Ciconia microscelis
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 |
No species of the same family or order lives in Meru National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Woolly-necked Stork sighting in Meru National Park on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 194th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an African Woolly-necked Stork in Meru National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–April and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Meru National Park's wettest months, with about 90 mm of rain against almost none in July. May and July–August have too few records to rate.
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.
18th of 34
Of the 34 parks where we can rate African Woolly-necked Stork sightings, Meru National Park ranks 18th 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%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Woolly-necked Stork is recorded against all the birds logged in Meru National Park (10 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.
