Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species is thought to have a very small population restricted to enscarpment forest in western Angola, which is inferred to be in decline owing to rapid habitat loss and degradation. It is therefore listed as Endangered.
Population justification
The population has previously been assumed to exceed 1,000 mature individuals and in 2005 the species was considered locally common (Mills 2010). However, at the only regularly monitored site in Kumbira forest, which is the most extensive site of suitable habitat, the species seems to have disappeared, with seven pairs found in 2005, and zero pairs found in 2010, despite longer and more thorough surveys (M. Mills in litt. 2013). This is due to rapid clearance of dense undergrowth for agriculture, which is likely a distribution-wide trend as the intensification of subsistence farming is occurring across the species' range, including Bango and Chongoroi (Dean 2000, M. Mills in litt. 2013). Therefore, the population is placed in the band for 1,000-2,499 mature individuals, which equals c.1,500-3,800 individuals in total. Its distribution is described as continuous along the Angolan Scarp (Mills 2010), so it is presumed to form one subpopulation; however, the ongoing habitat loss may have caused fragmentation so improved knowledge may change this.
Trend justification
Tree cover loss within the species' range is <10% over ten years; however, suitable habitat of dense undergrowth and vine tangles is being cleared rapidly for subsistence agriculture (M. Mills in litt. 2013). The species has been documented to occupy modified habitats and seems to be tolerant of fairly degraded vegetation (Ryan et al. 2004).
Surveys in Kumbira forest, the most extensive site of suitable habitat, have shown a clear decline with seven pairs found in 2005 and zero pairs found in 2010, despite longer and more thorough surveys (M. Mills in litt. 2013). This is likely to be a distribution-wide trend and therefore the population is inferred to be declining at a moderate rate, owing to the continued clearance and burning of its habitats for subsistence agriculture.
This species is known from the central escarpment forest of western Angola. Its historical range is thought to be continuous along the length of the scarp between Kumbira Forest and Chongoroi, occuring in a number of relict forest patches and thickets with Kumbira Forest being the most extensive site of suitable habitat (Mills 2010, M. Mills in litt. 2013). However, the records from Chongoroi are from before 1974, and all recent records have been from around Kumbira in the northern part of the range (Mills 2010). Records from 2003 came from a large forest block which survives near the village of Kumbira and in secondary bush near the town of Seles (C. Cohen, M. Mills and C. Spottiswoode in litt. 2003).
The species is found in dry evergreen forest, secondary growth, dry thickets and abandoned coffee plantations at 800-1,030 m (M. Mills in litt. 2007, Mills 2010), although recent surveys in 2012 only found this species in old-growth forest and not in secondary forest next to roads and farmland (Cáceres 2013). The species appears to be dependent on dense liana and vine tangles as well as thickets (M. Mills in litt. 2013, F. Olmos in litt. 2013). It feeds low down, almost to ground-level, on insects.
From the 1930s until the 1970s, an estimated 95% of forest on the escarpment was under coffee production (which leaves the canopy mostly intact) (Dean 2000). This has now been largely abandoned and subsistence agriculture is the main threat (Dean 2000). At one locality in particular, Chongoroi, frequent fires from uncontrolled slash-and-burn agriculture have threatened the species (Dean 2000). At Kumbira Forest, one of the most extensive areas of suitable habitat, there were at least seven pairs during surveys conducted during 2005; however, in a longer and more thorough study of the same area in 2010 no pairs were found (M. Mills in litt. 2013). This is thought to be a result of the clearance of dense undergrowth and vine tangles for subsistence agriculture, which is an increasingly prevalent driver of habitat conversion in the species' range (M. Mills in litt. 2013, F. Olmos in litt. 2013). Post-civil war development is becoming more rapid, including agricultural intensification and infrastructure development (M. Mills in litt. 2013), and it is said that the species' habitat is now being cleared very rapidly across its distribution (M. Mills in litt. 2013, F. Olmos in litt. 2013).
Conservation Actions Underway
A protected area of c.20 km2 at Chongoroi was recommended in the early 1970s, but has not yet been established (Dean 2000).
13 cm. Small, short-tailed, thin-billed, warbler. General body coloration is dull olive-brown, paler on belly and greyish on face. Voice Series of high-pitched, sparrow-like notes, repeated slowly, uttered explosively and more softly, with some variation: e.g. tee-tchyoi and tee, ti-twuh. Hints Very elusive and difficult to observe as it favours dense foliage.
Text account compilers
Rotton, H.
Contributors
Benstead, P., Cohen, C., Dean, W.R.J., Ekstrom, J., Mills, M., Shutes, S., Spottiswoode, C., Symes, A., Taylor, J. & Westrip, J.R.S.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Pulitzer's Longbill Macrosphenus pulitzeri. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/pulitzers-longbill-macrosphenus-pulitzeri on 23/12/2024.
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 23/12/2024.