The legendary baby deliverer - and one of Europe's most majestic large birds! Our printable stork mask celebrates the white stork with its bold black and white plumage, long red bill and impressive standing height. The stork has been a symbol of new life, good luck and the arrival of spring across European cultures for centuries. Perfect for birds of the world school plays, migration classroom projects, World Book Day, birthday parties, and statuesque imaginative play.

The stork is a brilliant subject for migration and cultural mythology topics - its annual return to European rooftops each spring was celebrated for centuries before people understood migration, explaining the legend that storks bring babies. Every mask comes with a full colour version AND a black and white line art version for colouring in.

5 Interesting Facts About Storks!

White storks migrate between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa twice a year - a round trip of up to 20,000km, using thermal air currents to soar rather than flap, conserving enormous amounts of energy.
The baby delivery legend originated because storks returned to European villages each spring - arriving around the time of many springtime births (nine months after the summer solstice festivals), they became associated with new babies.
Storks communicate largely without vocalisations - they clatter their bills together in a rhythmic display to greet partners and defend nests, producing a mechanical rattling sound rather than birdsong.
Their nests are used for generations - white stork nests are added to each year and can eventually weigh over 500kg and measure nearly 2 metres across, becoming the largest bird nests in Europe.
Storks were reintroduced to Britain after an absence of centuries - a white stork breeding project in West Sussex produced Britain's first naturally-fledged white stork chicks in over 600 years in 2020.

Printable Stork Mask

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