It is distributed in a wide variety of habitats including marshes in forests, agricultural areas, and freshwater wetlands across Africa.

[6] When the wings are opened either during displays or for flight, a narrow band of very bright unfeathered skin is visible along the underside of the forearm.

[3] It is a resident breeder building nests on trees located on agricultural fields or wetlands, on natural cliffs, and on cell phone towers.

[6] They use a variety of freshwater wetlands including seasonal and perennial reservoirs and marshes, crop lands, irrigation canals and rivers.

[6] In KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, they are accustomed to people feeding them, and nest on exotic tree species in sub-urban areas.

[6] The African woolly-necked stork is a broad winged soaring bird, which relies on moving between thermals of hot air for sustained long distance flight.

[14] The African woolly-necked stork walks slowly and steadily on the ground seeking its prey, which like that of most of its relatives, consists of amphibians, reptiles and insects.

[6][15][16][17] In suburban South Africa, nestlings were provisioned largely with guttural toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis), but also with common river frogs (Amietia queckettii), fish, snakes, crabs and moles (Amblysomus sp.).

[9] Despite being provided with supplementary foods by people in South Africa, nestling diet was largely (>60%) natural animal species.

More than two adult birds provisioned chicks of one nest in South Africa providing the first known evidence of cooperative behaviour in woolly-necked storks.

[18] Very few nests each year were placed on artificial structures such as electricity pylons, and the majority were placed on Dalbergia sissoo, Ficus religiosa and Eucalyptus sp.