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Woolly-necked stork

The Woolly-necked stork (Ciconia episcopus) is a species of large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Based on purely geographical separation, this species is suggested to be considered as being two discrete species: Asian woollyneck and African woollyneck (Ciconia episcopus and Ciconia microscelis), though genetic and other methods to conclusively verify this split are currently unavailable. It breeds singly, or in small loose colonies. It is distributed in a wide variety of habitats including marshes in forests, agricultural areas, and freshwater wetlands across Asia and Africa.[3][4]

Woolly-necked stork
Mangaon, Raigad, Maharashtra India

Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)[1](Asian Woollyneck)

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[2] (African woollyneck)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Ciconiiformes
Family: Ciconiidae
Genus: Ciconia
Species:
C. episcopus
Binomial name
Ciconia episcopus
(Boddaert, 1783)

Taxonomy

The woolly-necked stork was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected from the Coromandel Coast of India.[5] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.[6] Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Ardea episcopus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.[7] The woolly-necked stork is now placed in the genus Ciconia that was erected by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.[8][9] The genus name Ciconia is the Latin word for a "stork"; the specific epithet episcopus is Latin for "bishop".[10]

Three subspecies are recognised:[9]

The online edition of the Handbook of the Birds of the World , Clements, and the IUCN treats the African race, C. e. microscelis, as a separate species, the African woolly-necked stork,[11] with the remaining two subspecies becoming the Asian woolly-necked stork.[12] The Handbook and other sources of taxonomic lists use geographical separation as the sole basis for elevating the three subspecies into two species, and this assumption requires to be tested using more definitive methods such as genetics.

Description

The woolly-necked stork is a medium-sized stork at 75–92 cm tall.[13] The iris is deep crimson or wine-red. The stork is glistening black overall with a black "skull cap", a downy white neck which gives it its name. The lower belly and under-tail coverts are white, standing out from the rest of the dark coloured plumage. Feathers on the fore-neck are iridescent with a coppery-purple tinge. These feathers are elongated and can be erected during displays. The tail is deeply forked and is white, usually covered by the black long under tail coverts. It has long red legs and a heavy, blackish bill, though some specimens have largely dark-red bills with only the basal one-third being black. Sexes are alike. Juvenile birds are duller versions of the adult with a feathered forehead that is sometimes streaked black-and-white.[14] The African birds are described as having the edges of the black cap diffused or with a jagged border compared to a sharp and clean border in the Asian birds. Sexes are identical, though males are thought to be larger.[13] When the wings are opened either during displays or for flight, a narrow band of very bright unfeathered skin is visible along the underside of the forearm. This band has been variously described as being "neon, orange-red", "like a red-gold jewel", and "almost glowing" when seen at close range.[13][15][16]

Small nestlings are pale grey with buffy down on the neck, and a black crown. At fledging age, the immature bird is identical to the adult except for a feathered forehead, much lesser iridescence on feathers, and much longer and fluffier feathers on the neck.[13][14][17] Newly fledged young have a prominent white mark in the center of the forehead that can be used to distinguish young of the year.[3]

English common names for this species include the white-necked stork, white-headed stork, bishop stork and parson-bird. More recently, the African and Asian populations are considered to be two different species, the African woolly-necked stork and the Asian woolly-necked stork. This is based purely on geographical isolation,[18] but there is no morphological or phylogenetic evidence yet to support this split.[3]

 
Woolly-necked stork-GOA

Distribution and habitat

 
In the fields near Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India

It is a widespread tropical species which breeds in Asia, from India to Indonesia, and across much of western, eastern and south-central Africa.[4] It is a resident breeder building nests on trees located on agricultural fields or wetlands, on natural cliffs, and on cell phone towers.[13][19][20][21] They use a variety of freshwater wetlands including seasonal and perennial reservoirs and marshes, crop lands, irrigation canals and rivers, but are mostly seen in agricultural areas and in wetlands outside protected areas across south Asia and Myanmar.[3][13][22][23][24] They are attracted to fires in grasslands and crop fields where they capture insects trying to escape the fire.[13] They use ponds and marshes inside forests in both Africa and Asia, especially in south-east Asia where they use grassy and marshy areas in clearings in several forest types.[13][24] In India, they are an uncommon species in coastal habitats.[17] They use coastal areas in Africa also, with birds in Sulawesi observed to be eating sea snakes, and birds on the Kenya coast foraging in coral reefs and mudflats.[13] In an agricultural landscape in north India, woolly-necked storks preferred fallow fields during the summer and monsoon seasons, and natural freshwater wetlands during the winter.[22] Here, irrigation canals were preferentially used during winters when water levels were low, and birds avoided crop fields in all seasons. Assisted by construction of new irrigation canals, this species is spreading to arid areas like the Thar Desert in Rajasthan, India.[25] Across south Asia, woolly-necked storks largely use agricultural landscapes with more numbers seen using unprotected wetlands relative to the amount of wetlands on the landscape, and a majority of individuals use agricultural crops.[3][24][26] In KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, they are accustomed to people feeding them, and nest on exotic tree species in sub-urban areas.[27][28] In Haryana, north India, they nest on trees planted along crop fields and irrigation canals as part of traditional multifunctional agroforestry and generally avoid trees close to human settlements.[29]

