Current view: Data table and detailed info
Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and 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 |
does not normally occur in forest |
Land-mass type |
|
Average mass |
- |
Population justification: The population was estimated at c.500 pairs in the early 1990s, and was thought to number 1,000-1,500 birds based on its known range in 2007 (C. J. Hazevoet in litt. 2007). However, conservative estimates of 500 pairs on Fogo mean that the total population is likely to be higher, likely numbering 1,500-2,000 mature individuals, roughly equivalent to 2,200-3,000 individuals in total. Full censuses were never carried on Fogo or Santiago. The numbers on Santiago could be higher than previously thought because the bird is now known to occur in all vegetated areas of the island, whereas in the 1990s it was thought to be absent from the north of the island (H. Batalha in litt. 2016). On Fogo, a volcanic eruption in 2014 does not seem to have affected the extent of area occupied by the bird, but the bird is absent from areas where it had been previously found on the forest of Monte Velha following the forest fire of 2015. However, the size of the birds’ territories is unknown, and could be larger than in closely related species; this means that the numbers estimated based on replies to playbacks may or may not correspond to the actual numbers (in recent surveys, the same colour-ringed bird replied to playback lures from locations that could have considered two adjacent territories [H. Batalha in litt. 2016]). Surveys on S. Nicolau in three occasions in 2014 and 2016 found 12 – 13 territories each time, and the real number is not likely to be much higher. There are probably a minimum of 20 birds and a maximum of 50 on that island.
Trend justification: Despite the discovery of a large population on Fogo in 2004 and a report from Tarrafal on Santiago, the overall population was suspected to be declining owing to habitat loss, although substantive evidence of this is lacking (C.J. Hazevoet in litt. 2007). The Fogo population favours coffee plantations and introduced crops and the population may yet prove to be stable.
While the population on S. Nicolau seems to have decreased between the time of its discovery, in the 1860s, and the 1920s, the numbers seem to have stabilised, with approximately the same numbers of birds found in 1998, 2004, 2014 and 2016 (H. Batalha in litt. 2016). On Santiago, the bird was considered to be absent from the northern part of the island in the 1980s and 1990s, but currently it can be found in all latitudes (Batalha et al. 2016); it is not clear whether the birds was really absent on the northern part of the island in the 1980s/1990s or were simply undetected, so current population trends are difficult to infer (H. Batalha in litt. 2016), and it is possible that the species may have as much as doubled in population size (C. Hazevoet in litt. 2012).
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Cape Verde Swamp-warbler Acrocephalus brevipennis. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/cape-verde-swamp-warbler-acrocephalus-brevipennis 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.