Current view: Data table and detailed info
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 |
high |
| Land-mass type |
|
Average mass |
- |
Population justification: This species is one of the most enigmatic parrots in Wallacea, known from only a small series of specimens and handful of field observations, many of them unconfirmed.
The species was described from a series of seven specimens caught at 850-1,000 m by L. J. Toxopeus (Siebers 1930), the only collector (of at least 24) to visit Buru in the 20th century who detected it (Jepson 1993). There were additional claims of the species in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g. Smiet [1985], Marsden et al. [1997]; see BirdLife International [2001] for review) but despite reasonable search effort in lowland and mid-altitude forests (e.g. Reeve et al. 2014), it was not until 2014 that the species was unequivocally seen again, with two observed and photographed in November 2014 (Robson 2014), and four the following month (Robson et al. 2015)—both observations were made at c.1,300 m. There have been no records since (Rutt et al. 2024, eBird 2024).
While this pattern of records may ostensibly suggest a tiny population size and a species that is highly threatened, there remains considerable uncertainty with regards to this species' habitat use, rendering an evaluation of its population size particularly difficult. There remains plenty of suitable habitat at mid-elevation forests (i.e. where sightings of this species have come from) and in the absence of any trapping pressure (the species has never been recorded in trade) it is difficult to imagine what threat could have extirpated it. Nonetheless, the possible extinction of other similar lorikeet species (e.g. C. diadema and C. amabilis) in not wholly dissimilar circumstances does leave open the possibility that this species has become highly threatened by an unidentified threat.
Alternatively, however, previous interpretations of its habitat use could have been mistaken. It is possible that this species is instead a high-elevation specialist, only sporadically descending to lower (=mid-) elevations during flowering events. The highlands of Buru are very poorly explored: most birdwatchers and ornithologists visit mid-elevation forests below 1,500 m, and the areas above this are almost wholly unknown, despite Buru rising to c.2,700 m. It therefore remains entirely possible that a moderately large population of this species exists in these unexplored montane forests, and that scant observations simply reflect the absence of appropriate search effort in its range.
Accordingly, the population size of this species is considered unknown, with a very small, or moderately large, population size both entirely plausible.
Trend justification: Unknown due to a paucity of information about its habitat needs. If this species favours lowland or mid-elevation forests, it is likely to be declining in response to ongoing forest loss (Global Forest Watch 2024) and degradation (Grantham et al. 2020). However if it favours higher montane forests there is little plausible threat which could be driving declines (except for climate change, although this is wholly hypothetical) and the species may be stable. Accordingly its trend is unknown.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Blue-fronted Lorikeet Charmosyna toxopei. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/blue-fronted-lorikeet-charmosyna-toxopei on 23/12/2024.
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 23/12/2024.
