• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Ciconia episcopus and C. microscelis (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as C. episcopus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2020	Near Threatened	A2cde+3cde+4cde
2016	Vulnerable	A2cd+3cd+4cd
2014	Vulnerable	A2cd+3cd+4cd

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	Low
Land mass type		Average mass	2061 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km2)	13,000,000	medium
Number of locations		-
Severely Fragmented		-

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
No. of mature individuals	50000-249999	poor	suspected	2019
Population trend	Decreasing		suspected	-
Decline (3 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (5 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation future)	20-29	-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation past and future)	20-29	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations		-	-	-
Percentage in largest subpopulation		-	-	-
Generation length (yrs)	9.2	-	-	-

Population justification: The population was previously estimated to number up to 35,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2014). However, the South Asian population alone was recently estimated to number 120,000-310,000 individuals (based on density estimates over multi-scale, multi-year surveys; G. Sundar in litt. 2019, 2020). This roughly converts to 80,000-210,000 mature individuals. Given that the South Asian population comprises the most significant range of the species in comparison to the South-East Asian range (F. Goes in litt. 2020), precautionarily using recent estimates as a proxy for the global population, the overall population size is considered to number 50,000-249,999 mature individuals.

Trend justification: There has been substantial declines in South-East Asia in recent years (J. W. Duckworth in litt. 2013, R. J. Timmins in litt. 2013, F. Goes in litt. 2014), with populations in South Asia appearing to be stable, albeit with inter-annual fluctuations (Praveen J. in litt. 2014, S. Subramanya in litt. 2014, G. Sundar in litt. 2020), whilst other populations have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2014). Across India alone, the species is considered to have been stable in the long-term (measured as the change in index of abundance from 2014-2015, relative to pre-2000's), with a moderate decline recorded in the short-term, equating to an annual change of 6.18% decline (as observed between 2014/2015 and 2018/2019; State of India's Birds 2020, Praveen J. in litt. 2020). It is also important to consider that the South-East Asian population equates to only c. 10% or below of the overall population, with quantifiable information lacking across this range (G. Sundar in litt. 2020, F. Goes in litt. 2020). Thus, given that the majority of the population across South Asia is stable (subject to some fluctuations), but not discounting for regional reductions across South-East Asia and increased species's rarity across this range, the population is suspected to be undergoing a slower decline at a rate of 20-29% over three generations (27.6 years; Bird et al. 2020).

Country/Territory	Occurrence status	Presence	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding	Passage
Bangladesh	N	Extant	Yes
Bhutan	N	Extant	Yes
Cambodia	N	Extant	Yes
China (mainland)	V	Extant			Yes
India	N	Extant	Yes
Indonesia	N	Extant	Yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	V	Extant			Yes
Laos	N	Extant	Yes
Malaysia	N	Extant	Yes
Myanmar	N	Extant	Yes
Nepal	N	Extant	Yes
Pakistan	N	Extant	Yes
Philippines	N	Possibly Extinct	Yes
Sri Lanka	N	Extant	Yes
Thailand	N	Extant	Yes
Vietnam	N	Extant	Yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Thailand	Khao Ang Ru Nai
India	Guru Ghasidas Tiger Reserve
India	Dighal wetland
India	Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary
India	Megamalai Mountains
India	Melagiris
India	Pilibhit Tiger Reserve
India	Ujjani Reservoir
India	Jawai Dam Leopard Conservation Reserve
India	Badopal Lake
India	Pench Tiger Reserve
India	Mahendri Reserve Forest
India	Hatnur Dam
India	Sirpur Lake
India	Gosabara (Mokarsar) wetland complex
India	Pawalgarh Conservation Reserve
India	Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve
India	Nandhour Wildlife Sanctuary
India	Topchanchi Wildlife Sanctuary
India	Navelim wetland
India	Keshopur Miani (or Chhamb) Community Reserve
India	Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary
India	Chandoli National Park
India	Hesaraghatta Lake
India	Hoskote Kere
India	Thippagondanahalli Reservoir
India	Tungabhadra Reservoir
India	Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	resident
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Ponds (below 8ha)	suitable	resident
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Swamp	major	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	major	resident
Marine Intertidal	Mud Flats and Salt Flats	suitable	resident
Marine Neritic	Estuaries	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 1400 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Natural system modifications	Dams & water management/use - Abstraction of surface water (agricultural use)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Type Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation

Purpose	Primary form used	Life stage used	Source	Scale	Level	Timing
Food - human	-	-			Non-trivial	Recent
Pets/display animals, horticulture	-	-			Non-trivial	Recent

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Ciconia episcopus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/03/2023. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2023) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/03/2023.