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

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
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Near Threatened	A2bc+3bc+4bc
2017	Near Threatened	A2bc+3bc+4bc
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	174,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	2009
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	2013-2023
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	3.6 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population has been estimated at 100,000-500,000 individuals (del Hoyo et al. 2007), with 10,000-100,000 individuals estimated to be in Lesotho (per Hockey et al. 2005). The Lesotho highlands are a stronghold for this species. In the Sehlabethebe National Park, 11 breeding pairs per 32 km transect were found in the afro-montane grassland (Kopij 2002). In the highlands above 2,200 m, 14 pairs per 54 km transect were found (Kopij 2015a). 10 pairs per 120 km transect were found in the foothills, but this species was not recorded at all in the lowlands (Kopij 2015a). In Afro-montane Themeda-Festuca grassland, 29 pairs were found per 61.2 km transect, while 32 breeding pairs were found per 44.7 km transect in the Afro-alpine grasslands 2,500 - 3,000 m above sea level (Kopij 2015b). 8 pairs per 104 km transect, and 1 pair per 110 km transect were found in the upper Senque and lower Senque river drainages respectively (Kopij 2013).  

Trend justification: Lee et al. (2017) analysed Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP) data (SABAP1 1987-1992; SABAP2 2007-2014. Note SABAP2 is ongoing but data taken from 2014) and suggested that this species is experiencing a decline in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Lee et al. (2017) suggest that the reporting rate has declined 28.5%, the range has declined 42.0% and the core range has declined 35.5% between SABAPs (although the corrected population change metric suggests population declines may be lower than this). Declines may in part be due to incomplete sampling during SABAP2 and the time period for these declines is greater than three generations (c.11 years), but it is precautionarily assessed that the species may be at least declining moderately rapidly over three generations.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Lesotho	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Lesotho	Liqobong
Lesotho	Mafika - Lisiu
Lesotho	Sehlabathebe National Park
Lesotho	Sehonghong and Matebeng
Lesotho	Upper Quthing Valley
Lesotho	Upper Senqu River
South Africa	Amatola - Katberg Mountain
South Africa	Golden Gate Highlands National Park
South Africa	Maloti Drakensberg Park
South Africa	Matatiele Nature Reserve
South Africa	Umgeni Vlei Nature Reserve

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		suitable	resident
Altitude	1800 - 0 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations - Small-holder plantations	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Drakensberg Rockjumper Chaetops aurantius. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/drakensberg-rockjumper-chaetops-aurantius 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.