7 thoughts on “Blue Swallow (Hirundo atrocaerulea)”
The review of the Global Status of the Blue Swallow is much needed and the uplisting from Vulnerable to Endangered is very much supported. Declines of breeding pairs recorded in KwaZulu-Natal is compounded by decreased breeding productivity. Furthermore, the number of recorded adults within each breeding territory also appears to be declining but this is currently not a metrics that is actively monitored across all sites. The province of KZN produce an annual monitoring report which can support this notion and can be supplied upon request.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 12 February 2024. We will now analyse and interpret the information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 12 February 2024, when discussions will re-open.
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2024 Red List would be to adopt the proposed classifications outlined in the initial forum discussion.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 18 February 2024, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2024 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in December 2024, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
The following comment was received from Frank Willems while the window for consultation was temporarily closed:
“I see there’s an estimate of 20-30 Blue Swallow for Zambia, all on Nyika. This seems on the high side these days but we don’t have proper survey data. I didn’t see any the only time I was on Nyika recently (Oct 2022) and the only 2 records on eBird also suggest 10-15 birds is more plausible. Though not much of a sample size, decrease more likely than increase or stable.
Nyika only breeding site. We got one record from Mafinga which was couple of birds I saw in post-breeding season (April) and none in several visits in Oct-Nov by myself and others, so unlikely they breed there. Other Zambian records definitely passage.”
I have provided data and assessments for these IUCN redlist assessments for various threatened or near-threatened species in Tanzanian forests in the distant past. Most of the forest species have not featured in recent years, and hence I have not been an active participant. However, I did take a look at this revised draft assessment of the Blue Swallow with which I am familiar with. I wanted express that I am impressed at the care, data presentation and evaluation, information on threats, etc documented for this species across its breeding and non-breeding range. Conservation requires an evaluation of what we know and don’t know, but at the same time, whatever we do know to save species is critical to developing strategies to preserve/conserve them. Well done to all the stakeholders and the risk assessment team!
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the information, and we will post a final decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 26 February 2024.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Blue Swallow is recommended to be listed as Endangered under Criterion C2a(ii).
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2024.1 GTB Forum process. The final 2024 Red List categories will now be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in October 2024, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
The review of the Global Status of the Blue Swallow is much needed and the uplisting from Vulnerable to Endangered is very much supported. Declines of breeding pairs recorded in KwaZulu-Natal is compounded by decreased breeding productivity. Furthermore, the number of recorded adults within each breeding territory also appears to be declining but this is currently not a metrics that is actively monitored across all sites. The province of KZN produce an annual monitoring report which can support this notion and can be supplied upon request.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 12 February 2024. We will now analyse and interpret the information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 12 February 2024, when discussions will re-open.
Preliminary proposal
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2024 Red List would be to adopt the proposed classifications outlined in the initial forum discussion.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 18 February 2024, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2024 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in December 2024, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
The following comment was received from Frank Willems while the window for consultation was temporarily closed:
“I see there’s an estimate of 20-30 Blue Swallow for Zambia, all on Nyika. This seems on the high side these days but we don’t have proper survey data. I didn’t see any the only time I was on Nyika recently (Oct 2022) and the only 2 records on eBird also suggest 10-15 birds is more plausible. Though not much of a sample size, decrease more likely than increase or stable.
Nyika only breeding site. We got one record from Mafinga which was couple of birds I saw in post-breeding season (April) and none in several visits in Oct-Nov by myself and others, so unlikely they breed there. Other Zambian records definitely passage.”
I have provided data and assessments for these IUCN redlist assessments for various threatened or near-threatened species in Tanzanian forests in the distant past. Most of the forest species have not featured in recent years, and hence I have not been an active participant. However, I did take a look at this revised draft assessment of the Blue Swallow with which I am familiar with. I wanted express that I am impressed at the care, data presentation and evaluation, information on threats, etc documented for this species across its breeding and non-breeding range. Conservation requires an evaluation of what we know and don’t know, but at the same time, whatever we do know to save species is critical to developing strategies to preserve/conserve them. Well done to all the stakeholders and the risk assessment team!
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the information, and we will post a final decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 26 February 2024.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Blue Swallow is recommended to be listed as Endangered under Criterion C2a(ii).
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2024.1 GTB Forum process. The final 2024 Red List categories will now be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in October 2024, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.