Current view: Data table and detailed info
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.
IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Red List history
Migratory status |
not a migrant |
Forest dependency |
high |
Land-mass type |
|
Average mass |
- |
Population justification: Spatially explicit habitat models linked to density functions for R. longirostra predicted a contemporary population of 36,123 birds on Pohnpei (Oleiro and Kesler 2015), which is rounded here to 36,100 and equivalent to approximately 24,000 mature individuals.
Trend justification: Surveys in 1994 found significantly fewer individuals than in 1983 in both the lowland and uplands, with nearly 90% of the sightings on c.10% of the land area (Buden 2000). However, results from a comparison between these surveys (Engbring et al. 1990, Buden 2000) and detections from surveys in 2012 indicated a mean change in detection rates of -18% and +359%, respectively (Oleiro and Kesler 2015). Compared to Buden (2000), increasing detection rates were observed at lower elevation zones and a slight decline was observed above 600 m (-7%) (Oleiro and Kesler 2015). Despite this, the species is positively associated with upland old-growth forest (Oleiro 2014) and modelling of 1,000 future landscape scenarios by Oleiro and Kesler (2015) indicated a mean population decline of 3.6% (SD 7%) in R. longirostra populations during the next 100 years, with anthropogenic vegetation changes to undisturbed habitats most likely to drive declines. Global Forest Watch (2022) data are not available for Pohnpei such that estimating a rate of habitat clearance is not possible, but growing of sakau is widespread and currently considered the main cause of the island's upland deforestation (Ellis et al. 2018). Given predicted population declines, ongoing deforestation and increasing demand for sakau (Oleiro and Kesler 2015, Ellis et al. 2018), the species is suspected to be declining at a slow rate.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Long-billed White-eye Rukia longirostra. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/long-billed-white-eye-rukia-longirostra on 23/11/2024.
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 23/11/2024.