• 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
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	2,061 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	13,000,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	50000-249999 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2019
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	2013-2040
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Generation length	9.2 years	-	-	-

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	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Bangladesh	extant	native	yes
Bhutan	extant	native	yes
Cambodia	extant	native	yes
China (mainland)	extant	vagrant			yes
India	extant	native	yes
Indonesia	extant	native	yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	vagrant			yes
Laos	extant	native	yes
Malaysia	extant	native	yes
Myanmar	extant	native	yes
Nepal	extant	native	yes
Pakistan	extant	native	yes
Philippines	possibly extinct	native	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native	yes
Thailand	extant	native	yes
Vietnam	extant	native	yes

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

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	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Asian Woollyneck Ciconia episcopus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/asian-woollyneck-ciconia-episcopus on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.