Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km² combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but this species is described as 'uncommon and patchily distributed' (Stotz et al. 1996). Due to its inconspicuousness and potentially nomadic behaviour, the species may only be temporarily patchy and thus more common than believed (Collar et al. 2020); the total population is unlikely to be small.
Trend justification
The population trend has not been quantified, but the species is feared to decline as a consequence of habitat loss and trapping for trade. Within the range, 6% of tree cover is lost over three generations (10.6 years; Global Forest Watch 2021, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). The species is restricted to humid forests, and therefore the rate of population decline may be higher than tree cover loss alone suggests, as forests are being degraded. The impact of trapping has not been quantified, but is described as low (Collar et al. 2020). Based on available evidence, the rate of population decline is unlikely to exceed 10% over three generations. Nevertheless, as the species is occurring in remote areas it may be more common and widespread than currently known, and consequently at lower risk than feared.
Touit huetii is known from a disjunct range in northern South America. It occurs in north-east Venezuela and from southern Venezuela through eastern parts of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to northern Bolivia; it is further known from Guyana to northern Brazil, as well as in Amazonian Brazil. The species may however be under-recorded in its remote range and therefore more widespread and less patchily distributed (Collar et al. 2020).
This species inhabits humid lowland forest, predominantly "terra firme" (with no flooding), but also "várzea" (seasonally flooded forest). It usually remains below 900 m, but has been recorded up to 1,300 m. Its diet is unrecorded. It is thought to breed in April in Venezuela, and between September and December in north Mato Grosso, Brazil. The species is apparently nomadic, with birds rarely found in one area longer than a few weeks at a time. Records from Trinidad, in 1974, 1975 and 1980, probably correspond to wandering flocks (del Hoyo et al. 1997).
The primary threat to this species is accelerating deforestation in the Amazon basin, as land is cleared for cattle ranching and soy production, facilitated by expansion of the road network (Soares-Filho et al. 2006, Bird et al. 2011). The species is not observed in agricultural habitats (A. Lees in litt. 2011). It is also susceptible to trapping, but pressure is described as low (Collar et al. 2020).
Conservation Actions Underway
CITES II. No targeted actions are known for this species, but it occurs in several protected areas.
Conservation Actions Proposed
Quantify the population size. Survey to determine its true distribution. Quantify the extent of trapping and its impacts on the population size. Monitor the population trend. Protect suitable habitat within the range. Expand the protected area network.
15-16 cm. Green forest parrotlet. Body mainly green, paler on undersides. Yellowish cheeks and crown. Front of face dark blue. White eye-ring. Black primaries, with dark blue upperwing-coverts. Wedged tail, green in the centre with the rest red, and yellow undertail-coverts. Female similar, with greenish yellow rather than red on the tail. Similar spp. Orange-cheeked Parrot Pyrilia barrabandi is larger. White-eyed Parakeet Aratinga leucophthalma is much larger than both. Voice Soft, disyllabic touit.
Text account compilers
Hermes, C.
Contributors
Butchart, S., Ekstrom, J., Lees, A., Symes, A. & Wheatley, H.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Scarlet-shouldered Parrotlet Touit huetii. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/scarlet-shouldered-parrotlet-touit-huetii 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.