Individuals of this species have been sighted at altitudes of 3,790 m above sea level in China (Napahai wetland),[30] and 3,540 m above sea level in Nepal (Annapurna Conservation Area).[31]

Behaviour

 
Flying in Maharashtra, India

Several calls by adult birds have been described including bisyllabic whistles given along with displays at the nest,[32] and a fierce hissing sound when a bird was attacked by a trained falcon.[13] The woolly-necked stork is a broad winged soaring bird, which relies on moving between thermals of hot air for sustained long distance flight. Like all storks, it flies with its neck outstretched. It has also been observed to 'roll, tumble and dive at steep angles' in the air with the wind through its quills making a loud noise.[33] Adult birds have also been observed diving from nests before flying away abruptly in a 'bat-like flight'.[13]

This species is largely seen as single birds, in pairs, or in small family groups of 4–5. While flocks are uncommon, they occur in all parts of the distribution range of the species and can be seen in all seasons.[3][22][26] Flocking is affected by different factors in different areas. In more arid areas, most of the flocks occur in the summer when few wetlands are remaining,[23] whereas in areas with more water, flocks occur largely in winter after chicks have fledged from nests.[22] However, on agricultural landscapes, artificial irrigation introduces considerable complexity in providing water throughout the year, and flocks occur throughout the year.[26] They often associate with wintering stork species including the Black and White Storks.[23]

Woolly-necked storks using south Asian agricultural landscapes showcased changing seasonal behaviors consistent with altering landscape conditions. Storks changed their most preferred habitats (relative to availability of each habitat) from natural wetlands in the winter to dry fallow fields in the summer, and actively avoided (used much less relative to available) flooded rice paddies.[22] Analogous to this change of preferred habitat seasonally, Woolly-necked storks in lowland Nepal spent less time foraging (suggesting higher efficiency of finding food) during the winter relative to monsoon when rice paddies was the dominant crop.[34] These two observations suggest that woolly-necked storks preferred drier crops as foraging habitats, and its foraging efficiency improved in less wet crops. Additionally, storks in Nepal did not alter behaviors from foraging to the energy expending alert behaviors when they were close to farmers, though time spent being alert reduced considerably while foraging in wetland habitats.[34] This suggests that the storks do not view farmers are a significant threat. Activity budgets of woolly-necked storks in lowland Nepal were identical to that recorded for similar storks in protected and managed reserves suggesting that south Asian croplands provide considerable benefits as suitable foraging areas with minimal disturbances by farmers to large water birds such as woolly-necked storks.[34]

Diet

The woolly-necked stork walks slowly and steadily on the ground seeking its prey, which like that of most of its relatives, consists of amphibians, reptiles and insects.[13][15][16][17] In suburban South Africa, nestlings were provisioned largely with guttural toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis), but also with common river frogs (Amietia queckettii), fish, snakes, crabs and moles (Amblysomus sp.).[28] Despite being provided with supplementary foods by people in South Africa, nestling diet was largely (>60%) natural animal species. More than two adult birds provisioned chicks of one nest in South Africa providing the first known evidence of cooperative behaviour in woolly-necked storks.[35] Death of two nestlings was attributed to provisioning of processed foods that people fed adult birds.[35]

Breeding

Typically, a large stick nest is built on a tree, and clutch size is two to six eggs, with five and six eggs being less common.[3][14][36][29] Birds use both forest trees and scattered trees in agricultural areas to build nests.[19][29] In India, some nests have been being observed in or near urban areas on cell phone towers, but such nesting on artificial human-made structures is not a regular occurrence.[20][29][37][38] Riverside cliffs are occasionally used for nesting.[21][36] In South Africa, woolly-necked storks nested largely on trees in suburban areas such as gardens with nests largely placed on exotic tree species such as Pinus elliottii, Eucalyptus sp., Melia azedarach, Cinnamommum camphora, and Jacaranda mimosifolia. Very few nests were built on native trees such as Trichilia dregeana, Ficus burkei and Syderoxylon inerme. Three of 30 nests in South Africa were built on anthropogenic structures: one on a roof top of a two-story building, one in an unusual nest box, and one atop an electric pole.[35]

