translated by Walter Whipple
In 1942 Heinrich Himmler sought to use storks to carry Nazi propaganda leaflets so as to win support from the Boers in South Africa. The idea for this "Storchbein-Propaganda" plan was a secret that was transmitted by Walter Schellenberg to be examined by the German ornithologist Ernst Schüz at the Rossiten bird observatory, who pointed out that the probability of finding marked storks in Africa was less than one percent, requiring a 1000 birds to transmit 10 leaflets successfully. The plan was then dropped.


The maguari stork (Ciconia maguari) is a large species of stork that inhabits seasonal wetlands over much of South America, and is very similar in appearance to the white stork; albeit slightly larger. It is the only species of its genus to occur in the New World and is one of the only three New World stork species, together with the wood stork and the jabiru.


This stork was formerly placed in its own genus Euxenura, but was later reclassified as belonging to Ciconia because of its strong morphological and ethological similarity to other storks of this genus. However, the maguari stork most closely resembles both the white stork and the Oriental stork in morphology and behaviour; and strongly resembles the white stork in its manner of performing the up-down greeting display. Plumage pattern and soft part colourations are also very similar between these three stork species. Further, phylogenetic analyses based on a portion of the cytochrome b oxidase gene have suggested that the maguari stork is evolutionarily paired with the white stork-Oriental stork sister group; although the morphological similarity between the maguari stork and the Oriental stork has been considered to be greater than between the white stork and the Oriental stork.  Incidentally, the maguari stork also shares the prominent forkedness of its tail with the woolly-necked stork (Ciconia episcopus).
Fossils of the extinct Pleistocene stork Ciconia maltha discovered in North America appear to be morphologically intermediate between the maguari stork and white stork and may therefore represent a common ancestral link between these two species that inhabit different continents. Ciconia maltha was probably highly dispersive and could have extended its range to Venezuela from North America during the Pliocene, part of the range of the extant maguari stork.


The bird stands at 97 to 120 cm (3 ft 2 in to 3 ft 11 in) tall and has a wingspan of around 155 to 180 cm (5 ft 1 in to 5 ft 11 in), making it similar in size to the congeneric white stork. Nine male maguari storks weighed an average of 4.2 kg (9.3 lb) while five females weighed an average of 3.8 kg (8.4 lb). It is intermediate in size between the smaller wood stork and the larger jabiru, the two other stork species with which the maguari stork exists in sympatry in some parts of its range. Much of the adult plumage is white, with black flight feathers and a forked blacked tail which is shorter than the stiff white under-tail coverts, so that these protrude from underneath the tail and may function aerodynamically in flight. The forked tail clearly distinguishes the maguari stork from the white stork,  and is easily observed in flight from the ground thanks to the white under-tail coverts. During flight, this stork offers an impressive sight. It soars at least a hundred metres above the ground with an outstretched neck and extended legs, intermittently beating its broad wings to gain momentum for long glides. It flaps its wings at a rate of 181 beats per minute and the wingspan measures 150–180 cm. This stork needs to make three long jumps before it can take off from the ground.
Individuals undergo a fresh moult in the breeding season to produce brighter plumage in preparation for courtship. Head and neck feathers consist of long semi-plumes measuring up to 18 cm long that become erectile and are important in courtships and aggressive displays. Barbs on the neck feathers also have no barbules, thus making the neck appear like a translucent net.
The bill is straight, bluish grey, and lined with red. The final third portion along the bill length is dark maroon. The iris is lemon-yellow or cream white and the legs are purplish red. The skin of the throat and the pebbly-textured lores are orangey red, becoming deeper red during courtship. The sexes are largely indistinguishable externally, except that the male is slightly larger with a slightly upward curved bill. Individuals usually weigh 3800-4200 g, with males being heavier.


