• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
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Taxonomic note

Cyornis brunneatus and C. nicobaricus (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as Rhinomyias brunneatus following Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993).

 

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.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2019	Near Threatened	B1ab(ii,iii); C2a(i)
2016	Near Threatened	B1b(ii)
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,700 km2	medium
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	1450-13300 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2016
Population trend	decreasing	poor	suspected	2009-2020
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Generation length	3.8 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The species appears to be common (Clement 2016). Using population density estimates of congeners (range c. 10-90 individuals/km²), and assuming only a proportion of its range is occupied, the population size is likely in the range of 2,200-20,000 individuals, which roughly equates to 1,450-13,300 mature individuals. The species occurs on two islands of the Nicobar Archipelago, the larger Great Nicobar Island (900 km²) and the smaller Little Nicobar Island (140 km²). It can be tentatively assumed that the size of the populations on both islands might be proportionate to the size of the islands. Under this assumption, Great Nicobar may hold c. 85% of the population, i.e. roughly 1,250-11,500 mature individuals, while Little Nicobar may hold c. 15% of the population, i.e. roughly 200-1,800 mature individuals.

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be in decline due to loss and degradation of its habitat, but the trend has not been directly estimated. Tracewski et al. (2016) measured the forest loss within the species’s range between 2000 and 2012 as c. 37 km². Assuming that forest loss continues at the same rate to the present day, this roughly equates to a rate of forest loss of 4.0% over the last three generations (11.4 years) for this species. While Nicobar Jungle-flycatcher likely tolerates a moderate level of habitat degradation, the only threat known to the species is the clearance and conversion of forests (del Hoyo et al. 2019).

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	marginal	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Moist	suitable	resident
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
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
Residential & commercial development	Commercial & industrial areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)				Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Nicobar Jungle-flycatcher Cyornis nicobaricus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/nicobar-jungle-flycatcher-cyornis-nicobaricus on 13/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 13/01/2025.