In Haryana, north India, nesting woolly-necked storks used trees close to irrigation canals and far from human habitation for nesting, and were not affected by the presence of natural wetlands and relatively larger patches of trees on the landscape.[29] Very few nests each year were placed on artificial structures such as electricity pylons, and the majority were placed on Dalbergia sissoo, Ficus religiosa and Eucalyptus sp. In Haryana's agricultural landscape, small numbers of woolly-necked stork nests were also found on Acacia nilotica, Azadirachta indica, Mangifera indica, Mitragyna parviflora, Syzhygium cumini and Tectona gradis.[29] Woolly-necked Storks reused over 44% of nest sites for multiple years.[29] Brood size of 42 successful nests in Haryana was relatively high with over three chicks successfully fledging from nests, and a small number of nests each year fledging four and five chicks each with six chicks fledging from one nest.[3][29] Detailed observations of breeding habits in South Africa and north India suggest that the woolly-necked stork is not an obligate wetland species unlike other stork species that locate their nests close to wetlands.

Two nests of woolly-necked storks were reused after stork chicks had fledged by black kites Milvus migrans in lowland Nepal.[39] Woolly-necked stork nests in Haryana were preferentially reused by dusky eagle-owls Bubo coromandus over other large nests made by other bird species in the area.[40] It seems likely that woolly-necked storks support the well-being of many other species, including large raptors such as dusky eagle-owls, via commensal and other inter-species relationships associated with their nests.

Conservation

The woolly-necked stork is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. The species was elevated from "Near-threatened" to "Vulnerable" in 2014 based on anecdotal reports of deforestation in south-east Asia potentially leading to catastrophic population declines with the assumption that the species required protected wetlands inside forested reserves.[3] It was, however, down listed to "Near-threatened" in 2019 after concrete evidence emerged from south Asia and Myanmar that the erstwhile population estimate was a severe underestimate, and that most woolly-necked storks used agricultural areas and unprotected wetlands, with abundances being lower inside forested reserves.[3] Agricultural landscapes in north India support considerable numbers of breeding pairs that have relatively large brood sizes and behaviors similar to storks in protected managed reserves suggesting that this species is not an obligate wetland bird and that it is not reliant on undisturbed protected wetlands and forest reserves.[29][34] An earlier "guesstimate" of the south and south-east Asian population of woolly-necked storks of 25,000 has been revised upwards to an estimated > 2,00,000 storks in south Asia alone.[26]

Counts carried out along the Mekong river in Cambodia (first survey in 2006 an 2007, followed by another in 2018) showed some variations in numbers of Woolly-necked Storks counted.[41] These variations may have been due to differences in count methods and season making it difficult to know if population sizes of this species has changed along the River Mekong.[41] Modeled distributions of woolly-necked storks strongly overlapped forested reserves in south-east Asia suggesting low ability to survive outside forests in stark contrast to the situation in south Asia and Myanmar.[4][24][34] The majority of the protected reserve forests and wetlands in south-east Asia are under threat suggesting that woolly-necked storks face an uncertain future in this region.

Different views & aspects

References

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  27. ^ Thabethe, Vuyisile; Downs, Colleen T. (2018). "Citizen science reveals widespread supplementary feeding of African woolly-necked storks in suburban areas of KwaZulu-Natal South Africa". Urban Ecosystems. 21 (5): 965–973. doi:10.1007/s11252-018-0774-6. S2CID 49531094.
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  29. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kittur, Swati; Sundar, K. S. Gopi (2021). "Of irrigation canals and multifunctional agroforestry: Traditional agriculture facilitates Woolly-necked Stork breeding in a north Indian agricultural landscape". Global Ecology and Conservation. 30: e01793. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01793. S2CID 239153561.
  30. ^ Burnham, James W.; Wood, Eric M. (2012). "Woolly-necked Stork Ciconia episcopus at Napahai wetland, Yunnan, China". Forktail. 28: 158–159.
  31. ^ Ghale, T. R.; Karmacharya, Dikpal K. (2018). "A new altitudinal record for Asian Woollyneck Ciconia episcopus in South Asia". BirdingASIA. 29: 96–97.
  32. ^ Kahl, M. P. (1972). "Comparative ethology of the Ciconiidae. Part 4. The 'typical' storks (genera Ciconia, Sphenorhynchus, Dissoura, and Euxenura)". Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie. 30 (3): 225–252. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1972.tb00852.x. S2CID 82008004.
  33. ^ Bannerman, D. A. (1953). The birds of west and equatorial Africa. Vol. 1. London: Oliver and Boyd. p. 171.
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  35. ^ a b c Thabethe, Vuyisile (2018). Aspects of the ecology of African woolly-necked storks (Ciconia microscelis) in an anthropogenic changing landscape in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (PDF). South Africa: Unpublished Thesis. School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Science and Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
  36. ^ a b Vyas, R.; Tomar, R. S. (2006). "Rare clutch size and nesting site of Woolynecked Stork (Ciconia episcopus) in Chambal River Valley". Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 46 (6): 95.
  37. ^ Greeshma, P.; Nair, Riju, P.; Jayson, E.A.; Manoj, K.; Arya, V.; Shonith, E.G. (2018). "Breeding of Woolly-necked Stork Ciconia episcopus in Bharathapuzha river basin, Kerala, India". Indian Birds. 14 (3): 86–87.
  38. ^ Tere, Anika (2021). "Breeding of Woolly-necked Stork Ciconia episcopus at Dhaniyavi, near Vadodara". Flamingo Gujarat. XIX-1: 1–4.
  39. ^ Ghimire, Prashant; Pandey, Nabin; Belbase, Bibek; Ghimire, Rojina; Khanal, Chiranjeevi; Bist, Bhuwan Singh; Bhusal, Krishna Prasad (2020). "If you go, I'll stay: nest use interaction between Asian Woollyneck Ciconia episcopus and Black Kite Milvus migrans in Nepal". BirdingASIA. 33: 103–105.
  40. ^ Sundar, K S Gopi; Ahlawat, Rakesh; Dalal, Devender Singh; Kittur, Swati (2022). "Does the stork bring home the owl? Dusky Eagle-Owls Bubo coromandus breeding on Woolly-necked Stork Ciconia episcopus nests". Biotropica. 54 (3): 561–565. doi:10.1111/btp.13086. S2CID 247823196.
  41. ^ a b Mittermeier, J. C.; Sandvig, E. M.; Jocque, M. (2019). "Surveys in 2018 along the Mekong river, northern Kratie province, Cambodia, indicate a decade of declines in populations of threatened bird species". BirdingASIA. 832: 80–89.

