White storks' nests are huge, bulky affairs constructed of branches and sticks and lined with twigs, grasses, sod, rags, and paper.
Though they may be reused year after year, breeding birds will add to the structure each season. Particularly old nests have grown
to over 2 m in diameter and nearly 3 m in depth. Some nests have been in continuous use for hundreds of years. Both sexes
participate in nest construction with the male bringing most of the material. Completion of the structure is often signalled by the
addition of one leafy branch to the edge of the nest.

European Storks have been building their nests on man-made structures since the Middle Ages. They can be found on rooftops,
towers, chimneys, telephone-poles, walls, haystacks, and specially constructed nest towers. Many homeowners will add
embellishments such as wooden wagon wheels to old chimneys to encourage storks to nest on their houses. Nests can also be
found in trees, on cliff-ledges, or occasionally on the ground.

The female usually lays 3-5 eggs, more rarely up to seven. Parents share incubation duties for 33-34 days. Young chicks are
covered with white down and have black bills. Both parents feed the young on the nest until they fledge at 8-9 weeks of age.
Fledglings may continue to return to the nest site each evening to beg for food from their parents. Young birds reach sexual
maturity in their fourth year. Banding records indicate that wild birds can live and reproduce successfully past 30 years of age.

[Smithsonian's National Zoo - http://nationalzoo.si.edu]

~ // ~