A distinct characteristic unique to this stork species is intermediately dark plumage in the young, which persists for most of the nestling period. In the chicks’ first few days after hatching, their sparse down is snowy white. The chicks subsequently undergo two basic moults before entering adulthood. The first moult usually begins after four days, in which black semi-plumes on the head and neck begin to emerge; followed shortly by the emergence of greyish-black down feathers over the body after one week of age. Some white down feathers initially remain attached to give a temporary mottled black and white appearance before finally receding to leave a darkish grey downy plumage. During development of the dark down, the bill, legs and feet are shiny black. A pale yellow stripe extends up the venter, the gular pouch is bright orange, and the iris is dark brown. At hatching, nestlings weigh 76-90g.
After the chicks pass their third week of age, the black down develops olive streaks and the only parts of the body that do not appear dark are the bright orange gular skin and a small patch of white down above and below the tail. Just over 10 days later, black flight feathers develop, shortly followed by black contour feathers. At this point, the chicks are fledged and have their first full juvenile plumage after about a month of hatching. Hence, juveniles remain black at fledging, by which time the orange of the gular pouch has also turned pale scarlet.
In the second moult, white down begins to return when the chicks are seven weeks old, followed by white semi-plumes then white contour feathers. The first white basic plumage is complete after three months and resembles that of adults. By this time, the legs and feet are now an incipient pink and the bill has become bicoloured (pale blue and maroon). Although the young now resemble adults, the skin surrounding the eye remains black for about a year before turning red, and the dark brown iris does not begin to yellow until after two years old. These are two potentially useful features that identify juvenile maguari storks; but in the field, the dark iris of the juveniles is the most reliable feature that distinguishes them from adults.
Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the dark colouration in the juveniles. First, the blackish feathers may serve as camouflage against both ground and aerial predators. Alternatively, the black plumage may serve a thermoregulatory function by enhancing its absorption of the sun's radiation. This could arguably be advantageous because this stork breeds during the winter in the part of its range in the southern hemisphere, so that the chicks can be exposed to low environmental temperatures. However, Thomas  regards the anti-predator explanation for the dark plumage to be more plausible.


Adults utter wheezing, hissing, disyllabic whistles during up-down greeting displays at the nests about every 1–1.5 seconds. These whistles are slower and lower pitched than the corresponding vocalisations of other Ciconia, but sound similar to those of the Abdim's stork and the woolly-necked stork. The quality of these vocalisations is probably linked with the maguari stork's ground nesting habits and may be an adaptation to minimise attraction of predators’ attention. Young make begging calls that have been described as Ehehe-ehehe.


The maguari stork has a relatively wide distribution over much of South America, and occurs primarily to the east of the Andes. It lives in the Llanos of Venezuela and eastern Colombia; Guyana; eastern Bolivia; Paraguay; Brazil, but rarely in the Amazon and the north-east,); Uruguay and Argentina. The most southerly part of the range lies in the Chubut province. It more rarely occurs to the west of the Andes (e.g. in Chile) and probably does not breed there. It is a rare visitor to the Suriname coast from March until May and also been reported as a vagrant on Trinidad and Tobago.
It is especially common and widespread in the Chaco of Argentina, which appears to be a popular destination for flocks of about 30-40 migrant individuals from the southern hemisphere part of the range that come from the south in winter to seek warmer temperatures. The stork is also common in Brazil, especially in the state Rio Grande do Sul, Paraguay and the Pampas of Argentina. It occurs seasonally and is common in the Pantanal of Argentina. Large numbers migrate to the Pantanal in the wet season, probably from the Parana Basin and Rio Grand do Sul. However, overall migration patterns for this species across its range have thus far not been determined exactly.
Its habitat largely comprises open lowland and shallow-water wetland such as tropical wet savannah grasslands, marshes, mudflats, and flooded fields. It more occasionally frequents dry fields, but invariably avoids forested regions. Numerous maguari stork assemblages have been observed in their habitat during the dry season, where they forage in low-level bodies of water where prey is concentrated.
The maguari stork lives in sympatry with jabiru and wood stork where the ranges of these three species overlap, especially in the Venezuelan llanos.  Of all American stork species, the maguari stork has the smallest geographical range.