External links

  • Woolly-necked Stork Ciconia episcopus - BirdLife International
  • Woolly-necked Stork videos and photos - Internet Bird Collection
  • Woollynecked Stork - The Atlas of Southern African Birds

woolly, necked, stork, ciconia, episcopus, species, large, wading, bird, stork, family, ciconiidae, based, purely, geographical, separation, this, species, suggested, considered, being, discrete, species, asian, woollyneck, african, woollyneck, ciconia, episco. The Woolly necked stork Ciconia episcopus is a species of large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae Based on purely geographical separation this species is suggested to be considered as being two discrete species Asian woollyneck and African woollyneck Ciconia episcopus and Ciconia microscelis though genetic and other methods to conclusively verify this split are currently unavailable It breeds singly or in small loose colonies It is distributed in a wide variety of habitats including marshes in forests agricultural areas and freshwater wetlands across Asia and Africa 3 4 Woolly necked storkMangaon Raigad Maharashtra IndiaConservation statusNear Threatened IUCN 3 1 1 Asian Woollyneck Least Concern IUCN 3 1 2 African woollyneck Scientific classificationKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass AvesOrder CiconiiformesFamily CiconiidaeGenus CiconiaSpecies C episcopusBinomial nameCiconia episcopus Boddaert 1783 Contents 1 Taxonomy 2 Description 3 Distribution and habitat 4 Behaviour 4 1 Diet 4 2 Breeding 5 Conservation 6 Different views amp aspects 7 References 8 External linksTaxonomy EditThe woolly necked stork was described by the French polymath Georges Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected from the Coromandel Coast of India 5 The bird was also illustrated in a hand coloured plate engraved by Francois Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminees D Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon s text 6 Neither the plate caption nor Buffon s description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Ardea episcopus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminees 7 The woolly necked stork is now placed in the genus Ciconia that was erected by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 8 9 The genus name Ciconia is the Latin word for a stork the specific epithet episcopus is Latin for bishop 10 Three subspecies are recognised 9 C e microscelis Gray GR 1848 Africa south of the Sahara C e episcopus Boddaert 1783 India to Indochina the Philippines and Malay Peninsula north Sumatra C e neglecta Finsch 1904 south Sumatra Java Lesser Sunda Islands SulawesiThe online edition of the Handbook of the Birds of the World Clements and the IUCN treats the African race C e microscelis as a separate species the African woolly necked stork 11 with the remaining two subspecies becoming the Asian woolly necked stork 12 The Handbook and other sources of taxonomic lists use geographical separation as the sole basis for elevating the three subspecies into two species and this assumption requires to be tested using more definitive methods such as genetics Description EditThe woolly necked stork is a medium sized stork at 75 92 cm tall 13 The iris is deep crimson or wine red The stork is glistening black overall with a black skull cap a downy white neck which gives it its name The lower belly and under tail coverts are white standing out from the rest of the dark coloured plumage Feathers on the fore neck are iridescent with a coppery purple tinge These feathers are elongated and can be erected during displays The tail is deeply forked and is white usually covered by the black long under tail coverts It has long red legs and a heavy blackish bill though some specimens have largely dark red bills with only the basal one third being black Sexes are alike Juvenile birds are duller versions of the adult with a feathered forehead that is sometimes streaked black and white 14 The African birds are described as having the edges of the black cap diffused or with a jagged border compared to a sharp and clean border in the Asian birds Sexes are identical though males are thought to be larger 13 When the wings are opened either during displays or for flight a narrow band of very bright unfeathered skin is visible along the underside of the forearm This band has been variously described as being neon orange red like a red gold jewel and almost glowing when seen at close range 13 15 16 Small nestlings are pale grey with buffy down on the neck and a black crown At fledging age the immature bird is identical to the adult except for a feathered forehead much lesser iridescence on feathers and much longer and fluffier feathers on the neck 13 14 17 Newly fledged young have a prominent white mark in the center of the forehead that can be used to distinguish young of the year 3 English common names for this species include the white necked stork white headed stork bishop stork and parson bird