Current view: Data table and detailed info
Taxonomic note
Theristicus melanopis and T. branickii (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as T. melanopis following SACC (2005), and before then were split as T. melanopis and T. branickii 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.
IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Red List history
| Migratory status |
not a migrant |
Forest dependency |
does not normally occur in forest |
| Land-mass type |
|
Average mass |
- |
Population justification: The species is described as uncommon and local (Medrano and Pyle 2023).
In 2001 the population in Ecuador was estimated at 52 individuals (Olmedo-Gordón 2001, in Naveda-Rodríguez et al. 2020). From point counts in Antisana National Park (Ecuador), the population was estimated at 85 (63-117) individuals in 2016, at 94 (32-125) individuals in 2017, and at 134 (77-210) individuals in 2018 (Naveda-Rodríguez et al. 2020). Considering that Antisana is described as the species' stronghold in Ecuador (Medrano and Pyle 2023), these values are here considered are rough proxy for the national population in Ecuador.
The population in Peru and Bolivia has not been quantified. Assuming that the densities observed in Ecuador are representative for the entire range, and considering that Ecuador covers about 1-2% of the global range, the total population may have numbered around 4,250-13,400 individuals in 2016-2018. This roughly equates to 2,800-8,900 mature individuals, which is here placed in the band 2,500-9,999 mature individuals. It should be noted however that there is large uncertainty around this value, and an accurate quantification of the global population size is urgently required.
Trend justification: The population trend has not been investigated. The species is generally considered sensitive to habitat degradation and loss, and it is therefore suspected that the species is undergoing a decline (Collar and Bird 2011, Medrano and Pyle 2023). Andean grassland and shrubland are progressively lost: in the Antisana region in Ecuador conversion into agricultural land has increased dramatically in the three generations (26.3 years) between 1991 and 2017; during that period, a total of 18% of native habitat was converted into cropland and pasture (Thompson et al. 2021). In other areas, páramo conversion is ongoing at a similar rate. In south-central Ecuador (outside of the species' current range), 20% of páramo was lost to agriculture during 1999-2014 (Ross et al. 2017). Andean wetlands are further lost due to climate change, as changes in rainfall patterns and increasingly arid conditions lead to a drying-up of wetlands (Otto and Gibbons 2017).
Localised hunting may have further compounded past declines, though this pressure has now been reduced and is unlikely to negatively impact the population (Medrano and Pyle 2023). Data from Ecuador, where the species used to be hunted, appear to show a genuine recovery in the population since a hunting ban came into place: On Antisana volcano the population increased from c. 85 individuals in 2016 to 94 individuals in 2017 and 134 individuals in 2018 (Naveda-Rodríguez et al. 2020). Apart from a reduction in hunting pressure the authors attribute this increase to favourable weather conditions over this period and an increase in gross primary productivity.
As the population in Ecuador comprises only about 1% of the global population this local increase is unlikely to affect the global population trend, though it proves the species' high sensitivity to changes in environmental conditions. Consequently, in the absence of an exact quantification of the overall rate of habitat loss or population change across the range, it is tentatively suspected that the species has declined by 20-29% over the past three generations (1997-2023), and that this is ongoing at roughly the same rate into the near future.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Andean Ibis Theristicus branickii. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/andean-ibis-theristicus-branickii on 18/12/2024.
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 18/12/2024.
