# Are you wider than a stork?

Stretch your arms sideways: that is about how wide you are. A Dalmatian pelican reaches 320 centimetres, and the country's heaviest flying bird is not the swan. Enter your height and see where you stand among 11 birds.

By Marius Comper · 20 September 2026 · every number comes from guides and studies, linked under [sources](#surse)

## You, arms out, next to each bird

Set your height, then your arm span. The drawing shows you at the same scale as the chosen bird.

### *Pelecanus crispus* — Dalmatian pelican

the widest bird in Romania, usually. A middle bird (295 cm) is 2.2 times as wide as a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 270–320 cm
- Weight: 10–12 kg
- In Romania: breeds in the Danube Delta

### *Pelecanus onocrotalus* — Great white pelican

the Delta's second pelican. A middle bird (270 cm) is 2.0 times as wide as a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 245–295 cm, usually
- Weight: 9–15 kg
- Worth knowing: one published figure reaches 360 cm

### *Gyps fulvus* — Griffon vulture

the rare guest that is coming back. A middle bird (255 cm) is 1.9 times as wide as a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 230–280 cm
- Weight: 6.2–10.5 kg
- In Romania: a rare guest; returning to Făgăraș

### *Otis tarda* — Great bustard

the heaviest flying bird in Romania. A middle bird (240 cm) is 1.8 times as wide as a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 210–270 cm
- Weight: males 5.8–18 kg; record 21
- In Romania: the last ones, at Salonta

### *Haliaeetus albicilla* — White-tailed eagle

of living eagles, perhaps the widest. A middle bird (212 cm) is 1.6 times as wide as a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 178–245 cm
- Weight: females 4–6.9 kg, males 3.1–5.4 kg

### *Cygnus olor* — Mute swan

the country's third-heaviest flier. A middle bird (220 cm) is 1.6 times as wide as a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 200–240 cm
- Weight: males 9.2–14.3 kg
- In the ranking: third by weight

### *Aquila chrysaetos* — Golden eagle

females are larger than males. A middle bird (212 cm) is 1.6 times as wide as a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 204–220 cm
- Weight: females 3.8–6.7 kg, males 2.8–4.6 kg

### *Ciconia ciconia* — White stork

matches you, almost. A middle bird (185 cm) is 1.4 times as wide as a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 155–215 cm
- Weight: 2.3–4.5 kg
- Plumage: white with black, red bill

### *Buteo buteo* — Common buzzard

a medium-sized bird of prey. A middle bird (121 cm) is narrower than a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 113–128 cm
- Weight: 550–1,300 g

### *Hirundo rustica* — Barn swallow

the forked tail gives it away. A middle bird (34 cm) is narrower than a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 32–35 cm
- Weight: 16–25 g

### *Passer domesticus* — House sparrow

the smallest flier on this page. A middle bird (22 cm) is narrower than a 135 cm child.

- Wingspan: 19–25 cm
- Weight: 24–39.5 g

No bird on this page has a single wingspan: each comes with a range, from the smallest to the largest measured bird. The drawing shows the middle of the range, and the list below shows the whole range.

The sparrow and the swallow barely show next to you. A middle Dalmatian pelican is more than twice as wide as a 135 cm child. Where you stand is in the ranking.

## 11 birds, two rankings

By width the Dalmatian pelican wins. By weight, the bustard. The two buttons below re-sort them all.

**All 11 birds, from the widest to the narrowest:**

- Dalmatian pelican: 270–320 cm

- Great white pelican: 245–295 cm

- Griffon vulture: 230–280 cm

- Great bustard: 210–270 cm

- White-tailed eagle: 178–245 cm

- Mute swan: 200–240 cm

- Golden eagle: 204–220 cm

- White stork: 155–215 cm

- Common buzzard: 113–128 cm

- Barn swallow: 32–35 cm

- House sparrow: 19–25 cm

**All 11 birds, from the heaviest to the lightest:**

- Great bustard: 5.8–18 kg

- Great white pelican: 9–15 kg

- Mute swan: 9.2–14.3 kg

- Dalmatian pelican: 10–12 kg

- Griffon vulture: 6.2–10.5 kg

- White-tailed eagle: 3.1–6.9 kg

- Golden eagle: 2.8–6.7 kg

- White stork: 2.3–4.5 kg

- Common buzzard: 550 g – 1.3 kg

- House sparrow: 24–39.5 g

- Barn swallow: 16–25 g

## Two duels, before you see the numbers

Choose before you read on. The page does not show the answer until you decide.

