• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note

Cinnyris rockefelleri (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) was previously placed in the genus Nectarinia following Dowsett & Forbes-Watson (1993); Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993).

 

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.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	C2a(i)

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Vulnerable	C2a(i)
2016	Vulnerable	D1
2012	Vulnerable	D1
2008	Vulnerable	D1
2006	Vulnerable
2004	Vulnerable
2000	Vulnerable
1996	Vulnerable
1994	Vulnerable
1988	Threatened

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	16,000 km2	medium
Number of locations	20-100	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	1100-11900 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2000
Population trend	decreasing	poor	inferred	2018-2028
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	10-20%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	10-20%	-	-	-
Generation length	2.4 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	2-3	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: Owing to its degree of habitat specialisation, taking the lower density quartiles of 4 other sunbird congeners, including two Cinnyris species that also inhabit forests and woodlands, Northern Double-collared Sunbird and Variable Sunbird, of 2-21 individuals/sqkm (BirdLife Population Density Spreadsheet; Vernon 1985; Shaw and Shrewry 2001), and assuming that it inhabits 10% of the forest within its range (8,490 sqkm [Global Forest Watch 2021]), the population may fall into the range of 1,698 – 17,829 individuals. This is roughly equivalent to 1,132 – 11,886 mature individuals, rounded here to 1,100 – 11,900 mature individuals. Based on its current distribution map, it may have 2-3 subpopulations. It is therefore possible that the largest subpopulation holds <1,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification: Although little information is available, this species is inferred to be declining based on range contractions from climate change as modelled by Ayebare et al. (2018).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Burundi	presence uncertain	native
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	presence uncertain	native

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Forests west of Lake Edward
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Itombwe Mountains
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Kahuzi-Biega National Park
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Virunga National Park
Rwanda	Nyungwe National Park

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	resident
Altitude	2050 - 3300 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Whole (>90%)		Negligible declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation
Energy production & mining	Mining & quarrying	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Human intrusions & disturbance	Work & other activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species disturbance, Ecosystem degradation

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Rockefeller's Sunbird Cinnyris rockefelleri. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/rockefellers-sunbird-cinnyris-rockefelleri on 23/11/2024.
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 23/11/2024.