More recently the African and Asian populations are considered to be two different species the African woolly necked stork and the Asian woolly necked stork This is based purely on geographical isolation 18 but there is no morphological or phylogenetic evidence yet to support this split 3 Woolly necked stork GOADistribution and habitat Edit In the fields near Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana India It is a widespread tropical species which breeds in Asia from India to Indonesia and across much of western eastern and south central Africa 4 It is a resident breeder building nests on trees located on agricultural fields or wetlands on natural cliffs and on cell phone towers 13 19 20 21 They use a variety of freshwater wetlands including seasonal and perennial reservoirs and marshes crop lands irrigation canals and rivers but are mostly seen in agricultural areas and in wetlands outside protected areas across south Asia and Myanmar 3 13 22 23 24 They are attracted to fires in grasslands and crop fields where they capture insects trying to escape the fire 13 They use ponds and marshes inside forests in both Africa and Asia especially in south east Asia where they use grassy and marshy areas in clearings in several forest types 13 24 In India they are an uncommon species in coastal habitats 17 They use coastal areas in Africa also with birds in Sulawesi observed to be eating sea snakes and birds on the Kenya coast foraging in coral reefs and mudflats 13 In an agricultural landscape in north India woolly necked storks preferred fallow fields during the summer and monsoon seasons and natural freshwater wetlands during the winter 22 Here irrigation canals were preferentially used during winters when water levels were low and birds avoided crop fields in all seasons Assisted by construction of new irrigation canals this species is spreading to arid areas like the Thar Desert in Rajasthan India 25 Across south Asia woolly necked storks largely use agricultural landscapes with more numbers seen using unprotected wetlands relative to the amount of wetlands on the landscape and a majority of individuals use agricultural crops 3 24 26 In KwaZulu Natal South Africa they are accustomed to people feeding them and nest on exotic tree species in sub urban areas 27 28 In Haryana north India they nest on trees planted along crop fields and irrigation canals as part of traditional multifunctional agroforestry and generally avoid trees close to human settlements 29 Individuals of this species have been sighted at altitudes of 3 790 m above sea level in China Napahai wetland 30 and 3 540 m above sea level in Nepal Annapurna Conservation Area 31 Behaviour Edit Flying in Maharashtra India Several calls by adult birds have been described including bisyllabic whistles given along with displays at the nest 32 and a fierce hissing sound when a bird was attacked by a trained falcon 13 The woolly necked stork is a broad winged soaring bird which relies on moving between thermals of hot air for sustained long distance flight Like all storks it flies with its neck outstretched It has also been observed to roll tumble and dive at steep angles in the air with the wind through its quills making a loud noise 33 Adult birds have also been observed diving from nests before flying away abruptly in a bat like flight 13 This species is largely seen as single birds in pairs or in small family groups of 4 5 While flocks are uncommon they occur in all parts of the distribution range of the species and can be seen in all seasons 3 22 26 Flocking is affected by different factors in different areas In more arid areas most of the flocks occur in the summer when few wetlands are remaining 23 whereas in areas with more water flocks occur largely in winter after chicks have fledged from nests 22 However on agricultural landscapes artificial irrigation introduces considerable complexity in providing water throughout the year and flocks occur throughout the year 26 They often associate with wintering stork species including the Black and White Storks 23 Woolly necked storks using south Asian agricultural landscapes showcased changing seasonal behaviors consistent with altering landscape conditions Storks changed their most preferred habitats relative to availability of each habitat from natural wetlands in the winter to dry fallow fields in the summer and actively avoided used much less relative to available flooded rice paddies 22 Analogous to this change of preferred habitat seasonally Woolly necked storks in lowland Nepal spent less time foraging suggesting higher efficiency of finding food during the winter relative to monsoon when rice paddies was the dominant crop 34 These two observations suggest that woolly necked storks preferred drier crops as foraging habitats and its foraging efficiency improved in less wet crops Additionally storks in Nepal did not alter behaviors from foraging to the energy expending alert behaviors when they were close