Characteristics of Storks

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Birds: An Essential Guide to Common Birds of North America

Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long stout bills, belonging to the family Ciconiidae.

They occur in most of the warmer regions of the world and tend to live in drier habitats than the related herons, spoonbills, and ibises; they also lack the powder down that those groups use to clean off fish slime. Storks have no syrinx and are mute, giving no bird call; bill-clattering is an important mode of stork communication at the nest. Many species are migratory. Most storks eat frogs, fish, insects, earthworms, and small birds or mammals. There are 19 living species of storks in six genera.

Storks tend to use soaring, gliding flight, which conserves energy. Soaring requires thermal air currents. Storks are heavy, with wide wingspans; the Marabou Stork, with a swing span of 3.2 meters joins the Andean Condor in having the widest wingspan of all living land birds.

Their nests are often very large and may be used for many years. Some have been known to grow to over 2 meters in diameter and about 3 meters in depth. Storks were once thought to be monogamous, but that is only partially true. They may change mates after migrations, and may migrate without a mate. They tend to be attached to nests as much as partners.

Storks’ size, serial monogamy, and faithfulness to an established nesting site contribute to their prominence in mythology and culture. will What do you know On your chart paper, your group What do you know about the beak? need to complete the following: about the Communication? 1. Draw an outline of stork. wingspan? Type of 2. Draw the stork’s correct habitat flight? Don’t forget around your outline including a to convert your measurements! nest. Label the nest with the What do correct dimensions in inches. you know (You will need to convert about the meters to feet.) neck? N Don’t 3. Label the characteristics of the forget to stork all around your drawing. label each Make sure to include the part with the correct dimensions for the wingspan in description! inches. (You will need to convert meters to feet.) 4. In your own words, summarize the stork’s mating and migration patterns. (50 words) Greek Mythology 2. In Greekmythology,Geranawasan 1fthiope,theenemyofHera. Herawasangryat herand changedherintoa stork,ThispunishmentwasalsoinflictedonAntigone,daughterofLaomedonofTroy(Ovid,Metamorphoses6,93), Stork-Geranafriedtoabductherchild,Mopsus.Forthe Greeks,thisaccountedfor themythicthemeofthewar betweenthepygmiesand thestorks.

Inpopularwesternculture,thereisa commonimageofa storkbearingan infantwrappedinclothsheldin its beak; thestork,rather than abscondingwiththechildMopsus,ispictureddeliveringthe infant,an imageofchildbirth.

Directions:

1. Get an ipod/ipad or use your own device to go to Alabama Virtual Library Britannica High School. Find the article on Hera and read it. 2. Then, read the above summary of the Greek myth of Hera and Gerana. 3. As a whole group, create your own version of a cause and effect chart on a blank piece of chart paper. There are 4 boxes for you to create a visual representation of 2 separate causes and effects from this myth. For example, Hera is angry at Gerana, so Requirements: • Use the format given. • Utilize as much of the white space on the chart paper as possible. • Your squares should be completely filled with images—no words. • You must use multiple colors. • Your Effect#2 should be the result of the use of “storks” in today’s society. • All members of the group must contribute.

Effect 1 Cause 1

Cause 2 Effect 2 The Western Culture of Storks

In the Western culture, the White Stork is a symbol of childbirth. In Victorian times, the details of human reproduction were difficult to approach, especially in reply to a younger child’s query of “Where did I come from?”; “The stork brought you to us” was the tactic used to avoid discussion of sex. This habit was derived from the once thicc14fl2 popular superstition that storks were the harbingers of “I happiness and prosperity, and possibly from the habit of some storks of nesting atop chimneys, down which the new baby could be imagined as entering the house.

The image of a stork bearing an infant wrapped in a sling held in its beak is common in popular culture. The small pink or reddish patches found on a newborn child’s eyelids, between the eyes, on the upper lip, and on the nape of the neck are sometimes still called “stork bites.” In reahty, they are clusters of developing veins that soon fade.

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Define stereotype. Using what you know about storks in western culture, describe the stereotype associated with this advertisement. (50 words minimum)

This is not the only use of storks in our society. Describe two more examples of the use of storks in western culture. (40 words minimum) ______

Name: Date: Block: Dumbo Youtube Clip

4• Summarize the clip in 30 words

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How does this choice perpetuate Western culture’s idea of the “stork”? Explain.

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