Ciconia microscelis
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The African woolly-necked stork or African woollyneck (Ciconia microscelis) is a species of large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. 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 Africa.
It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Asian woolly-necked stork (C. episcopus), and called the woolly-necked stork, but was split as a distinct species by the International Ornithological Congress in 2023 on the basis of its allopatric range and significant plumage and morphological differences.
The African woolly-necked stork is a medium-sized stork at 75–92 cm tall. 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... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Garden of South Africa | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Woolly-necked Stork sighting in Hwange National Park on a given day, based on 67 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 101st most-seen of the 308 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December and January
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report an African Woolly-necked Stork in Hwange National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April and June–October, the lowest months. Those are among Hwange National Park's wettest months, with about 130 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Woolly-necked Stork sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 34
Of the 34 parks where we can rate African Woolly-necked Stork sightings, Hwange National Park ranks 11th at about 10%. The best odds are in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (South Africa, about 30%), uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 20%) and Odzala-Kokoua National Park (Republic of the Congo, about 20%).
Same genus: Ciconia
The closest relatives of the African Woolly-necked Stork that you can see in Hwange National Park (genus Ciconia, Ciconia Storks) are Abdim's Stork (about 10%) and White Stork (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Woolly-necked Stork is recorded against all the birds logged in Hwange National Park (67 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
