Why are storks associated with babies?
Dear Straight Dope: How did the stork become associated with the birth of babies? — James Tinsley, Poplar Bluff, Missouri The European white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is one of the most recognizable of all birds. Tall and stately, pure white except for its black flight feathers and bright red bill and legs, it has played an important symbolic role in many cultures, including those of ancient Egypt, Greece, China, and Israel. The stork has been revered in Europe at least since the Middle Ages, and its association with babies seems to seems to have originated in northern Germany centuries ago. While we can’t be certain about the origins of this belief, several aspects of the stork’s natural history suggest how it might have come about. White storks are highly migratory, leaving Europe for Africa in the fall. (They generally avoid crossing the Mediterranean, moving south in huge flocks over the strait of Gibraltar and through the Middle East and Sinai.) They return to central and northen Eu
