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

Taxonomic note

Philesturnus carunculatus and P. rufusater (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as P. carunculatus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) and Turbott (1990).

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
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	D2
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	94,000 km2	medium
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	304 km2
Number of locations	20-100	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	5000 mature individuals	medium	suspected	2020
Population trend	increasing	-	inferred	-
Generation length	4.56 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	20-100	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The population is suspected to have recently surpassed 5,000 mature individuals as a result of ongoing conservation management, with the 2020 Conservation status of New Zealand birds (Robertson et al. 2021) now placing the population in the bracket 5,000-20,000 mature individuals (the species was placed at 1,000-5,000 in 2016). The estimate of 5,000 mature individuals is followed here.

Trend justification: The population is inferred to be increasing owing to documented translocations and intensive conservation action such that it now numbers over 5,000 mature individuals (Robertson et al. 2021), and additional translocations are ongoing to predator-free islands where the species can quickly become abundant (Masuda and Jamieson 2013).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
New Zealand	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Temperate	major	resident
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 150 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Majority (50-90%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Plasmodium relictum	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus exulans	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Likely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus norvegicus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Likely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus rattus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Likely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Viral/prion-induced diseases - Avipoxvirus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Fire & fire suppression - Increase in fire frequency/intensity	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: South Island Saddleback Philesturnus carunculatus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/south-island-saddleback-philesturnus-carunculatus on 19/12/2024.
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 19/12/2024.