• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
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.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	D2
2013	Near Threatened	D2
2012	Near Threatened	D2
2008	Vulnerable	D2
2006	Vulnerable
2004	Vulnerable
2000	Critically Endangered
1996	Vulnerable
1994	Vulnerable
1988	Threatened

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	240 km2	medium
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	230 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	35000-66000, 50000 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2020
Population trend	stable	poor	inferred	-
Generation length	7.4 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification: There were estimated to be 35,000–66,000 Christmas Island Imperial-Pigeons in 2003 (Corbett et al. 2003) and there is no indication the population has declined since (Flakus et al. 2021).

Trend justification: In 2005–2006, the species was detected at 98% of surveys specifically for birds (10-minute counts at 128 sites, repeated four times; James and Retallick 2007). From 2003 to 2009, the detection rate during more general island-wide surveys was 43% of 988 sites and 86% of 983 sites in 2009. Since then detection rates have remained relatively stable: 92% of 933 sites in 2011 and 85% and 86% of 1,106 sites in 2013 and 2015, respectively (Flakus et al. 2021), results which suggest the species continue to be widespread and, in the absence of threats thought capable of driving population declines, are inferred to be stable.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Christmas Island (to Australia)	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Christmas Island (to Australia)	Christmas Island

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 310 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation
Energy production & mining	Mining & quarrying	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Likely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus rattus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Christmas Island Imperial-pigeon Ducula whartoni. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/christmas-island-imperial-pigeon-ducula-whartoni 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.