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

Justification of Red List category
Although this species may have a small range, it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence under 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). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (under 10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be over 10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). The population trend is thought to be stable, hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (over 30% decline over ten years or three generations). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but surveys in 1993, 1999 and 2000 have found it widespread and locally frequent all over the island (up to 1,500 m), with a mean population density (based on transects) of c.7 birds/km² in the post-breeding season (Davidson 1996, Kirwan et al. 1996). In the absence of threats, the population trend is thought to be stable.

Trend justification
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This species is restricted to Socotra, Yemen.

This species is social, highly mobile and apparently adaptable, being recorded from a broad range of habitats, although it appears to prefer methodical foraging in trees rather than on the ground (Porter and Martins 1996). The diet consists of fruit, seeds and insects (Porter and Martins 1996, Ripley and Bond 1966). It is often seen together with the more abundant Somali Starling O. blythii, which is a more conspicuous generalist and reasonably assumed to be a more recent colonist (Ripley and Bond 1966), but the possibility that the two species may be competing, to the detriment of O. frater, remains unproven speculation (Forbes-Watson 1964).

Extreme overgrazing and browsing might possibly have an impact on populations, but this seems unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future.

Acknowledgements

Text account compilers
Rutherford, C.A.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Socotra Starling Onychognathus frater. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/socotra-starling-onychognathus-frater 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.