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

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
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
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2008	Near Threatened	B2a,b(iii)
2007	Near Threatened
2004	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1996	Vulnerable
1994	Vulnerable
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type	Australia	Average mass	10 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	3,380,000 km2	medium
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely fragmented?	yes	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	2007
Population trend	decreasing	poor	estimated	1998-2008
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Generation length	3 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	2-100	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The eastern subspecies ruficauda may be extinct, and surveys of clarescens (confined to Cape York) estimated the population to number c.3,500 individuals (Garnett et al. 2011), however subclarescens is very common at Kununurra in association with the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and moderately common in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory (Garnett and Crowley 2000). Therefore, the global population has been crudely estimated at c. 200,000 individuals.

Trend justification: On-going declines are thought to have slowed (and may have stabilised). Subspecies ruficauda is possibly extinct following historic declines but recent surveys suggest clarescens is stable in Cape York. Subspecies subclarescens is thought to be relatively stable as its habitat is protected by seasonal rains (S. Garnett in litt. 2006), but may be declining in the east of its range. Based on this information, the species is estimated to be declining slowly.

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Australia	Gregory National Park
Australia	Gulf Plains
Australia	Keep River
Australia	Ord Irrigation Area

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	resident
Savanna	Moist	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Moist	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Shrub Dominated Wetlands	suitable	resident
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species disturbance, Species mortality
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Cryptostegia grandiflora	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Melaleuca viridiflora	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Natural system modifications	Other ecosystem modifications	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Star Finch Neochmia ruficauda. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/star-finch-neochmia-ruficauda on 28/12/2024.
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 28/12/2024.