to farmers though time spent being alert reduced considerably while foraging in wetland habitats 34 This suggests that the storks do not view farmers are a significant threat Activity budgets of woolly necked storks in lowland Nepal were identical to that recorded for similar storks in protected and managed reserves suggesting that south Asian croplands provide considerable benefits as suitable foraging areas with minimal disturbances by farmers to large water birds such as woolly necked storks 34 Diet Edit The woolly necked stork walks slowly and steadily on the ground seeking its prey which like that of most of its relatives consists of amphibians reptiles and insects 13 15 16 17 In suburban South Africa nestlings were provisioned largely with guttural toad Sclerophrys gutturalis but also with common river frogs Amietia queckettii fish snakes crabs and moles Amblysomus sp 28 Despite being provided with supplementary foods by people in South Africa nestling diet was largely gt 60 natural animal species More than two adult birds provisioned chicks of one nest in South Africa providing the first known evidence of cooperative behaviour in woolly necked storks 35 Death of two nestlings was attributed to provisioning of processed foods that people fed adult birds 35 Breeding Edit Typically a large stick nest is built on a tree and clutch size is two to six eggs with five and six eggs being less common 3 14 36 29 Birds use both forest trees and scattered trees in agricultural areas to build nests 19 29 In India some nests have been being observed in or near urban areas on cell phone towers but such nesting on artificial human made structures is not a regular occurrence 20 29 37 38 Riverside cliffs are occasionally used for nesting 21 36 In South Africa woolly necked storks nested largely on trees in suburban areas such as gardens with nests largely placed on exotic tree species such as Pinus elliottii Eucalyptus sp Melia azedarach Cinnamommum camphora and Jacaranda mimosifolia Very few nests were built on native trees such as Trichilia dregeana Ficus burkei and Syderoxylon inerme Three of 30 nests in South Africa were built on anthropogenic structures one on a roof top of a two story building one in an unusual nest box and one atop an electric pole 35 In Haryana north India nesting woolly necked storks used trees close to irrigation canals and far from human habitation for nesting and were not affected by the presence of natural wetlands and relatively larger patches of trees on the landscape 29 Very few nests each year were placed on artificial structures such as electricity pylons and the majority were placed on Dalbergia sissoo Ficus religiosa and Eucalyptus sp In Haryana s agricultural landscape small numbers of woolly necked stork nests were also found on Acacia nilotica Azadirachta indica Mangifera indica Mitragyna parviflora Syzhygium cumini and Tectona gradis 29 Woolly necked Storks reused over 44 of nest sites for multiple years 29 Brood size of 42 successful nests in Haryana was relatively high with over three chicks successfully fledging from nests and a small number of nests each year fledging four and five chicks each with six chicks fledging from one nest 3 29 Detailed observations of breeding habits in South Africa and north India suggest that the woolly necked stork is not an obligate wetland species unlike other stork species that locate their nests close to wetlands Two nests of woolly necked storks were reused after stork chicks had fledged by black kites Milvus migrans in lowland Nepal 39 Woolly necked stork nests in Haryana were preferentially reused by dusky eagle owls Bubo coromandus over other large nests made by other bird species in the area 40 It seems likely that woolly necked storks support the well being of many other species including large raptors such as dusky eagle owls via commensal and other inter species relationships associated with their nests Conservation EditThe woolly necked stork is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds AEWA applies The species was elevated from Near threatened to Vulnerable in 2014 based on anecdotal reports of deforestation in south east Asia potentially leading to catastrophic population declines with the assumption that the species required protected wetlands inside forested reserves 3 It was however down listed to Near threatened in 2019 after concrete evidence emerged from south Asia and Myanmar that the erstwhile population estimate was a severe underestimate and that most woolly necked storks used agricultural areas and unprotected wetlands with abundances being lower inside forested reserves 3 Agricultural landscapes in north India support considerable numbers of breeding pairs that have relatively large brood sizes and behaviors similar to storks in protected managed reserves suggesting that this species is not an obligate wetland bird and that it is not reliant on undisturbed protected wetlands and forest reserves 29 34 An earlier