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

Taxonomic note

Corvus pectoralis (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) was previously listed as C. torquatus.

Taxonomic source(s)
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.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	C2a(ii)

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Vulnerable	C2a(ii)
2016	Near Threatened	A2acde+3cde+4cde
2012	Near Threatened	A2acde+3cde+4cde
2008	Near Threatened	A2a,c,d,e; A3c,d,e; A4c,d,e
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	3,120,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	2500-9999 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2016
Population trend	decreasing	medium	estimated	2005-2027
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Generation length	7.3 years	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size was previously considered likely to exceed 10,000 mature individuals based on an extrapolation from a high density observed in Hong Kong (S. Chan in litt. 2007). However, it has become evident that the species is highly localised throughout the very large range, and this extrapolation from the density encountered in Hong Kong was inappropriate (P. Leader in litt. 2016, Leader et al. 2016). Recent efforts to improve the accuracy of the global population estimate have been conducted through a combination of an exhaustive compilation of historical and recent records and targeted field surveys at different locations within the range (Leader et al. 2016). This has resulted in a far lower estimate of the total population size of around 2,000 individuals (Leader et al. 2016). No attempt was made to account for the potential presence of additional, unsampled locations holding numbers of the species during the assessment, and there are reports of this species at locations not included in Leader et al.'s (2016) population estimate (S. Chan in litt. 2017, H. Huang in litt. 2018). Therefore, this estimate should be taken as the lower bound of a population estimate rather than a mid-point. The exercise did unearth a significant concentration of the species in eastern central China. Centred on the Dabie Shan mountain range in Henan, Hubei and Anhui provinces, an estimated 400-500 individuals were observed in the area over the course of a week in December 2014 (Leader et al. 2016). This indicates that additional localities with notable numbers may well be found. However, the presented estimate does represent a careful assessment of observations of the species, and it is unlikely that additional localities would increase the estimate by a large margin. Therefore, with careful consideration of the estimates presented for the multiple locations holding the species in Leader et al. (2016), the population is placed here in the band of 2,500 – 9,999 mature individuals, which equates to 3,750-14,999 individuals in total, rounded here to 3,500-15,000 individuals.

Trend justification: The species is suspected to be declining at a moderately rapid rate, owing mainly to agricultural intensification and persecution.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
China (mainland)	extant	native	yes
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native	yes
Taiwan, China	extant	uncertain	yes
Vietnam	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Vietnam	Vu Quang

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 60 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species disturbance
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Collared Crow Corvus pectoralis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/collared-crow-corvus-pectoralis on 27/12/2024.
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 27/12/2024.