Asian Woolly-necked Stork

Ciconia episcopus (Boddaert, 1783)

Asian Woolly-necked Stork, Ciconia episcopus, breeds widely across the Oriental Region and Australasia, from India to Indonesia. It is a stork of freshwater wetlands and agricultural country, and also uses marshes in forests, crop land, irrigation canals, rivers, reservoirs and coastal areas. It nests singly or in small loose colonies, usually in trees, but also on natural cliffs and cell phone towers. In south Asia and Myanmar it is often recorded outside protected areas, and in India it is an uncommon bird in coastal habitats.

Order

Ciconiiformes

Family

Ciconiidae — Storks

Breeding range

Oriental Region, Australasia: widespread