This stork has a markedly broad diet and is considered to be a generalist compared to the sympatric wood stork and jabiru. It feeds on fish, frogs, eels, earthworms, invertebrates, insect larvae, snakes, freshwater crabs, small mammals such as rats, and bird eggs. More rarely, it may take smaller birds; as one case has shown where a large, intact rail was discovered in the gullet of an individual from Patagonia. Despite the maguari stork's apparently generalist diet, one study from Brazil has suggested that this stork may actively target worm lizards (Amphisbaena) as prey items. This may be because of the elongated body shape of such taxa that occupies a relatively small volume in the bird's stomach and hence can more compactly fit inside the stomach to optimise the bird's energy intake.
The maguari stork preferentially forages in shallow waters about 12 cm deep, and more rarely at water depths of up to 30 cm. This may be because shallow waters harbour higher numbers of prey taxa, or are high in dissolved carbon and nutrients. This species is primarily a visual forager. Its usual manner of hunting consists in walking slowly through wetlands with its bill close to the surface of the water, ready to seize any prey it comes into contact with.  The bird breeds early during the seasonal rains while the water in the wetland habitat is still undisturbed by fresh rainwater, so that prey items are more visible through the water and success of prey capture, especially as food for nestlings, is higher. However, this stork has also been observed to grope with its bill in the water, although this may be more common toward the end of the breeding season when water bodies begin to dry up and become turbid.
Especially during the breeding season, the maguari stork forages solitarily or in pairs. However, it may also feed in larger aggregations outside the breeding season, often in association with other wading bird species. Because prey are concentrated in the shallowness of these pools, tactile foraging would be highly efficient in this situation.
Although the maguari stork largely depends on shallow freshwaters as a source of prey, it has also been observed to forage solitarily on dry plains outside the breeding season where mice and toads (candidate prey) sometimes occur in large numbers. It also forages on dry cultivated fields where invertebrates may have been disturbed. During the evenings in the dry season from December until April, individuals form large assemblages around low-lying water features where prey density is high but prey abundance is not. Notably numerous assemblages of foraging maguari storks have been sighted in the Brazilian municipality Quissama during the dry season in October, where they congregate around shallow pools in search of food. The maguari stork's tendency to forage in both wetlands and dry lands reflects its generalist nature, whereas specialists such as the jabiru depend more strongly on wetlands as a feeding ground and are sighted more frequently near to wetlands than the maguari stork.
In one study at half-hectare ponds in the llanos during the dry season, a flock of 90 maguari stork individuals were observed together with jabirus and wood storks. Because of limited prey, intra and interspecific competition inevitably occurs in such aggregations; often leading to kleptoparasitism. Maguari storks are mostly found to steal food amongst themselves, but jabirus also occasionally steal from them, taking large prey items such as eels.
The maguari stork has been observed uplifting cowhides in dry fields in search of potential invertebrate prey underneath. This occurs especially in the non-breeding season when large migratory flocks search for arthropods in the bushes and dry short grass. Some individuals also sometimes eat pieces of cow dung. Historically, one individual has been observed to swallow a cowhide whole.
Food brought to nestlings by their parents includes fish and eels, small mammals such as rats, and invertebrates. However, the proportions of these taxa differ between years depending on availability and the food brought to the nest for the young consists predominantly of aquatic organisms. Parents carry food to the nest as a large bolus in the throat. They regurgitate it onto the nest, whereupon it is picked up and eaten by the nestlings. Food is usually regurgitated in small parts for young nestlings, and as one large mass for older nestlings.


Many aspects of the maguari stork's reproductive biology and nesting strategies are unique to this species and are absent in other stork species.  Such differences in breeding and nesting habits have probably resulted from strong selection pressures that would have led this species to become adapted to survive in its open lowland wetland habitat that it originally invaded.


Unlike other stork species, this stork is commonly found to nest on the ground, whereas many other stork species habitually nest at higher elevation. The nest always lies near to shallow water amongst tall grass and reeds, since aquatic organisms form the bulk of the nestlings’ diet. The maguari stork's nest is also unusual in extensively comprising grass and reeds. Common species used in nest fabrication include the reed Cyperus giganteus and the marsh grass Zizianopsis bonariensis, alongside other aquatic plants in the families Polygonaceae and Solinaceae. Ground nests found in the southern parts of the maguari stork's range are one-meter-high (3.3 ft) conical structures measuring 1.5–2.5 m in basal diameter, tapering to a flat platform of 1–1.5 m at the top. The nest rises up to two feet above the surface of the water and its location is largely treeless. Hence overall, the maguari stork's nest seems to more closely resemble that of cranes and screamers such as the southern screamer Chauna torquata than that of other stork species.
In the Venezuelan llanos, the maguari stork is also found to nest in low, thick-trunked trees including Ficus pertusa and Randia venezuelansis. These nests comprise sticks that are usually less than a metre long and less than 2 cm in diameter, and often from the palm species Copernicia tectorum. Nevertheless, the species does not seem to naturally perch in trees because unlike its sympatric heterospecifics such as the jabiru, it cannot stand on its hallux. Therefore, it probably only nests opportunistically above the ground. The same nest may be used by a pair in successive years, sometimes for as long as seven years. However, ground nests composed of herbaceous plants usually disintegrate after a year, whereupon the same breeding pair returns to the nest site to rebuild the nest. Both partners participate in building and lining the nest, which continues throughout incubation and brooding. Nest lining usually begins when the base is about a metre wide, and lining material largely consists of wet grass that dries and hardens in the intense sun.
The maguari stork is primarily a colonial nester, although it also less frequently nests solitarily. Solitary nests are found to be less successful than colonial nests in terms of survival of the young, but survival rates in the former appear to be more consistent. Colonies typically consist of 5-15 nests, some of which are within 50 cm apart in tree colonies, but at different heights. One colony from a study on the llanos comprised as many as 40 nests. Colonial and solitary nesters also differ in the way they defend their nests. Colonial nesters are more aggressive than solitary nesters and physically attack intruders with bill jabbing. Contrarily, solitary nesters use a "lead-away" strategy, in which the nesting bird walks up behind the intruder with threatening bill clattering, and ceases to clatter its bill when the intruder moves away from the nest.


