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

Justification of Red List category
This flycatcher has a very small range and population, which are suspected to be declining as a direct result of extensive habitat loss and degradation. All remaining individuals are thought to be confined to one subpopulation. It is therefore listed as Endangered.

Population justification
This species is confined to a very small area of montane forest above 1,100 m (Eaton et al. 2016, Clement 2020), comprising no more than 200 km² of suitable habitat (per Global Forest Watch 2023). Therein it is a scarce species of the forest interior and is absent from forest edge or small forest patches (Eaton et al. 2016, J. Eaton in litt. 2021, A. Berryman pers. obs.). Direct population densities for the species are lacking, although at 30 eight-minute point counts in 2020 (all in suitable habitat), it was detected at only six (A. Berryman pers. obs.). Detectability was assumed to be high, since at the end of each point count, when playback was used, no more individuals were observed. Assuming 4/40 represents an approximate degree of occupancy, and the species (mature individuals) was detectable up to c.50 m range, this suggests a combined occupancy/density of 12.5 mature individuals/km². This is similar to estimations of 30-66 (not necessarily mature) individuals/km² for congeners (Santini et al. 2018) noting that the latter's data do not account for occupancy. Applying the data derived herein to the area of suitable habitat (150-190 km² depending on the assumptions used), the population is estimated at 1,800-2,470, rounded here to 1,800-2,500 mature individuals. Nonetheless, the data deriving these estimates is poor and in urgent need of confirmation with larger sampling, particularly on Lompobattang's southern and eastern flanks where few have visited in recent years.

Trend justification
Moderate declines of 5-15% are suspected to occur in 10 years in response to ongoing forest loss and degradation, and forest loss data for recent years suggest this may be slowly accelerating as access to higher elevations improves (Global Forest Watch 2023, based on data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein). This species is highly dependent on forest interior (Eaton et al. 2021, A. Berryman pers. obs.) and it is therefore predicted to decline at a rate greater than forest loss alone.

Ficedula bonthaina is only known from the Lompobatang massif at the southern tip of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

F. bonthaina inhabits the interior of tropical lower and upper montane rainforest above 1,100 m (Eaton et al. 2021). It is confined to the dense understorey of forest interior.

The environs of the Lompobattang massif are one of the most densely populated areas of Sulawesi and most forest below 1,000-1,500 m, and locally up to 1,700 m, has disappeared as a result of land clearance for transmigration settlements, commercial logging and both shifting and plantation agriculture. Fires, used to clear land, have in the past got out of control (e.g., in 2015) and remain a threat to this species given its small range. Remaining forest continues to be threatened by human activities which are incrementally ascending the mountainside. In addition to forest loss, this species' reliance on forest interior renders it vulnerable to degradation and fragmentation. Given this species' confinement to montane forest, climate change is a plausible future threat.

Conservation Actions Underway
None is known. A small portion of this species' range is protected (e.g., Malino, UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2023), but this does not appear to confer robust protection from habitat loss and degradation (per Global Forest Watch 2023).

Conservation Actions Proposed
Conduct extensive surveys in the Lompobatang massif to identify all remaining forest tracts supporting populations and to generate a reliable, species-specific population density. Establish a strict protected area to encompass as much remaining forest on the massif as possible. Promote effective enforcement of protected-area regulations to minimise alternative land-use development and control further exploitation of the area. Initiate local directives for forest protection and promote a widespread education programme highlighting the importance of the Lompobatang massif as the major water catchment area supplying the large cities of Ujung Pandang and Maros. Continue to monitor ongoing forest loss using remote sensing.

10-11 cm. Tiny, drab, unobtrusive flycatcher. Male olive-brown above with deep chestnut uppertail-coverts and tail. Large orange spot above lores. Orange-buff throat and upper breast. Lower breast to vent white with grey brown flanks. Female has paler throat and breast. Similar spp. Female Snowy-browed Flycatcher F. hyperythra has paler throat and duller brown tail. Female Rufous-throated Flycatcher F. rufigula has much duller tail and lacks rufous supraloral spot. Female Mangrove Blue-flycatcher Cyornis rufigastra is larger, lacking white belly and rufous on tail.

Text account compilers
Berryman, A.

Contributors
Benstead, P., Bishop, K.D., Derhé, M., Eaton, J., Gilroy, J., Hutchinson, R., Westrip, J.R.S. & van Steenis, J.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Lompobattang Flycatcher Ficedula bonthaina. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lompobattang-flycatcher-ficedula-bonthaina on 26/12/2024.
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 26/12/2024.