In Europe, White Storks were once considered to symbolically be responsible for the arrival of babies, and though this idea is not taken seriously the imagery has caught on. Cards designed to be sent to congratulate a couple on the arrival of a new child still often carry the image of a Stork carrying a baby as it flies to deliver it. This imagery has spread from Europe to many parts of the world in the last 50 years. Storks are highly carnivorous birds feeding on a range of animals from small mammals and birds to reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. Not all species feed on all these foods, however.
Some species are generalists taking whatever is available, while others have very specialist diets.
The Openbilled Storks are specialists on aquatic snails and seldom feed on anything else. Adjutant Storks are part-time scavengers at the kills of larger predators though they feed their young only on live caught food. Storks show a variety of feeding techniques ranging from standing still and waiting for prey items to come along to slowly walking about to actively probing in the water, soil and vegetation. The American Wood Stork forages just as efficiently in the dark as in the light. Storks may use a number of techniques to help them flush out prey such as wing flicking and stirring with their feet.