Current view: Data table and detailed info
Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
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.
IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Red List history
| Migratory status |
not a migrant |
Forest dependency |
high |
| Land-mass type |
|
Average mass |
31 g |
Population justification: The population estimates of the two Pilotbird subspecies is based on average densities recorded in 2-ha 20-min counts (P. f. floccosus 1.5±0.6 birds/ha and P. f. sandlandi 1.3±0.6 birds/ha; BirdLife Australia 2020), the areas likely to have been occupied from 1990–2019 based on Birdata (BirdLife Australia 2020) and eBird (2021), a habitat occupancy prediction of 5%–10%, and maps of severity for fire in 2019–2020 within the pre-fire range and initial assumptions about mortality at different severity classes (severity low: 20%; medium: 50%; high: 100%; very high: 100%). This leads to estimations of 9,000-125,000 mature individuals of P. f. sandlandi (with a best estimation of 77,000) and a much smaller population of 1,000-18,000 mature individuals of P. f. floccosus (best estimation 11,000). The total population is therefore estimated at c.88,000 mature individuals (Loyn et al. 2021).
Trend justification:
The population of P. f. floccosus is thought to have declined by 33% over the past three generations (c.10.3 years; Bird et al. 2020) because of the wildfires of 2019-2020 with estimates ranging from 19% to 37% depending on the fire-related mortality assumed under different scenarios (S.T. Garnett & G. Ehmke unpublished, in Loyn et al. 2021). The population of P. f. sandlandi is thought to have declined by 30% as a result of the fires with estimates ranging from 17%–34% depending on the fire-related mortality assumed under different scenarios (S.T. Garnett & G. Ehmke unpublished, in Loyn et al. 2021). Both estimates conservatively assume a relatively high level of mortality; it may be lower – Baker et al. (1997) estimated that 10% of individuals survived a fierce fire in the Brindabellas. Recovery from fire may be slow. In severely burnt Mountain Ash Eucalyptus regnans forest, birds first returned to long-term monitoring plots after four years (Lindenmayer et al. 2018), and in the Brindabellas, the population was 10% of pre-fire levels in the three years post-fire, and 30% in the subsequent three years (Baker et al. 1997). The population is therefore suspected to have declined by 20-39% over the past three generations, with a best estimate of 30-35%. Although the cause of this decline is understood and to at least some extent reversible, it is unknown whether the threat has ceased, with climate modelling consistently predicting that such extreme fire events will become more frequent in the future.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Pilotbird Pycnoptilus floccosus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/pilotbird-pycnoptilus-floccosus 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.
