Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence under 20,000 km² combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (under 10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be over 10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (over 30% decline over ten years or three generations). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern. The status of this species was recently reassessed against the IUCN Red List criteria at national level for the Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020 (Garnet and Baker 2021), and not found to approach or meet the thresholds for threatened status, thereby supporting its continuing treatment as globally Least Concern.
Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as fairly common or locally common and less common in the south of its range (Clement 1999). The population is suspected to be in decline owing to the clearance and degradation of its habitats, however the rate of decline is no longer suspected to be moderately rapid.
Trend justification
The population is suspected to be in decline owing to the clearance and degradation of its habitats, however the overall rate of decline is no longer suspected to approach threatened thresholds. Subspecies P. c. cincta is projected to decline by 50-80 % over the next three generations (Buosi et al. 2021), but this now represents only a small portion of the total remaining population.
Poephila cincta once occurred in grassy woodlands throughout north-east Australia from Cape York Peninsula to north-east New South Wales. Substantial declines occurred in the southern nominate subspecies throughout the twentieth century with the last populations in south-east Queensland disappearing in the 1990s. This subspecies was previously thought to be declining at a rate of 20% every 10 years, but this was thought to have slowed (Garnett et al. 2011). However, the latest assessment of the subspecies indicates that a future very rapid reduction in excess of 50% is projected in this small population (Buosi et al. 2021) A decline in density and extent of occurrence has also been noted in the northern P. c. atropygialis, but rates of reduction overall are suspected to be slow.
The southern subspecies P. c. cincta inhabits grassy woodland dominated by eucalypts, paperbarks or acacias. It is apparently sedentary and feeds on seeds. P. c. atropygialis occurs in eucalypt and melaleuca-dominated savannas, feeding on a wide variety of grass seeds.
Reasons for the decline of both subspecies appear to be associated with the spread and intensification of pastoralism, changes in fire regime and increases in the density of native woody weeds in grassy savannas. They have been under pressure from the clearance of woodland but is also declining in uncleared savanna. The decline began in the southern part of the species's range, where sheep grazing dominates land-use and feral rabbits are prevalent. The decline has been less extreme in the north where clearing has been less extensive and cattle dominate. The substantial contraction in range in the north coincided with intensification of cattle grazing and changed fire regimes. Trapping for the bird trade may historically have caused local extinctions after populations had already been reduced. The main threats to the southern subspecies, P. c. cincta are habitat loss and degradation, with coal mining and associated developments likely to affect the majority of the subspecies' remaining habitat, while the invasive grasses Cenchrus ciliaris and Themeda quadrivalvis exacerbate impacts of unsuitable grazing and a reduction in fire frequency (Buosi et al. 2021).
Conservation Actions Underway
A recovery plan has been prepared for subspecies cincta with habitat of the species conserved near Townsville. Unsuccessful searches for remnant subpopulations in New South Wales have been completed.
Text account compilers
Rutherford, C.A.
Contributors
Garnett, S.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Black-throated Finch Poephila cincta. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/black-throated-finch-poephila-cincta on 22/11/2024.
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 22/11/2024.