Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species has a large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence under 20,000 km² combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population size may be small, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (under 10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be over 10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (over 30% decline over ten years or three generations). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Population justification
The population was previously estimated to number 2,500-9,999 individuals based on an assessment of known records, descriptions of abundance and range size. This is consistent with recorded population density estimates for congeners or close relatives with a similar body size, and the fact that only a proportion of the estimated Extent of Occurrence is likely to be occupied. This estimate is equivalent to 1,667-6,666 mature individuals, rounded here to 1,500-7,000 mature individuals. However, the species's estimated range size has since increased by a factor of five, suggesting that there may be 7,500-35,000 mature individuals. This species is considered to have a high dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 10.1% within its mapped range over the past three generations (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). It is therefore tentatively suspected that this rate of cover loss may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame, with a best estimate of reduction being 11-14%.
Trend justification
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Pternistis griseostriatus is found throughout the escarpment zone and widely in the northern coastal plain of western Angola (Collar and Stuart 1985, Keane et al. in press b, P. Vaz Pinto in litt. 2004, M. Mills in litt. 2005, Mills 2010). It was first collected in 1957 and was recorded on only a few occasions until recently, when observers have been more easily able to enter the country (W. R. J. Dean in litt. 1999, M. Mills in litt. 2005). It appears to be common in some areas (P. Vaz Pinto in litt. 2004, M. Mills in litt. 2005, 2012; Mills 2010).
It is found in secondary and gallery forest, occurring in thickets and weed-covered areas in the north of its range and in the extensive dry dense forest and thickets that are typical of the northern coastal plain (P. Vaz Pinto in litt. 2004). Reports suggest that it may be more abundant in the latter habitat and it appears to make use of secondary forest, as long as dense cover is present (P. Vaz Pinto in litt. 2004, M. Mills in litt. 2005). The species is not uncommon in heavily cultivated areas (M. Mills in litt. 2012). It feeds, in both early morning and late afternoon, in grassland and abandoned cotton fields adjacent to the forest on small arthropods, shoots and seeds (McGowan 1994).
Previous civil unrest in the species's range has now abated (M. Mills in litt. 2004, P. Vaz Pinto in litt. 2004), but this has facilitated the growth of agricultural activities. Forest on the escarpment is threatened by clearance for subsistence agriculture and charcoal production, although the latter only occurs at sites at c.300 m elevation (Mills 2010). Forest habitats were previously thought to be decreasing at a slow, but steady rate (M. Mills in litt. 2005); however, clearance of the forest understorey and ring-barking of large canopy trees to allow the cultivation of crops such as bananas, maize, beans and cassava, is reportedly taking place at an alarming but unknown rate (Mills 2010). The species appears to show substantial tolerance of heavy habitat modification and occurs in cultivated areas (M. Mills in litt. 2012), thus agricultural expansion is currently not thought to be driving a rapid decline in this species's population. Urban development also poses a threat to the species's habitat (P. Vaz Pinto in litt. 2012). There is little information on the extent of hunting or the threat it might pose, but it appears not to be serious (P. Vaz Pinto in litt. 2004, M. Mills in litt. 2005).
Conservation Actions Underway
A sizeable population was discovered in Quiçama National Park in 2000 (Dean 2001, P. Vaz Pinto in litt. 2004). A protected area of c.20 km2 at Chongoroi, in Benguela Province, was recommended in the early 1970s, but has not yet been established (Huntley 1974, Huntley and Matos 1994).
33 cm. Rotund, short-tailed, terrestrial gamebird. Adults easily recognised by rich chestnut-streaked breast, mantle and upperwing-coverts. Pale throat, dark upper bill and orangey lower mandible and legs. Juvenile brownish, heavily streaked with black on both upper and underparts. Voice Described as very similar to kerak kerak crowing of Scaly Francolin F. squamatus, although there is some disagreement about this.
Text account compilers
Rutherford, C.A.
Contributors
Dean, R., Hawkins, F., Mills, M. & Vaz Pinto, P.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Grey-striped Spurfowl Pternistis griseostriatus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/grey-striped-spurfowl-pternistis-griseostriatus 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.