Although colonial breeding is common amongst storks, the maguari stork differs in that courting takes place in congregations before established breeding pairs remove themselves to each of their nesting sites; whereas similar species such as the white stork and the oriental white stork court directly at the nest. These nuptial congregations in the maguari stork occur at freshwater marshes that have already been flooded with rainwater to a depth of about 20 cm and are the venue either for the formation of new pair-bonds in young individuals or for the reunion of mates from previous years. In the latter case however, it is unknown whether both mates enter the courtship assembly together or locate each other after each having migrated there separately.
This stork shows unique nesting behaviours not observed in many other storks and that may reflect its adaptation to nesting on the ground. For example, it is one of a minority of stork species to perform a distinct Nest Covering Display to protect nestlings from potential predators. During this display, the nesting stork droops its wings along its sides with a strongly cocked tail and erect feathers on the head and neck; accompanied by a clattering of the bill that is pointed almost vertically downward. Another nesting behaviour apparently unique to the maguari stork is the Mock Resting display. Here, during the presence of an intruder near the nest, the individual stands motionless with its back strongly arched, neck retracted, and wings and bill folded almost vertically downward. This behaviour likely evolved as an adaptation to ground nesting in dense vegetation because the posture maintained by the nesting bird amongst the grass and reeds may render it difficult to see by the intruder; and at the same time, the bird is poised ready to attack.
Although this stork shows many common courtship displays in storks, these behaviours seem to omit some of the vocal and visual features to be replaced by an augmented tactile element. This may be yet another reflection of this stork's adaptation to nesting on the ground; in that the subdued visual displays will less likely attract the attention of predators that detect prey by sight at close range; and although loud vocalisations would be useful for mates to attract each other's attention, this could also render them more conspicuous to potential ground predators.


Breeding is highly synchronised with the onset of rain during the wet season, which usually lasts from May to November in the llanos of Venezuela. However, most breeding of the maguari stork happens from July to mid-September, which is earlier than breeding in both the sympatric wood stork and the jabiru. Individuals begin migration to the breeding grounds as the rains begin, although some individuals may migrate and arrive early just before the rains. Despite the lengthy wet season in the llanos, the nesting period in one year never lasts for over four months. Elsewhere in the stork's global range, the timing of the breeding season is slightly different and somewhat shorter. In north east Argentina for example, the breeding season extends from June to August; and in east central Argentina extends from July to October, with eggs probably being laid in late June and early July. On Isla Mexiana in eastern Brazil, the breeding season lasts only from August to September. The timing of onset of the seasonal rain is extremely variable across the maguari stork's global range, with rainfall beginning in some years as early as late March and others as late as June. The start of breeding is therefore correspondingly variable; and in Argentina, nesting may commence as late as August with late rains. In the llanos, breeders may lay eggs as early as late May following unusually early and heavy rainfall; whereas young breeders may lay eggs as late as October with late-arriving rain.
The clutch size is typically 3 or 4 eggs, with an average of 3.2 being reported. Eggs are laid on alternate days, so that hatching within clutches is highly asynchronous; with some young hatching up to a week apart. Incubation begins after the 2nd or 3rd egg is laid, is carried out by both parents, and lasts 29–32 days. The eggs are oval or subelliptical, and mean egg measurements are 75.19mm in length and 52.56mm in width; with maximum egg measurements of 77.4mm in length and 56.2mm in breadth having been recorded. The eggs are also said to be disproportionately small compared to the laying female's body mass.
Weight differences between different-aged siblings have been recorded as 500-1400 g. Egg laying is however highly synchronous between nests in a colony, so that relatively large groups of young from different nests fledge together in batches toward the end of the wet season. This may serve as an anti-predator strategy to dilute an individual's risk of being predated. As adults, male maguari storks become sexually mature at three years of age, and females at four years.
After three weeks of age, Maguari stork nestlings develop defensive behaviour if their nest is approached by an intruder; which is not known for nestlings of other stork species. They crouch forward, partially spread their wings and erect the black feathers on their head, neck and back; followed by a shrill, rasping scream and an attempt to grab a persistent intruder with their bill. In many other stork species, akinesia lasts throughout much of the nestlings’ early life, and the constantly white plumage makes them appear as eggs to potential chick predators. However, in maguari stork nestlings, akinesia ceases much earlier, and the unusual aggressiveness of the young has probably developed as a specialised anti-predator strategy in compensation for the young chicks’ inability to leave the nest due to their slow-developing hallux and the vulnerable position of the nest on the ground. However, at 25–35 days old, the hallux is sufficiently developed to allow the chicks to leave ground nests in search of food. Chicks also occasionally beg for food from their parents outside the nest, but parents have never been observed to feed their young outside the nest.
There appears to be little sibling rivalry in maguari stork nestings, with most nestling mortality being due to young falling out of nests containing 3-4 chicks; and egg mortality primarily through predation appears to be higher than chick mortality.
The large congregations of maguari storks in the pre- and post-reproductive periods are considered a reliable indicator that this stork breeds locally in the area in which the groups are sighted.


