The black stork prefers more wooded areas than the better-known white stork, and breeds in large marshy wetlands with interspersed coniferous or broadleaved woodlands, but also inhabits hills and mountains with sufficient networks of creeks.
It usually inhabits ponds, rivers, edges of lakes, estuaries and other freshwater wetlands.
Since 1998, the black stork has been rated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species.
Various conservation measures have been taken. It is protected by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Photos by Szilárd Morvai, MME