Slender-billed Starling (Onychognathus tenuirostris) | Details

Slender-billed Starling Onychognathus tenuirostris

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	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	2,850,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.19 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be locally very common (Feare et al. 1998). This species is considered to have a high dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 10.7% within its mapped range over the past three generations (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). It is therefore tentatively suspected that this rate of cover loss may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame, with a best estimate of reduction being 11-14%.

Trend justification: .

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident
Burundi	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Burundi	Bururi Forest Nature Reserve
Burundi	Kibira National Park
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	Mount Kabobo
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Virunga National Park
Eritrea	Semenawi Bahri
Eritrea	Senafe
Ethiopia	Ankober - Debre Sina escarpment
Ethiopia	Awi Zone
Ethiopia	Bahir Dar - Lake Tana
Ethiopia	Bale Mountains National Park
Ethiopia	Borana-Saynt (Denkoro Forest)
Ethiopia	Chilimo-Gaji forest
Ethiopia	Choke mountains
Ethiopia	Dessa'a forest
Ethiopia	Entoto Natural Park and escarpment
Ethiopia	Finchaa and Chomen swamps
Ethiopia	Guassa Plateau (Menz)
Ethiopia	Jibat forest
Ethiopia	Menagesha State Forest
Ethiopia	Mount Zuquala
Ethiopia	Mugo highlands
Ethiopia	Simien Mountains National Park
Ethiopia	Tiro Boter - Becho forest
Kenya	Aberdare Mountains
Kenya	Cherangani Hills
Kenya	Mau forest complex
Kenya	Mount Elgon (Kenya)
Kenya	Mount Kenya
Malawi	Nyika National Park (Malawi)
Malawi	South Viphya Forest Reserve
Rwanda	Cyamudongo forest
Rwanda	Nyungwe National Park
Rwanda	Volcans National Park
Tanzania	Livingstone Mountains forests
Tanzania	Mount Rungwe
Tanzania	Nguru Mountains
Tanzania	Njombe forests
Tanzania	Rubeho Mountains
Tanzania	Udzungwa Mountains
Tanzania	Udzungwa National Park
Tanzania	Ukaguru Mountains
Tanzania	Uluguru Mountains
Tanzania	Umalila Mountains
Tanzania	Uvidunda Mountains
Uganda	Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Uganda	Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Uganda	Mount Elgon National Park
Uganda	Ruwenzori (Rwenzori) Mountains National Park
Zambia	Nyika National Park (Zambia)

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	resident
Altitude	1200 - 4250 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 5000 m

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Slender-billed Starling Onychognathus tenuirostris. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/slender-billed-starling-onychognathus-tenuirostris 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.