La cigüeña migra sobre el humedal.

In normal Spanish, singular countable nouns usually need an article or some other determiner.

So la cigüeña is the natural way to say the stork.
Just saying cigüeña migra... would sound incomplete in ordinary speech, unless it were a headline, a label, or very telegraphic style.

Also, Spanish often uses the definite article where English might use no article, especially when talking about animals or species in a general way.

Yes, cigüeña is grammatically feminine, so it takes la.

The ending -a is a strong clue, but not an absolute rule. In this case, though, la cigüeña is the standard form.

Remember that grammatical gender is not always the same thing as biological sex. A noun can be feminine grammatically even if you are not specifically talking about a female animal.

A good approximation is thee-GWEN-ya in central/northern Spain.

More exactly:

• ci = thi in much of Spain
• güe = gwe
• ña = nya

So: thi-GWEN-ya

If you hear Latin American pronunciation, it will usually sound more like see-GWEN-ya.

Those two dots are called a diaeresis.

In Spanish, gue and gui normally have a silent u:

• guerra = geh-rra
• guitarra = gee-tar-ra

But when Spanish wants you to pronounce the u, it writes güe or güi:

• cigüeña = gwe
• pingüino = gwee

So in cigüeña, the ü tells you: say the u.

Migra is the third-person singular present tense of the verb migrar.

So it can mean:

• it migrates
• he/she migrates
• sometimes is migrating, depending on context

The present tense forms are:

• yo migro
• tú migras
• él/ella/usted migra
• nosotros/nosotras migramos
• vosotros/vosotras migráis
• ellos/ellas/ustedes migran

It is a regular -ar verb.

Because the simple present in Spanish often covers meanings that English splits up.

Migra can describe:

• a general fact
• a habitual action
• a scientific statement
• sometimes a current action, depending on context

So La cigüeña migra sobre el humedal can sound like a factual or descriptive statement.

If you wanted to emphasise that the action is happening right now, Spanish could use:

• La cigüeña está migrando sobre el humedal.

But that is more specific and more tied to the immediate moment.

Here sobre means over or above.

It suggests movement in a position above the wetland:

• migra sobre el humedal = migrates over the wetland

This is not the same as every use of sobre, because sobre can also mean about/concerning in other contexts:

• un libro sobre aves = a book about birds

So the meaning depends on context.

They are similar, but not identical.

• sobre = over / above
• encima de = on top of / above
• por = through / along / by way of, depending on context

In this sentence, sobre fits the idea of migration happening above the wetland.

• encima de often sounds more physical or positional, as if something is directly over something else
• por el humedal would suggest movement through or across the wetland area, not necessarily above it

So sobre is the best choice if the intended image is flying over it.

Because humedal is a masculine noun, so it takes el.

You just have to learn the gender with the noun: el humedal = the wetland.

A useful pattern is that many nouns ending in -al are masculine:

• el animal
• el hospital
• el canal
• el humedal

But, as always, it is safest to learn the article together with the noun.

A good approximation is oo-meh-DAL.

Important points:

• the h is silent
• the stress falls on the last syllable: -dal

So:

• hu-me-DAL

Yes, it can.

Spanish often uses the singular definite article to talk about a whole species or class:

• La cigüeña can mean the stork as a species
• English often prefers Storks in that kind of generic statement

So depending on context, this sentence might mean either:

• a specific stork migrates over the wetland
• the stork, as a species, migrates over wetlands / over the wetland area

Context tells you which reading is intended.

Yes, but the original order is the most neutral:

• La cigüeña migra sobre el humedal.

Spanish word order is more flexible than English, but changes can affect emphasis.

For example:

• Sobre el humedal migra la cigüeña.

This is possible, but it sounds more literary or emphatic, as if you are highlighting over the wetland.

For a learner, the basic subject + verb + complement order is the safest choice.

Because Spanish usually does not need one.

The verb ending already tells you the person and number, and here the subject is explicitly stated anyway:

• La cigüeña migra

Adding ella would usually be unnecessary:

• La cigüeña, ella migra... sounds redundant unless you are stressing or contrasting it

Spanish commonly drops subject pronouns unless there is a reason to include them.