Woolly-necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus)

Other Names (World)
Asian Woollyneck, Woolly-necked Stork, White-necked Stork, Bishop Stork

Family
Ciconiidae (Storks)

Size
75 - 91 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Boddaert, 1783)

Habitat
Natural wetlands, including rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, water-holes, lagoons, dams, flood plains, marshes, and freshwater and peat swamp forests, rice paddy-fields, flooded pastures, cultivated fields, golf courses, firebreaks and roads in tree and sugar-cane plantations, coastal mudflats or coral reefs, mangrove swamps and estuaries. From sea-level - 3,000 m.

Range (Guide)

Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], C�te dIvoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Vagrant to Iran [Islamic Republic of] (E), Mauritania.

Population
Estimated population is 12,000 - 140,000 (2010).

Status VU
Habitat fragmentation and destruction, and hunting are the main threats.

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Food
Fish, frogs, toads, snakes, lizards, large insects and larvae, crabs, molluscs and marine invertebrates.

Nest
A large platform composed of sticks, on a fork of a horizontal branch in a tall tree, about 10 - 30 m above the ground or over water.

Subspecies
Sometimes includes Storm's Stork (Ciconia stormi), but generally regarded as separate species. Validity of subspecies neglecta disputed.

The following 3 subspecies are recognised:

microscelis Gray, GR, 1848 - Tropical Africa. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, African Woollyneck (Ciconia microscelis).
episcopus (Boddaert, 1783) - India to Indochina and northern Malay Peninsula; Philippines.
neglecta (Finsch, 1904) - Java and Wallacea.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Woolly-necked Stork (Ciconia episcopus) - 10 files

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BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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