Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This forest-dependent species is listed as Near Threatened because it is suspected to be undergoing a moderately rapid decline (15-25% over ten years) owing to the extensive loss of lowland forests from large areas of the Sundaic lowlands.
Population justification
The global population size of this species has not been quantified, but it is relatively common (Wells 2007, Eaton et al. 2021, eBird 2024) in remaining tracts of lowland forest, which remain widespread, although much reduced in extent compared to three generations ago. Accordingly, its global population size is likely to be relatively large.
Trend justification
No direct population trend data are available for this species, however remote sensing data are considered a suitable proxy for this forest-dependent species. Over the past ten years, forest cover within its range was reduced by c. 14-18% (Global Forest Watch [2024], based on data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods therein). This species is commonest at lower elevations, where rates have been most rapid, and the species may be additionally impacted by forest degradation and fragmentation. Accordingly, rates of population reduction may be slightly higher than remote sensing data alone indicate; the rate of population reduction for the past three generations is set at 15-25%.
This species is restricted to the Sundaic lowlands of south Tenasserim, Myanmar, peninsular and west Thailand, Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, Kalimantan (including the Natuna and Anamba islands) and Sumatra (including offshore islands), Indonesia and Brunei, where it is generally a common bird in suitable habitats (BirdLife International 2001). Status on Singapore unclear. Presumably historically a resident breeding species, but now a vagrant with sporadic records up to the 1990s; accordingly considered extinct herein, but may at some point recolonise.
This species is found in broadleaved evergreen forests in lowlands and hills, up to 1,100 m (Eaton et al. 2021). It occurs in logged and secondary forests, as well as overgrown plantations and peat-swamp forest. It is most commonly encountered at forest edges or light-gaps within forest.
The chief threat to this species is forest loss, which has been especially rapid in the Greater Sundaic bioregion due to timber extraction and the proliferation of plantations (chiefly oil-palm and rubber). These threats are thought to have driven declines of 15-25% over the past ten years. Forest fires associated with climate change may become more frequent over time, adding an additional pressure to this species including in protected areas. This species has been reported as used in trade at a low prevalence, being found in two of the seven trade datasets evaluated (Donald et al. 2024).
Conservation Actions Underway
This species occurs in numerous protected areas across its range, which safeguard it from more precipitous rates of population decline. No specific measure is known.
Conservation Actions Proposed
Continue to monitor rates of population decline using habitat extent as a proxy. Protect more areas of lowland forest. Instigate longer-term monitoring at some sites to determine whether there are additional threats to habitat loss.
Text account compilers
Richardson, L., Berryman, A.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Buff-vented Bulbul Iole charlottae. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/buff-vented-bulbul-iole-charlottae 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.