Ciconia microscelis
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Woolly-necked Stork sighting in Lake Nakuru National Park on a given day, based on 34 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 227th most-seen of the 369 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, August–September and December–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Woolly-necked Stork in Lake Nakuru National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–March, May–July and October–November, the lowest months.
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.
26th of 34
Of the 34 parks where we can rate African Woolly-necked Stork sightings, Lake Nakuru National Park ranks 26th at under 5%. 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%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Woolly-necked Stork is recorded against all the birds logged in Lake Nakuru National Park (34 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.