The black stork (Ciconia nigra) is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae. Measuring on average 95 to 100 cm (37 to 39 in) from beak tip to end of tail with a 145-to-155 cm (57-to-61 in) wingspan, the adult black stork has mainly black plumage, with white underparts, long red legs and a long pointed red beak. A widespread but uncommon species, it breeds in scattered locations across Europe (predominantly in Portugal and Spain, and central and eastern parts), and east across the Palearctic to the Pacific Ocean. It is a long-distance migrant, with European populations wintering in tropical Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asian populations in 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. An isolated, non-migratory, population occurs in Southern Africa.
Unlike the closely related white stork, the black stork is a shy and wary species. It is seen singly or in pairs, usually in marshy areas, rivers or inland waters. It feeds on amphibians, small fish and insects, generally wading slowly in shallow water stalking its prey. Breeding pairs usually build nests in large forest trees—most commonly deciduous but also coniferous—which can be seen from long distances, as well as on large boulders, or under overhanging ledges in mountainous areas. The female lays two to five greyish-white eggs, which become soiled over time in the nest. Incubation takes 32 to 38 days, with both sexes sharing duties, and fledging takes 60 to 71 days.
The black stork is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but its actual status is uncertain. Despite its large range, it is nowhere abundant, and it appears to be declining in parts of its range, such as in India, China and parts of Western Europe, though increasing in others such as the Iberian Peninsula. Various conservation measures have been taken for the black stork, like the Conservation Action Plan for African black storks by Wetlands International. It is also protected under the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.


English naturalist Francis Willughby wrote about the black stork in the 17th century, having seen one in Frankfurt. He named it Ciconia nigra, from the Latin words for "stork" and "black" respectively. It was one of the many species originally described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Ardea nigra. It was moved to the new genus Ciconia by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson two years later. The word stork is derived from the Old English word storc, thought to be related to the Old High German storah, meaning "stork", and the Old English stearc, meaning "stiff".
The black stork is a member of the genus Ciconia, or typical storks, a group of seven extant species, characterised by straight bills and mainly black and white plumage. The black stork was long thought to be most closely related to the white stork (C. ciconia). However, genetic analysis via DNA–DNA hybridization and mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA by Beth Slikas in 1997 found that it was basal (an early offshoot) in the genus Ciconia. Fossil remains have been recovered from Miocene beds on Rusinga and Maboko Islands in Kenya, which are indistinguishable from the white and black storks.


The black stork is a large bird, measuring between 95 and 100 cm (37 and 39 in) in length with a 145-to-155 cm (57-to-61 in) wingspan, and weighing around 3 kg (6.6 lb). Standing as tall as 102 cm (40 in), it has long red legs, a long neck and a long, straight, pointed red beak. It bears some resemblance to Abdim's stork (C. abdimii), which can be distinguished by its much smaller build, predominantly green bill, legs and feet, and white rump and lower back. The plumage is black with a purplish green sheen, except for the white lower breast, belly, armpits, axillaries and undertail coverts. The breast feathers are long and shaggy, forming a ruff which is used in some courtship displays. The black stork has brown irises, and bare red skin around its eyes. The sexes are identical in appearance, except that males are larger than females on average. Moulting takes place in spring, with the iridescent sheen brighter in new plumage. It walks slowly and steadily on the ground and like all storks, it flies with its neck outstretched.
The juvenile resembles the adult in plumage, but the areas corresponding to the adult black feathers are browner and less glossy. The scapulars, wing and upper tail coverts have pale tips. The legs, bill and bare skin around the eyes are greyish green. It could possibly be confused with the juvenile yellow-billed stork, but the latter has paler wings and mantle, a longer bill and white under the wings.