The Asian Woolly-necked Stork is a large wetland bird with a neck covered in fluffy white feathers. The current name Ciconia episcopus refers to the Asian species, distinct from the African C. microscelis.
Its body is glossy black, with a black crown and a neck covered in fluffy white feathers. The lower belly and undertail are also white.
Researchers searched more than 230 km in Bangladesh during 2022 and 2023, observing eight Asian Woollynecks in the first year and six in the second. Three nests found in 2022 were all on mobile-phone towers, 42–52 metres above the ground. Camera traps and direct observations documented breeding activity at the sites.
One pair carried nesting material to another tower 60 metres away and laid a single egg; the chick hatched and fledged. The other two nests were predated by crows after abandonment. The authors also recorded adults leaving nests during tower maintenance, linking this urban nesting pattern with human activity.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The authors recorded adults leaving two nests for hours when tower maintenance crews were present; both nests were later abandoned and predated. In June 2023, maintenance work destroyed another nest under construction. The observations identify work at occupied towers as a specific local disturbance during breeding.