guesstimate of the south and south east Asian population of woolly necked storks of 25 000 has been revised upwards to an estimated gt 2 00 000 storks in south Asia alone 26 Counts carried out along the Mekong river in Cambodia first survey in 2006 an 2007 followed by another in 2018 showed some variations in numbers of Woolly necked Storks counted 41 These variations may have been due to differences in count methods and season making it difficult to know if population sizes of this species has changed along the River Mekong 41 Modeled distributions of woolly necked storks strongly overlapped forested reserves in south east Asia suggesting low ability to survive outside forests in stark contrast to the situation in south Asia and Myanmar 4 24 34 The majority of the protected reserve forests and wetlands in south east Asia are under threat suggesting that woolly necked storks face an uncertain future in this region Different views amp aspects Edit With black headed ibis at Pocharam lake Telangana India Taking off from the fields near Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana India At Koal lands Thrissur Kerala India Flying in Chitwan National Park Nepal References Edit BirdLife International 2020 Ciconia episcopus IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020 e T22727255A175530482 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 2020 3 RLTS T22727255A175530482 en Retrieved 19 November 2021 BirdLife International 2016 Ciconia microscelis IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016 e T22727265A94945236 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 2016 3 RLTS T22727265A94945236 en Retrieved 19 November 2022 a b c d e f g h i j Sundar K S Gopi 2020 Woolly necked Stork a species ignored PDF SIS Conservation 2 33 41 eISSN 2710 1142 a b c Gula Jonah Sundar K S Gopi Dean W Richard J 2020 Known and potential distributions of the African Ciconia microscelis and Asian C episcopus Woollyneck Storks PDF SIS Conservation 2 eISSN 2710 1142 Buffon Georges Louis Leclerc de 1780 Le heron violet Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in French Vol 14 Paris De L Imprimerie Royale p 91 Buffon Georges Louis Leclerc de Martinet Francois Nicolas Daubenton Edme Louis Daubenton Louis Jean Marie 1765 1783 Heron de la cote de Coromandel Planches Enluminees D Histoire Naturelle Vol 10 Paris De L Imprimerie Royale Plate 906 Boddaert Pieter 1783 Table des planches enlumineez d histoire naturelle de M D Aubenton avec les denominations de M M de Buffon Brisson Edwards Linnaeus et Latham precede d une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enlumines in French Utrecht p 54 Number 906 Brisson Mathurin Jacques 1760 Ornithologie ou Methode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres Sections Genres Especes amp leurs Varietes in French and Latin Paris Jean Baptiste Bauche Vol 1 p 48 Vol 5 p 361 a b Gill Frank Donsker David eds 2019 Storks frigatebirds boobies cormorants darters World Bird List Version 9 2 International Ornithologists Union Retrieved 16 July 2019 Jobling James A 2010 The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names London Christopher Helm pp 107 147 ISBN 978 1 4081 2501 4 del Hoyo J Collar N Garcia E F J 2019 del Hoyo J Elliott A Sargatal J Christie D A de Juana E eds African Woollyneck Ciconia microscelis Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive Lynx Edicions Retrieved 16 July 2019 Elliott A Garcia E J F Boesman P Kirwan G M 2019 del Hoyo J Elliott A Sargatal J Christie D A de Juana E eds Asian Woollyneck Ciconia episcopus Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive Lynx Edicions Retrieved 16 July 2019 a b c d e f g h i j k l Hancock James A Kushlan James A Kahl M Philip 1992 Storks Ibises and Spoonbills of the World London U K Academic Press pp 81 86 ISBN 978 0 12 322730 0 a b c Scott J A 1975 Observations on the Breeding of the Woollynecked Stork Ostrich 46 3 201 207 doi 10 1080 00306525 1975 9639519 ISSN 0030 6525 a b Legge W V A history of the birds of Ceylon Ceylon Tisaria Deliwala p 234 a b Meyer A B Wiglesworth L W 1898 The birds of Celebes vol 2 Berlin Friedlander p 809 a b c Ali S Ripley S D 1968 Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan vol I Oxford Oxford University Press p 98 del Hoyo J Collar N J 2014 BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World Volume 1 Non passerines Lynx Edicions ISBN 978 84 96553 94 1 a b Choudhary D N Ghosh T K Mandal J N Rohitashwa Rahul Mandal Subhatt Kumar 2013 Observations on the breeding of the Woolly necked Stork Ciconia episcopus in Bhagalpur Bihar India Indian Birds 8 4 93 94 a b Vaghela U Sawant D Bhagwat V 2015 Woolly necked Storks Ciconia episcopus nesting on mobile towers in Pune Maharashtra Indian Birds 10 6 154 155 a b Rahmani A R Singh B 1996 Whitenecked or Woolly necked Stork Ciconia episcopus Boddaert nesting on cliffs Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 93 2 293 294 a b c d e Sundar K S Gopi 2006 Flock Size Density