Oriental White Stork

Oriental White Stork

　　　　Product Name: Oriental White Stork

　　Product Origin: Taizhou, Zhejiang

　　Product History: According to Cihai: "The stork, belonging to the class Aves… is a large wading bird. It resembles both the crane and the heron; has a long, straight beak. Its wings are long and its tail is short and round, enabling swift flight. It is often seen near streams and rivers, roosting in tall trees at night. Its main diet consists of fish, frogs, snakes, and crustaceans. Widely distributed species in China include the black stork… Another species, the white stork, is larger than the former, with white head, neck, and back. The former breeds in northern China and winters in the Yangtze River basin and areas to the south. The latter also does so."

　　Product Description: The unique Oriental White Stork of Tiantai breeds and overwinters locally, making it a rare species among storks. Lu Chen, a renowned essayist from Tiantai, wrote an essay titled “The Crane,” in which he described how, when he was seventeen or eighteen years old, his neighbor's son caught a bird by Pingtou Pool. "It had long legs, a pointed beak, a tufted crest on its head, and pure white feathers." At first, they thought it was a crane and brought it home to raise. They noticed that the bird "was indeed quite beautiful, with slender legs and a dignified gait, like that of a ‘prime minister’," "with a tuft of slightly yellowish crest feathers on its head and a very short tail," "often retracting its neck, sometimes standing on one leg, then the other, or on both legs, and glancing sideways at people with its golden-red eyes." They kept the bird for some time until one day, his uncle came to visit, and they realized it was actually a "long-legged heron." The beautiful bird described by Lu Chen is, in fact, what should be called the "Oriental White Stork," which inhabits the woods and reed marshes along the Shifeng Stream. As noted in Cihai: "The stork, belonging to the class Aves… is a large wading bird. It resembles both the crane and the heron; has a long, straight beak. Its wings are long and its tail is short and round, enabling swift flight. It is often seen near streams and rivers, roosting in tall trees at night. Its main diet consists of fish, frogs, snakes, and crustaceans. Widely distributed species in China include the black stork… Another species, the white stork, is larger than the former, with white head, neck, and back. The former breeds in northern China and winters in the Yangtze River basin and areas to the south. The latter also does so." From this, it can be seen that the white stork mentioned in Cihai is a migratory bird. However, the unique Oriental White Stork of Tiantai breeds and overwinters locally, making it a rare species among storks.