Justification of Red List category
This species occupies a small range, within which forest habitat continues to be cleared. It is not considered more threatened because it appears to be tolerant of secondary growth and favours montane forest which is less under threat. Accordingly, it is listed as Near Threatened.
Population justification
In this species' range, there was c. 3,000 km2 of forest (with >50% canopy cover) in 2021 (per Global Forest Watch 2022, based on data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein). There are no direct density estimates available for this species, but other Coracina cuckooshrikes in Wallacea have been recorded at c.15-40 mature individuals/km2 (see, e.g., Poulsen et al. [1999]). Adopting the 25th and 75th percentiles, C. fortis is inferred to occur at a density of c. 22-33 mature individuals/km2. The species may occur at a relatively low occupancy (see Marsden et al. 1997, eBird 2022), which is set here to 20-40% on the grounds that not all forest will be suitable and/or occupied. These parameters give a total population of c.13,00-40,000 mature individuals, although the data quality of this inferred population size is set to low.
Trend justification
In the three generations (12.6 years; Bird et al. 2020) to 2022, forest cover in this species' range reduced by c. 5-6% (Global Forest Watch 2022, based on data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein), and this is thought to have had broadly equivalent impacts on the species population size. Thus the species is suspected of having declined by 1-9% (with a best estimate of 5%) over the past ten years, and the same rate is precautionarily projected into the future.
Coracina fortis is restricted to Buru, Indonesia, where it is somewhat scarce (BirdLife International 2001, Eaton et al. 2021, eBird 2022).
This species appears to be most abundant in higher-altitude primary forest with an open understorey (up to 1,500 m), although it is also recorded from disturbed habitats, lowland and monsoon forests (Poulsen et al. 1999, Eaton et al. 2021, eBird 2022).
The principal threat to this species is the loss and degradation of forest habitat though logging and agricultural conversion, which is occurring at a slow rate across its single-island home. In the three generations years to 2021, forest cover in this species' range reduced by c.5-6% (Global Forest Watch 2022, based on data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein), and this is thought to have had broadly equivalent impacts on the species population size.
Conservation Actions Underway
None is known. The species presumably occurs in Masbait Wildlife Reserve, but this protects only a tiny (62.5 km2) portion of Buru.
Text account compilers
Berryman, A.
Contributors
Benstead, P., Gilroy, J., Reeve, A.H.R., Taylor, J. & Westrip, J.R.S.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Buru Cuckooshrike Coracina fortis. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/buru-cuckooshrike-coracina-fortis on 23/11/2024.
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 23/11/2024.