The white stork, once a familiar sight across much of Europe, is now threatened by the modernisation of agriculture, loss of traditional nesting sites and the danger posed by power lines. Central and eastern Europe still hold good populations of this species, and so does the Iberian Peninsula where they have found some strange nesting places, on coastal cliffs, large granite
boulders and in man-made "stork nurseries".


Less familiar to many is the closely related but more reclusive black stork, also widely distributed in Europe but dependent on ancient forests and mature trees for its nest sites. Again, this species is threatened by changes in farming methods and the lack of nest sites caused by the felling of large trees.

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