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

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Near Threatened	A3cd+4cd
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

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	970,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	50000-499999 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2020
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	2016-2028
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-19%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Generation length	4.1 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	3	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The population size is suspected to fall in the range 50,000-499,999 mature individuals (Partners in Flight 2020). The species can be locally common in parts of its range, but is generally only infrequently observed (Carroll et al. 2020).

Trend justification: The population is undergoing a large, significant decline owing to ongoing habitat destruction and unsustainable levels of hunting (del Hoyo et al. 1994, Carroll et al. 2020, Partners in Flight 2020). Locally, the species may also suffer from predation by dogs and cats (D. F. Cisneros-Heredia in litt. 2022), but the impacts on the population size are unclear.
Over the last three generations (12.3 years; Bird et al. 2020), approximately 9% of tree cover has been lost within the range (Global Forest Watch 2021, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). This species is restricted to the floor and lower strata of lowland forest (Carroll et al. 2020); therefore it is conceivable that population declines are faster than the rate of forest loss alone, as forest degradation may increase the rate of decline by an additional 5%. Even though the impact of hunting has not been quantified, it is tentatively assumed that this threat increases the rate of population decline by a further 5%, so that overall the rate of decline over the past three generations would amount to 19%. To account for uncertainty, the rate of past decline is here placed in the band 1-19% over three generations.
Since 2016 tree cover loss has been accelerating to a rate equivalent to 12% over three generations. Accounting for the additional impacts of forest degradation and hunting, it is assumed that the rate of population decline exceeds the rate of forest loss by 10%, so that the population decline over the next three generations would amount to 22%. To account for uncertainty, the rate of decline projected forward from 2016 is here paced in the band 20-29% over three generations. These values however require confirmation.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Colombia	extant	native	yes
Costa Rica	extant	native	yes
Ecuador	extant	native	yes
Honduras	extant	native	yes
Nicaragua	extant	native	yes
Panama	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Honduras	Mocorón
Honduras	Texiguat

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 1400 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
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 conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations - Agro-industry plantations	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Causing/Could cause fluctuations		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Canis familiaris	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 - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Tawny-faced Quail Rhynchortyx cinctus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/tawny-faced-quail-rhynchortyx-cinctus on 22/12/2024.
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 22/12/2024.