Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This poorly known species has been uplisted from Vulnerable owing to evidence that its population is smaller than previously thought. It is now listed as Endangered on the basis that it has a very small population, which is thought to be declining as a result of habitat loss and degradation and possibly trapping for the cage bird trade.
Population justification
This species's population was previously estimated to number 2,500-9,999 mature individuals, based on an analysis of records by BirdLife International (2001), but that the paucity of records suggests that it is probably highly localised in distribution and may have a considerably smaller total population. For the first time in recent years no singing males were recorded at Jiuzhaigou during 2016 (Zhao et al. 2016, Min Zhao in litt. 2016). Three males were present in Jiuzhaigou in 2015, and a single individual was observed at an adjacent site (V. Fu in litt. 2016). The species clearly has a very narrow ecological tolerance, being found only within a specific habitat type occurring in a very narrow elevation range. The alarming paucity of recent sightings suggests that the population estimate should be placed in the band 1,000-2,499 mature individuals, roughly equivalent to 1,500-3,800 individuals in total. All mature individuals are assumed to belong to a single subpopulation.
Trend justification
A moderate and on-going population decline is suspected, owing to habitat loss and degradation within the species's range coupled with the potentially severe impact of capture for the cage bird trade.
Larvivora ruficeps is known from a total of seven confirmed or probable breeding sites in north-central Sichuan and southern Shaanxi, south-western China.
In the last 25 years reports have come from only two adjacent sites; Jiuzhaigou National Park and Baihe despite efforts to locate the species elsewhere (Zhao et al. 2016), but access to potentially suitable habitat is restricted in the species range (S. Francis in litt. 2016). For the first time in recent years no singing males were recorded at Jiuzhaigou during 2016 (Zhao et al. 2016, Min Zhao in litt. 2016). Three males were present in Jiuzhaigou in 2015 (V. Fu in litt. 2016) with a singing male present at an adjacent site the same year (Zhao et al. 2016, J. Eaton in litt. 2016).
There are only three records outside of the breeding season: in Peninsular Malaysia there are two records in spring; 15 March 1963 caught during ringing at Mount Batu Brinchang in the Camaron Highlands and 20 April 2014 in the Genting Highlands. The other record is a phenomenal back garden record of a first winter female between 16-20 November 2012 in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Mahood et al. 2013, S. Mahood in litt. 2013), presumed to be on passage. The paucity of records suggests that it has a localised distribution and a very small population. At the only breeding site with recent records, the species shows restricted habitat use in a narrow elevation range.
In its breeding range, it occurs in areas of temperate mixed coniferous and deciduous forest and scrub, particularly associated with narrow river valleys at 2,400-2,800 m, where it appears to be specialised to areas of successional scrub in valley bottoms which develop following flash-floods. The single winter record is from ericaceous scrub at 2,030 m, but this may have been a bird on passage where birds have also been recorded at sea level in an urban back garden.
The main threat is likely to be the loss and fragmentation of forest. Forest cover has declined rapidly in Sichuan since the late 1960s, through timber production and conversion to cultivation and pasture, and it is assumed that substantial areas of temperate forest have been lost. In one of the valleys where it was recently recorded in Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, limited cutting and lopping of wood had occurred, and in two valleys flood-control dams have been constructed. Dam construction may be negatively affecting successional habitats utilised during the breeding season, as exemplified by one area of the known breeding site, where the species has disappeared or become scarce following the flooding of suitable habitat after dam construction (J. Eaton in litt. 2013). Habitat degradation caused through over-grazing by livestock is a further threat in its breeding range (J. Eaton in litt. 2013, S. Mahood in litt. 2013). If it winters in primary lowland forest in the Sundaic region, it is likely to experience intense pressures from habitat loss in that part of its range. This highly attractive species may also be under threat from the cage bird trade. Two males were offered for sale in Guangzhou via a Chinese bird keepers website in an unknown year prior to 2008, possibly 2007 (Zhao et al. 2016, Min Zhao in litt. 2017). There remains the possibility that these were trapped from within the known range although no evidence of small bird trapping has been reported from Jiuzhaigou (traps set to catch pheasants were observed within the park this year [S. Francis in litt. 2016]).
Conservation Actions Underway
CMS Appendix II. A number of protected areas established for giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca contain suitable habitat, but this species's distribution and abundance in these areas is poorly known. It has been recorded from Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve and Wanglang Nature Reserve, Sichuan, and Taibai Shan National Nature Reserve in Shaanxi.
15 cm. Small robin with orange-rufous head, black face and black-bordered white throat. Grey upperparts, upper breast and flanks, white rest of underparts, blackish tail with rufous fringes and blackish tips to outer feathers. Similar spp. Female Siberian Blue Robin L. cyane has blue on rump to uppertail, lacks warmer brown edges to outer tail feathers, has more buff breast and flanks, and less heavily scaled throat. Voice Song with well-spaced, powerful, rich phrases ti CHO CHUK'UK'UK ti TCH-WR'RR'RR ti CHI-WRU-W'R'R'R'R ti CHR'R'R'R ti CHR'RIU'IU'IU. Call deepish tuc or toc and soft, thin si.
Text account compilers
Gilroy, J., Taylor, J., Benstead, P., Martin, R, Derhé, M.
Contributors
Francis, G., Zhao, M., Hornskov, J., Mahood, S., Eaton, J.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Rufous-headed Robin Larvivora ruficeps. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/rufous-headed-robin-larvivora-ruficeps 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.