Retz's Helmetshrike (Prionops retzii) - BirdLife species factsheet

Retz's Helmetshrike Prionops retzii

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
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

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	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	6,390,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	5.21 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as not uncommon to locally common (Harris and Franklin 2000). This species is considered to have a medium dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 10.9% 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: .

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident
Angola	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 1900 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Retz's Helmetshrike Prionops retzii. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/retzs-helmetshrike-prionops-retzii on 22/11/2024.
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 22/11/2024.