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

Taxonomic note

Previously treated as Garrulax koslowi (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) but moved to current genus following Cibois et al. (2018). Prior to this change the taxon was previously listed as Babax koslowi. Two subspecies recognized.

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2021. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	C1+2a(i)
2012	Near Threatened	C1+2a(i)
2008	Near Threatened	C1; C2a(i)
2004	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1994	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	95,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	stable	poor	suspected	-
Generation length	3.23 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	2	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The population size of this species has not been estimated. It is described as rather scarce and localised (del Hoyo et al. 2007) and citizen science data (eBird 2023) indicate generally low abundance; however, the area of highly suitable habitat was estimated by Li et al. (2023) to be very large (although with some uncertainty over the accuracy, since the total value exceeded that of the EOO used here), such that even if only a tiny percentage of this area is occupied, the total population size is probably large.

Trend justification: Historically, deforestation and habitat degradation were suspected of causing declines, however there is little evidence to uphold that this is ongoing, nor evidence to suggest that threats are likely to be operating at a scale any larger than negligible. Remote sensing data also indicate very little change in the majority of this species' vast and remote range. In the future, modelling by Li et al. (2023) found that the area of suitable habitat is unlikely to change in response to climate change between now and 2050. Accordingly, in the absence of any known threats the population is suspected to be stable.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
China (mainland)	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
China (mainland)	Chamdo
China (mainland)	Gonjo
China (mainland)	Markam

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	resident
Altitude	3650 - 4500 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Tibetan Babax Pterorhinus koslowi. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/tibetan-babax-pterorhinus-koslowi on 23/11/2024.
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 23/11/2024.