Pallas's Grasshopper-warbler (Helopsaltes certhiola) | Details

Pallas's Grasshopper-warbler Helopsaltes certhiola

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
As part of their overhaul of the Locustellidae (see below) Alström et al. (2018) introduced the generic name Helopsaltes to cover the monophyletic group of Locustella warbler species ochotensis, pleskei, certhiola, pryeri, fasciolata and amnicola (del Hoyo & Collar 2016). They found no morphological diagnostic characters, but identified a clear difference in voice.
Has been considered elsewhere to be conspecific with either or both of H. ochotensis and H. pleskei (see both). Subspecies sparsimstriata intergrades with nominate in S Siberia (L Baikal area). Birds of Amurland (SE Siberia and NE China) sometimes separated as subspecies minor (Kennerley & Pearson 2010). Four subspecies recognized.

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2021. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

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

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	15,300,000 km²
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	10,700,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	2.18 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be common and locally abundant (Baker 1997), while national population sizes have been estimated at c.100-100,000 breeding pairs and c.50-10,000 individuals on migration in China and c.100-100,000 breeding pairs and c.50-10,000 individuals on migration in Russia (Brazil 2009). The population is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing habitat destruction.

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing habitat destruction.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor
Afghanistan	extant	vagrant
Bangladesh	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	vagrant
Brunei	extant	native
Cambodia	extant	vagrant
China (mainland)	extant	native	yes
Egypt	extant	vagrant
France	extant	vagrant
Germany	extant	vagrant
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native
India	extant	native
Indonesia	extant	native
Ireland	extant	vagrant
Israel	extant	vagrant
Japan	extant	vagrant
Kazakhstan	extant	native	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native	yes
Laos	extant	native
Latvia	extant	vagrant
Malaysia	extant	native
Mongolia	extant	native	yes
Myanmar	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	vagrant
North Korea	extant	native
Norway	extant	vagrant
Poland	extant	vagrant
Russia	extant	native	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native	yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native	yes
Singapore	extant	native
South Korea	extant	native
Sri Lanka	extant	native		yes
Thailand	extant	native
United Kingdom	extant	vagrant
Vietnam	extant	native

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 1900 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Pallas's Grasshopper-warbler Helopsaltes certhiola. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/pallass-grasshopper-warbler-helopsaltes-certhiola on 02/01/2025.
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 02/01/2025.