Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species is restricted to Java and Bali, with a population that is suspected to be undergoing a very rapid decline caused by heavy exploitation for the wild cagebird trade. The rate of the population reduction is believed to exceed 50%, therefore the species has been uplisted to Endangered.
Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but the species has become rare and difficult to locate in a very short time period (B. van Balen in litt. 2020, J. Eaton in litt. 2020). It was common at most, if not all, forest patches in Java and Bali until relatively recently (B. van Balen in litt. 2020). It was present commonly in 35 sampled locations across the range between 1981 and 1990 (van Balen 1999). Currently the species is at best rare in a few sites, and absent at many: it was only recorded in 8 of the 7,935 2 km x 2 km tetrad squares sampled during the 'Big Month' citizen science project in January 2020 (T. Squires and S. Marsden in litt. 2020). One of the most highly traded birds in Java, exploitation has driven considerable population declines.
Trend justification
Within the last ten years, it has been disappearing from recently occupied sites across Java and Bali, with records now few and scattered (eBird 2019). During the ‘Big Month’ citizen science event across Java and Bali in January 2020 the species was only recorded in 8 (0.1%) of the 7,935 tetrads visited (T. Squires and S. Marsden in litt. 2020). The IUCN SSC Asian Songbird Trade Specialist Group (ASTSG) consider the species to have undergone a decline of at least 50% over 10 years (S. Marsden in litt. 2020).
Previously the species was widespread and common in all types of forest and forest patches: it was recorded commonly at 35 sites sampled between 1981-1990 (van Balen 1999, B. van Balen in litt. 2020), and declines were scarcely registered until into the first decade of the 2000s. Symes et al. (2018) estimated that virtually the entire population was accessible to trappers, and suggested that coupled with the desirability of the species this could lead to a decline in excess of 90% over the next ten years.
As such, the population of Brown-cheeked Bulbul is suspected to be declining at a very rapid rate of between 50-79% over the past 10 years, based on rates of exploitation and the disappearance of the species from many sites across its range. This population reduction is suspected to continue at this rate into the future: at present there seems little likelihood of the pressure on the species abating. From the numbers recorded in bird markets, a continuing population decline can be inferred: where 178 individuals were recorded in a 2014 inventory of 19,036 birds (0.9 %) only 13 out of 14,617 were counted in July 2019 (0.1 %) (J. Eaton in litt. 2020).
Alophoixus bres is restricted to Java and Bali, Indonesia. The species has suffered a significant decline, being patchily distributed and increasingly difficult to locate in areas (such as Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park and Alas Purwo National Park) in which it was previously common (van Balen 1999, B. van Balen in litt. 2020, J. Eaton in litt. 2020, S. Marsden in litt. 2020).
Inhabits primary, secondary, and submontane forest, and may potentially be tolerant of some habitat degradation (Fishpool et al. 2019). It was previously common throughout forest patches (B. van Balen in litt. 2020). It occurs below 1,500 m (del Hoyo et al. 2020). The species generally feeds on insects, including beetles, bugs, dragonflies, damselflies, and termites. Breeding occurs during almost all months, particularly in Western and Central Java (del Hoyo et al. 2020).
The overwhelming threat to the species is trapping for the cagebird trade. It is one of the most highly traded birds in Java, and exploitation is suspected to be causing considerable population declines, with effectively the entire population judged to be accessible to trappers (Symes et al. 2018). During surveys between 2014-2019, the number of birds observed in markets have also decreased from 178 birds (from a total of 19,036) in 2014 to only 13 birds (from a total of 14,617) in 2019 (J. Eaton in litt. 2020), indicative of a restriction in supply that suggests the species is disappearing from many sites. A 2018 survey of bird ownership involving over 3,000 households in all six of Java’s provinces also estimated that 340,620 ± 54,354 Alophoixus sp. were currently kept in Java alone (Marshall et al. 2020), with the majority likely to be A. bres given the observed ratios of A. tephrogenys to this species in inventoried markets (S. Marsden in litt. 2020).
The species is considered fairly tolerant of degraded habitat (Fishpool et al. 2019), so the decline is driven entirely by trapping for the bird trade (Symes et al. 2018).
Conservation actions underway
No conservation actions directed specifically towards this species are currently in place. The principal threat is trade. Capture and trade of any wild birds has been essentially illegal in Indonesia since 2002, but this is scarcely enforced (Eaton et al. 2015, Chng et al. 2016).
Conservation actions proposed
In their review of the impacts on bird species of commercial trade in Sundaic Indonesia, Eaton et al. (2015) made a series of recommendations for actions to prevent population declines, of which the following are applicable to this species: Enforce laws restricting trade, after careful review considering all interested parties. Carry out public awareness campaigns by working with trappers. Establish a commercial captive-breeding programme. Improve and expand survey and monitoring programmes for this species, both within the field and on the pet market.
Text account compilers
Martin, R., Fernando, E., Smith, D.
Contributors
Butchart, S., Eaton, J., Ekstrom, J., Khwaja, N., Marsden, S., Squires, T. & van Balen, B.S.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Brown-cheeked Bulbul Alophoixus bres. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/brown-cheeked-bulbul-alophoixus-bres on 22/12/2024.
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 22/12/2024.