**Which pelican is wider?** The Dalmatian, usually: 270–320 cm against 245–295 cm. The great white's 360 cm figure is an extreme from a single source.

**Which bird is heavier?** The bustard: males reach 18 kilos, and the verified record is 21. Male swans stop at 14.3.

## The vulture that is coming back, and the heaviest bird, which you have never seen

Three things the ranking does not say on its own.

### The vultures vanished from Romania and are coming back now

Early last century the country held four vulture species: griffon, cinereous, Egyptian and bearded. Hunting, fewer carcasses and poison wiped them out one by one. Today the griffon vulture stands on Romania's bird list as accidental: a rare guest.

In February 2026 Foundation Conservation Carpathia finished the aviary in Făgăraș where the first vultures brought for reintroduction spend six months before release.

### The heaviest flier lives at Salonta, a few dozen birds

The bustard was thought extinct in Romania after 1980. At Salonta, though, between one and 40 birds can be seen in any season, and in spring the males perform their courtship dance on the old grounds. A large male reaches 18 kilos.

It is the only bird in the country that beats the swan on the scales beyond dispute. The great white pelican sometimes passes it but rarely crosses 13 kilos.

### The pelicans belong to the Delta

Most great white pelicans of south-eastern Europe nest in the Danube Delta, and Dalmatian pelicans nest beside them in small colonies of a few dozen pairs. The Dalmatian is only just larger than its cousin but reaches 320 centimetres of wingspan.

## A reptile with 10-metre wings once flew above Hațeg

Not a bird and not a dinosaur: a pterosaur of the azhdarchid family. Scroll and let its wings open.

The wingspan is estimated at 10–12 metres from an arm bone, a humerus. For a giant neck vertebra the same team refused to give a number: the link between vertebrae and wingspan cannot be safely predicted with today's data.

The wings in the drawing belong to a well-known relative, Quetzalcoatlus: no complete Hatzegopteryx skeleton has been found.

## True or false?

Eight statements about birds and about you. Some sound like fairy tales and are true.

- **The widest bird in Romania is the Dalmatian pelican.** True. Usually, yes: 270–320 cm. The great white pelican usually reaches 295 cm, and the 360 cm figure is an extreme from a single source. ([Dalmatian pelican: 270–320 cm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_pelican))

- **The swan is the heaviest flying bird in Romania.** False. No: the bustard. A male bustard reaches 18 kilos, and the verified record is 21. Male swans stop at 14.3. ([Bustard: males up to 18–21 kg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_bustard))

- **The griffon vulture breeds in Romania today.** False. No. The vultures vanished early last century, and today the species is a rare guest. The reintroduction aviary was finished in February 2026, and the release comes next. ([Rewilding Europe; Conservation Carpathia Foundation](https://rewildingeurope.com/blog/rewilding-efforts-go-large-in-the-southern-carpathians/))

- **Your arm span is about the same as your height.** True. In the measured schoolchildren it averaged a few centimetres under height. For your true number, measure yourself with a tape and put it in the drawing above. ([JPMA 2023: schoolchildren of Lahore](https://jpma.org.pk/index.php/public_html/article/view/7482))

- **A white-tailed eagle can be wider than a two-metre person.** True. Yes: its wingspan reaches 245 cm. ([The white-tailed eagle: up to 245 cm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_eagle))

- **The great bustard still lives in Romania.** True. Yes, at Salonta: between one and 40 birds, all year round, breed there. ([The bustard report (dropia.eu)](https://www.dropia.eu/webroot/img/ckfinder/files/Pedagogus%20kiadvany-ro.pdf))

- **More than ten sparrows, head to tail, fit inside one Dalmatian pelican wingspan.** True. 295 divided by 25 is almost 12. The sum uses the middle of the pelican's range and the largest sparrow. ([Dalmatian pelican 270–320 cm; sparrow 19–25 cm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_pelican))

- **A reptile with 10–12 metre wings once flew above Hațeg.** True. The estimate comes from an arm bone. For a giant neck vertebra, the same team refused to give a number. ([Naish & Witton 2017, PeerJ](https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2908))

## Where the numbers come from, and what they do not say

Every range on this page comes from guides and articles that cite ornithological handbooks. Where two sources give different values, the widest documented range was kept and the difference is noted under sources.

Comparisons set usual values against usual values, not maxima against averages. The Dalmatian pelican wins on width with a usual 320 cm; the great white's 360 cm is an extreme from a single source and stays out of the ranking.

