Size: It has a length of 100–115 cm, and a standing height of 100–125 cm. The wingspan is 155–215 cm and its weight is 2.3–4.5 kg.

Vocalisations: 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.

Habitat: 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.

Behaviour: Common food items include insects (primarily beetles, grasshoppers, locusts and crickets), earthworms, reptiles, amphibians, particularly frog species such as the edible frog and common frog and small mammals such as voles, moles and shrews. Less commonly, they also eat bird eggs and young birds, fish, molluscs. Storks are migratory birds: they arrive to Latvia in April and migrate southwards in August. In Latvia, there are 10,500 couples.

Interesting facts: Each nest is 1–2 m in depth, 0.8–1.5 m in diameter, and 60–250 kg in weight. Storks are almost mute, except when the adults return to the nest, when they usually peck to announce their arrival. The day before they fly to warmer climes, the mother stork dances a farewell dance in the nest, something similar to the crane's dance. In unfavourable conditions, the smaller and weaker chicks may be thrown out of the nest by their parents and, in rare cases, even eaten.

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