Storks usually pair for life ()
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Storks are huge birds.
They can get as tall as a first grader (45 inches or 114 cm). When their wings are stretched out from tip to tip, the wingspan can be as wide as a sofa (85 inches or 216 cm).
Storks are carnivores.
They eat other small animals, and they are not picky! Storks will eat mice and bugs from fields, or they will hunt for frogs and fish in the water.
Storks pair up.
Once they choose a partner, storks will usually stay together for the rest of their lives. They share duties like building nests and feeding babies.
Storks migrate to Europe.
In the spring, you may see storks fixing their huge round nests. They have just returned from their winter homes in Africa.
Storks build massive nests.
Stork craft their big round nests with sticks. Their nests are almost the size of your bed! In Europe, having a stork nest nearby is considered good luck. People will put platforms on tall poles or on roofs hoping a stork will use it for a nest.
Storks build there nests up high ()
Storks migrate to Africa.
In September when school starts, storks leave Europe. They take a month to travel thousands of miles south. Some storks fly the “western route” over Spain. Most storks take the “eastern route” over the Middle East. Then, they meet up again south of the Sahara Desert in countries like Nigeria and Kenya. Some even go as far as South Africa!
Storks come back.
A stork pair will often return to the same place every year. In Africa, they have a favorite lake. In Europe, they have a favorite nest site near a field. They will rebuild their nest in the same place each year.
Read about storks.
The story “When the Storks Came Home,” by Isabella Tree is a picture book about a place in England where storks began to nest after being gone for hundreds of years. “The Wheel on the School” by Meindert DeJong is a chapter book about schoolchildren in the Netherlands who find a way to build stork platforms on their steep roofs.
