I love storks! If I had to choose to be an animal I would choose to be a stork (second choice would be a goose!). Those beautiful big birds always fascinated me. During my childhood we once lived near a church and there high up in a nest on the spire a stork couple would breed each year and tend to their hatched young till they could fly. I was happy with the sight and the clattering!
The White Storks (ciconia ciconia) are very handsome. Their white plumage with the black edging on the wings, their red long thin legs and the red straight beak, long too and pointed, their small pretty head and graceful curved neck make them a charming and very attractive sight. Their flight is mostly soaring, gliding on warm air currents without flapping the wings, slowly, steadily and elegantly. And they walk calmly - I never saw a nervous stork!
Since Israel is on their migration route from Europe to Africa and back, we are lucky to see them twice a year. Big flocks will cross the country high up in the sky and often small groups will touch down to rest and to feed. Like this one we passed on our way at the Golan and my husband quietly and luckily photographed from the car window.