Three things are missing because the sources do not give them: the mass of Hatzegopteryx, a griffon vulture wingspan in a Romanian source, and the ornithological handbooks themselves, in print or behind payment, which could not be read directly. Their numbers reach here through the guides that cite them.

Your arm span starts out equal to your height. In reality it differs by a few centimetres, with age and from person to person. For the true number, measure yourself with a tape, arms out, and put it in the drawing.

## How we know all this

- The Dalmatian and great white pelicans: the species articles, the genus table and the Romanian articles, citing ornithological handbooks. [Dalmatian pelican article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_pelican), [pelican genus table](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican), [great white pelican](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_white_pelican) — 270–320 cm and 245–295 cm; the 360 cm extreme
- The mute swan: the species article, the RSPB page and the Animal Diversity Web. [species article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mute_swan), [RSPB](https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/mute-swan), [Animal Diversity Web](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cygnus_olor/) — 200–240 cm; males 9.2–14.3 kg
- The white-tailed eagle: the species article, the RSPB page and the Romanian article. [species article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_eagle), [RSPB](https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/white-tailed-eagle) — 178–245 cm; females 4–6.9 kg
- The golden eagle: the species article and the RSPB page. [species article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_eagle), [RSPB](https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/golden-eagle) — 204–220 cm; males 2.8–4.6 kg, females 3.8–6.7 kg
- The griffon vulture: the species article and the Andalucia Bird Society sheet. [species article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffon_vulture), [Andalucia Bird Society](https://www.andaluciabirdsociety.org/article-library/about-birds/161-griffon-vulture-a-colossus-in-our-mountains/) — 230–280 cm; 6.2–10.5 kg
- The white stork: the species article, the Almodóvar del Río town page and the Romanian article. [species article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_stork), [Almodóvar del Río](https://turismodealmodovar.org/en/white-stork/) — 155–215 cm; 2.3–4.5 kg
- The common buzzard: the species article and the RSPB page. [species article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_buzzard), [RSPB](https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/buzzard) — 113–128 cm; 550–1,300 g
- The barn swallow: the species article, the RSPB page and the Romanian article. [species article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_swallow), [RSPB](https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/swallow) — 32–35 cm; 16–25 g
- The house sparrow: the species article, the RSPB page and the Romanian article. [species article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_sparrow), [RSPB](https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/house-sparrow) — 19–25 cm; 24–39.5 g
- The great bustard: the species article. [species article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_bustard) — 210–270 cm; males 5.8–18 kg, record 21
- The list of the birds of Romania, after Avibase and the Clements Checklist. [the list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Romania) — 412 confirmed species; the griffon vulture, accidental
- Motkó Béla, The bustard situation – past and present (dropia.eu), in Romanian. [PDF](https://www.dropia.eu/webroot/img/ckfinder/files/Pedagogus%20kiadvany-ro.pdf) — thought extinct after 1980; at Salonta, between one and 40 birds breed
- Rewilding Europe, on the vultures' return to the Southern Carpathians. [the article](https://rewildingeurope.com/blog/rewilding-efforts-go-large-in-the-southern-carpathians/) — the vultures vanished early last century
- Foundation Conservation Carpathia, NewStories January 2026. [PDF](https://www.carpathia.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/FoundationConservationCarpathia_NewStories_February-1.pdf) — the aviary for the reintroduced vultures, finished February 2026
- The Delta's pelicans: the Romanian articles on the great white and Dalmatian pelicans. [great white pelican](https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_comun), [Dalmatian pelican](https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_cre%C8%9B) — they breed in the Danube Delta, side by side
- Quanjer et al. (2014). All-age relationship between arm span and height in different ethnic groups. European Respiratory Journal 44. [the abstract](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25063245/) — the arm span–height ratio in 13,947 subjects (abstract only)
- Baig, Mehdi, Iftikhar (2023). Assessment of upper to lower body segment ratio and arm span to height difference in school children of Lahore. JPMA 73. [the article](https://jpma.org.pk/index.php/public_html/article/view/7482) — arm span under height by 1.8 cm in boys and 4.1 cm in girls, on average
- Naish, Witton (2017). Neck biomechanics indicate that giant Transylvanian azhdarchid pterosaurs were short-necked arch predators. PeerJ 5: e2908. [the article](https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2908) — Hatzegopteryx: 10–12 metres from the humerus; no estimate for EME 315