and Habitat Selection of Four Large Waterbirds Species in an Agricultural Landscape in Uttar Pradesh India Implications for Management Waterbirds The International Journal of Waterbird Biology 29 3 365 374 doi 10 1675 1524 4695 2006 29 365 fsdahs 2 0 co 2 JSTOR 4132592 S2CID 198154724 a b c Pande S Sant N Bhate R Ponkshe A Pandit P Pawashe A Joglekar C 2007 Recent records of wintering White Ciconia ciconia and Black C nigra storks and flocking behaviour of White necked Storks C episcopus in Maharashtra and Karnataka states India PDF Indian Birds 3 1 28 32 a b c d Win Myo Sander Yi Ah Mar Myint Theingi Soe Khine Kaythy Po Hele Swe Non Kyaik Swe Sundar K S Gopi 2020 Comparing abundance and habitat use of Woolly necked Storks Ciconia episcopus inside and outside protected areas in Myanmar PDF SIS Conservation 2 96 103 eISSN 2710 1142 Singh H 2015 Asian Woollyneck Ciconia episcopus breeding in western Rajasthan India BirdingASIA 24 130 131 a b c d Kittur Swati Sundar K S Gopi 2020 Density flock size and habitat preference of Woolly necked Storks Ciconia episcopus in agricultural landscapes of south Asia PDF SIS Conservation 2 71 79 eISSN 2710 1142 Thabethe Vuyisile Downs Colleen T 2018 Citizen science reveals widespread supplementary feeding of African woolly necked storks in suburban areas of KwaZulu Natal South Africa Urban Ecosystems 21 5 965 973 doi 10 1007 s11252 018 0774 6 S2CID 49531094 a b Thabethe Vuyisile McPherson Shane Downs Colleen T 2021 Diet of nestling African woolly necked storks in suburban areas of KwaZulu Natal South Africa African Journal of Ecology 59 3 769 772 doi 10 1111 aje 12859 S2CID 233950996 a b c d e f g h i Kittur Swati Sundar K S Gopi 2021 Of irrigation canals and multifunctional agroforestry Traditional agriculture facilitates Woolly necked Stork breeding in a north Indian agricultural landscape Global Ecology and Conservation 30 e01793 doi 10 1016 j gecco 2021 e01793 S2CID 239153561 Burnham James W Wood Eric M 2012 Woolly necked Stork Ciconia episcopus at Napahai wetland Yunnan China Forktail 28 158 159 Ghale T R Karmacharya Dikpal K 2018 A new altitudinal record for Asian Woollyneck Ciconia episcopus in South Asia BirdingASIA 29 96 97 Kahl M P 1972 Comparative ethology of the Ciconiidae Part 4 The typical storks genera Ciconia Sphenorhynchus Dissoura and Euxenura Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie 30 3 225 252 doi 10 1111 j 1439 0310 1972 tb00852 x S2CID 82008004 Bannerman D A 1953 The birds of west and equatorial Africa Vol 1 London Oliver and Boyd p 171 a b c d e Ghimire Prashant Pandey Nabin Timilsina Yajna P Bist Bhuwan S Sundar K S Gopi 2021 Woolly necked Stork Ciconia episcopus Activity Budget in Lowland Nepal s Farmlands The Influence of Wetlands Seasonal Crops and Human Proximity Waterbirds The International Journal of Waterbird Biology 44 4 415 424 a b c Thabethe Vuyisile 2018 Aspects of the ecology of African woolly necked storks Ciconia microscelis in an anthropogenic changing landscape in KwaZulu Natal South Africa PDF South Africa Unpublished Thesis School of Life Sciences College of Agriculture Science and Engineering University of KwaZulu Natal a b Vyas R Tomar R S 2006 Rare clutch size and nesting site of Woolynecked Stork Ciconia episcopus in Chambal River Valley Newsletter for Birdwatchers 46 6 95 Greeshma P Nair Riju P Jayson E A Manoj K Arya V Shonith E G 2018 Breeding of Woolly necked Stork Ciconia episcopus in Bharathapuzha river basin Kerala India Indian Birds 14 3 86 87 Tere Anika 2021 Breeding of Woolly necked Stork Ciconia episcopus at Dhaniyavi near Vadodara Flamingo Gujarat XIX 1 1 4 Ghimire Prashant Pandey Nabin Belbase Bibek Ghimire Rojina Khanal Chiranjeevi Bist Bhuwan Singh Bhusal Krishna Prasad 2020 If you go I ll stay nest use interaction between Asian Woollyneck Ciconia episcopus and Black Kite Milvus migrans in Nepal BirdingASIA 33 103 105 Sundar K S Gopi Ahlawat Rakesh Dalal Devender Singh Kittur Swati 2022 Does the stork bring home the owl Dusky Eagle Owls Bubo coromandus breeding on Woolly necked Stork Ciconia episcopus nests Biotropica 54 3 561 565 doi 10 1111 btp 13086 S2CID 247823196 a b Mittermeier J C Sandvig E M Jocque M 2019 Surveys in 2018 along the Mekong river northern Kratie province Cambodia indicate a decade of declines in populations of threatened bird species BirdingASIA 832 80 89 Birds of The Gambia by Barlow Wacher and Disley ISBN 1 873403 32 1 Birds of India by Grimmett Inskipp and Inskipp ISBN 0 691 04910 6External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ciconia episcopus Wikispecies has information related to Ciconia episcopus Woolly necked Stork Ciconia episcopus BirdLife International Woolly necked Stork videos and photos Internet Bird Collection Woollynecked Stork The Atlas of Southern African Birds Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Woolly necked stork amp oldid 1135028190, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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