5 thoughts on “Yellow-chinned Sunbird (Anthreptes rectirostris): Revise global status?”
I would suggest to keep this species as Least Concern.
It is not a rare species, occurring throughout the forest zone of West Africa, and is sometimes locally common. It occupies a wide range of habitats, including farmbush with some remaining medium/large trees, shaded agroforestry farms (such as cocoa), secondary forest, edges, and the canopy of mature forest (Gatter 1997, Dowsett-Lemaire & Dowsett 2014). Its wide habitat tolerance suggests that declines may be less than proportional to observed loss of tree cover, although it may suffer from the eventual loss of large trees in farmed areas as farmland intensification proceeds. Dowsett-Lemaire & Dowsett describe the species as of “limited [conservation] concern”.
In fieldwork in Ghana in 2007 I estimated a density of 1.8 individuals per km2 in farm mosaic habitats (Phalan 2009). In the same study, I did not record the species in forest, but this is likely because it is hard to detect in the forest canopy (I was reliant on visual cues for this species), rather than being truly absent.
References
Dowsett-Lemaire, F., Dowsett, R.J., 2014. The Birds of Ghana: An Atlas and Handbook. Tauraco Press, Liège.
Gatter, W., 1997. Birds of Liberia. Yale University Press.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 21 February 2022. We will now analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’s Red List status on this page on 21 February 2022, when discussions will re-open.
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2022.1 Red List would be to list Yellow-chinned Sunbird as Least Concern. Although tree cover loss is thought to be causing moderate declines, the occupation of a wide range of habitats likely means these declines do not approach the threshold for listing as threatened under Criterion A.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 27 February 2022, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a final decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 7 March 2022.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Yellow-chinned Sunbird is recommended to be listed as Least Concern.
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2022.1 GTB Forum process. The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
I would suggest to keep this species as Least Concern.
It is not a rare species, occurring throughout the forest zone of West Africa, and is sometimes locally common. It occupies a wide range of habitats, including farmbush with some remaining medium/large trees, shaded agroforestry farms (such as cocoa), secondary forest, edges, and the canopy of mature forest (Gatter 1997, Dowsett-Lemaire & Dowsett 2014). Its wide habitat tolerance suggests that declines may be less than proportional to observed loss of tree cover, although it may suffer from the eventual loss of large trees in farmed areas as farmland intensification proceeds. Dowsett-Lemaire & Dowsett describe the species as of “limited [conservation] concern”.
In fieldwork in Ghana in 2007 I estimated a density of 1.8 individuals per km2 in farm mosaic habitats (Phalan 2009). In the same study, I did not record the species in forest, but this is likely because it is hard to detect in the forest canopy (I was reliant on visual cues for this species), rather than being truly absent.
References
Dowsett-Lemaire, F., Dowsett, R.J., 2014. The Birds of Ghana: An Atlas and Handbook. Tauraco Press, Liège.
Gatter, W., 1997. Birds of Liberia. Yale University Press.
Phalan, B., 2009. Land use, food production, and the future of tropical forest species in Ghana (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. http://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245197
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 21 February 2022. We will now analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’s Red List status on this page on 21 February 2022, when discussions will re-open.
Preliminary proposal
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2022.1 Red List would be to list Yellow-chinned Sunbird as Least Concern. Although tree cover loss is thought to be causing moderate declines, the occupation of a wide range of habitats likely means these declines do not approach the threshold for listing as threatened under Criterion A.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 27 February 2022, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a final decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 7 March 2022.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Yellow-chinned Sunbird is recommended to be listed as Least Concern.
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2022.1 GTB Forum process. The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.