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

Taxonomic note
Ceyx melanurus and C. mindanensis (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as C. melanurus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

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	Least Concern
2016	Vulnerable	A2c+3c+4c
2014	Vulnerable	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	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	23 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	260,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	poor	suspected	2019-2029
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	0-10%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	0-10%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	0-10%	-	-	-
Generation length	2.81 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	2-20	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: Poorly known. Described by Allen (2020) as local and uncommon, and the paucity of observations of this species in citizen science data (eBird 2024) would ostensibly suggest that it is a rare species. However, Ceyx are cryptic and have low detectability, with mist-netting proving a far more reliable indicator of their true abundance than walked transects. During mist-netting on Alabat, Ceyx melanurus was the third most commonly caught species (Gomez et al. 2009). Its habitat tolerances are not well understood, but almost all Ceyx are plastic in habitat use, and C. mindanensis, with which this species was formerly conspecific, is apparently highly tolerant of forest modification (de Leon et al. 2018). While its population size is therefore recorded as unknown, given its range covers nearly 80,000 km², even if only a small percentage of this is occupied, the global population size is unlikely to be small.

Trend justification: The only plausible threat to this species is habitat loss and degradation. Although previously often regarded as dependent on virgin forest, it tolerates open forest and secondary growth, as do most Ceyx species (de Leon et al. 2018, Allen 2020, eBird 2024). Global Forest Watch (2024, using data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein) indicates that over the past 10 years, approximately 5-8% of forest canopy cover has been lost, but in many places this has been replaced with plantations, which this species may inhabit, or may have overgrown. Accordingly, this value may not accurately reflect the population trend of this species, which is set to ongoing declines of 0-10% to account for considerable uncertainty. Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that this species is declining more rapidly.

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Philippines	Angat watershed
Philippines	Anonang-Lobi Range
Philippines	Balogo Watershed
Philippines	Catanduanes Watershed Forest Reserve
Philippines	Mariveles mountains
Philippines	Mount Cabalantian - Mount Capoto-an complex
Philippines	Mount Dingalan
Philippines	Mount Isarog National Park
Philippines	Mount Kulasi
Philippines	Mount Labo
Philippines	Mount Makiling
Philippines	Mount Nacolod
Philippines	Mount Pulag National Park
Philippines	Mount Yacgun - Mount Sohoton complex
Philippines	Mounts Irid-Angilo and Binuang
Philippines	North Eastern Cagayan Protected Landscape and Seascape
Philippines	Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park
Philippines	Pagbilao and Tayabas Bay
Philippines	Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape
Philippines	Polillo Islands
Philippines	Quezon National Park
Philippines	Southern Samar mountains
Philippines	University of the Philippines Land Grants (Pakil and Real)

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 1050 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Shifting agriculture	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations - Agro-industry plantations	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Energy production & mining	Mining & quarrying	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: North Philippine Dwarf-kingfisher Ceyx melanurus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/north-philippine-dwarf-kingfisher-ceyx-melanurus 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.