Justification of Red List category
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence under 20,000 km² combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (under 10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be over 10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (over 30% decline over ten years or three generations). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Population justification
The species has a large global population estimated to number 100,000-1,000,000 individuals (del Hoyo et al. 1994). This species is considered to have a medium dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 3.9% within its mapped range over the past three generations (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). Therefore, as a precautionary measure, it is tentatively suspected that this loss of cover may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame.
Trend justification
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This species has a large range in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and northern Australia.
This species occurs in a range of habitats from sea-level to 1,800 m, including lowland and montane rainforest, swamp forest, mangroves, and more arid bushy or wooded country near the coast. It is typically more frequent at lower altitudes, and seems to adapt well to secondary scrub (Jones et al. 1995).
Text account compilers
Rutherford, C.A.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Orange-footed Scrubfowl Megapodius reinwardt. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/orange-footed-scrubfowl-megapodius-reinwardt on 25/12/2024.
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 25/12/2024.