Dusky Scrubfowl (Megapodius freycinet) - BirdLife species factsheet

Dusky Scrubfowl Megapodius freycinet

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
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.
Jones, D. N.; Dekker, R. W. R.; Roselaar, C. S. 1995. The Megapodes. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2013	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Species attributes

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

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	360,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	5000-100000,10000-50000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2009
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	5.36 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population has been estimated at 10,000-100,000 individuals or, alternatively, under 5,000 birds (Dekker & McGowan 1995). Given the size of the range and observed densities in parts of the range (up to 67 individuals/km²) the population appears unlikely to be at the lower end of these figures. The species is described as common on Halmahera but scarce elsewhere (del Hoyo et al. 1994), but was still common in Manusela National Park in Seram in the late 1980s (Bowler and Taylor 1989). There appear to be very few recent records on Ternate (Kirwan et al. 2020a). Breeding sites are more widespread, the species is possibly tolerant of habitat degradation and is less intensively exploited than Moluccan Scrubfowl (Heij et al. 1997; Kirwan et al. 2020b). However it is still exploited where encountered and this is suspected to be sufficiently intense as to be causing a slow population reduction.

Trend justification: The population is declining owing to hunting pressure, degradation and destruction of suitable habitat and possibly predation by introduced predators (Kirwan et al. 2020a), although there seems little evidence for the latter. However the species is still common in parts of its range, e.g. Halmahera (Kirwan et al. 2020a).

Country/territory distribution

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

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Indonesia	Aketajawe
Indonesia	Galela
Indonesia	Gamkonora
Indonesia	Gunung Sibela
Indonesia	Hutan Bakau Dodaga
Indonesia	Morotai
Indonesia	Tanah Putih

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Swamp	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Shrub Dominated Wetlands	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 450 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 600 m

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Agriculture & aquaculture

Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Declines

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Biological resource use

Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)