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

Taxonomic note

Buteo oreophilus and B. trizonatus (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as B. oreophilus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
Clark, W. S. 2007. Taxonomic status of the Forest Buzzard Buteo oreophilus trizonatus. Ostrich 78(1): 101-104.
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
-	-	D1

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Near Threatened	D1
2017	Near Threatened	D1
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	179,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	869,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	670-6700 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2009
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	6.94 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The population is estimated to number 1,000-10,000 individuals, roughly equating to 670-6,700 mature individuals. However, a more precise estimate of the population size is urgently required.

Trend justification: There is uncertainty over the population trend. Using data from the first and second South African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP; SABAP1 1987-1992; SABAP2 2007-2014), Cooper et al. (2017) found that there was an 8% contraction in range.  Lee et al. (2017) suggest a range decline of 14% with a core range decline of 3% between the SABAP recording periods. Additionally, data from Global Forest Watch suggest that over the past 21 years (three generations), there has been negligible forest loss in the species' range (Global Forest Watch 2021). 
However, the spread of plantations within its range is potentially beneficial for the species, with the afforestation of grasslands increasing the potential habitat (see e.g., Allan et al. 1997; Cooper 2015). Such spread of plantations led Ferguson-Lees and Christie (2001) to suggest that the species may in fact be increasing. There are reports that forest buzzards use Eucaplyptus species as nesting sites (Hirsch et al. 2020).
Given the uncertainty over the trend it is tentatively assessed as stable, but further work is urgently required to assess whether the species may in fact be in decline.

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name
South Africa	Amatola - Katberg Mountain
South Africa	Blyde River Canyon
South Africa	Grasslands
South Africa	Kaapsehoop
South Africa	Karkloof
South Africa	KwaZulu-Natal Mistbelt Forests
South Africa	Maloti Drakensberg Park
South Africa	Songimvelo Nature Reserve
South Africa	Soutpansberg
South Africa	Wolkberg Forest Belt
South Africa	Woody Cape Section: Addo Elephant National Park

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	major	resident
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 1000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 1500 m

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations - Agro-industry plantations	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Forest Buzzard Buteo trizonatus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/forest-buzzard-buteo-trizonatus 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.