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

Taxonomic note

Scleroptila psilolaema and S. elgonensis (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously placed in the genus Francolinus and lumped as F. psilolaemus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993). Has elsewhere been considered conspecific with S. afra. Proposed subspecies ellenbecki (SC Ethiopia) of doubtful validity. Monotypic.

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.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Near Threatened	A2c+4c
2016	Near Threatened	A2c+3c+4c
2014	Near Threatened	A2c+3c+4c
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	113,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	poor	suspected	2017-2033
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Generation length	5.2 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	3-10	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is considered 'uncommon' in Oromia, which constitutes a large part of its range (Gedeon et al. 2017, Kirwan et al. 2022). It is reported to have declined rapidly in recent years (A.A. Mamo in litt. 2024).

Trend justification: Although little is known about the actual demographics of the species' population, the moorland habitat it depends on is undergoing destruction and degradation due to increasing human pressure and subsequent conversion to agriculture and overgrazing from livestock farming (A. Shimelis in litt. 2013, Kirwan et al. 2022). In addition, climate change will likely increasingly affect the species' habitat within the next 16 years (three generations) as temperatures and precipitation levels change (McSweeney et al. 2010, Gedeon et al. 2017). Anecdotally the species was considered locally frequent to common in the 1970s, whereas now it is characterised as uncommon in the majority of its range (Gedeon et al. 2017, Kirwan et al. 2022).
It is therefore suspected that the species' population is experiencing a decline due to the loss and degradation of suitable habitat, which will likely continue in the future.  It is suspected that the rate of this decline may be moderately rapid (A. Aero in litt. 2024), however there is an urgent need for systematic monitoring to allow better inference of the rate of reduction.

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Ethiopia	Ankober - Debre Sina escarpment
Ethiopia	Bale Mountains National Park
Ethiopia	Entoto Natural Park and escarpment
Ethiopia	Guassa Plateau (Menz)

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	resident
Altitude	2400 - 4000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species disturbance, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Moorland Francolin Scleroptila psilolaema. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/moorland-francolin-scleroptila-psilolaema on 22/12/2024.
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 22/12/2024.