Stork

The stork (Hebrew: hasidah, meaning kindness or the kind one) was named for its observed affection for its young and its loyalty to its mate — qualities that the Hebrews found admirable enough to encode in the creature's name. Despite this positive association, the stork was listed among the birds forbidden as food (Lev. 11:19; Deut. 14:18), likely because it was a scavenger and a hunter of frogs and fish in marshy ground. White storks are still regular migrants through the Jordan Valley, arriving in great numbers each spring on their passage from Africa to Europe.

The stork's faithfulness to its migratory schedule is invoked by Jeremiah as a rebuke to Israel: "the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times… but my people know not the judgment of the LORD" (Jer. 8:7). This use of natural animal instinct to condemn human spiritual dullness is a characteristic rhetorical move of the Hebrew prophets. The Psalmist notes the fir trees as the stork's home (Ps. 104:17), reflecting observation of nesting behavior.