Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This newly-split species is suspected to be undergoing moderately rapid population declines due to habitat loss and degradation. It is therefore classified as Near Threatened, but further information on population trends may mean that the species's Red List status requires re-evaluation.
Population justification
The global population size for this newly-split species has not been quantified.
Trend justification
This species is suspected to be declining. This species was considered to be fairly common in Liberia in the late 1960s/ early 1970s (Colston & Curry-Lindahl 1986), and in the 1980s (Gatter 1997). However, surveys in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 found only a single record in a large area of apparently suitable habitat. It was therefore concluded by Dowsett-Lemaire & Phalan (2013) that either the species is a seasonal caller, previously misidentified, or that the species has decreased. Additionally, the species may have been extirpated from Bia National Park in Ghana (Dowsett-Lemaire & Dowsett 2014). Furthermore, a study in Ghana by Arcilla et al., (2015) had a capture rate of 0.11 C. lemaireae per 10,000 net-metre-hours in 1993-1995, and this fell to a capture rate of zero in 2008-2010. This species is likely sensitive to habitat degradation, and legal and illegal logging are continuing throughout its range (B. Phalan in litt. 2020). The rate of decline of this species has therefore not been directly quantified, but due to uncertainty, the rate has been precautionarily placed in the 20-29% band.
This species's range extends from Sierra Leone to western Cameroon (Boesman and Collar 2019). In Ghana, it is restricted to a few sites within the wetter, western part of the forest zone, with the most important sites being Ankasa and Tano Ofin (B. Phalan in litt. 2020).
The exact habitat requirements for this newly-split species have not been investigated, but it is very likely to require lowland and montane forests, and have the same high forest dependency as C. mechowi (Payne 2020) .
This species is likely to have a high forest dependency (Payne 2020), and is also thought to be highly sensitive to habitat degradation (B. Phalan in litt. 2020). Legal and illegal logging are extensive throughout its range (B. Phalan in litt. 2020).
Conservation Actions Underway
No targeted actions are known.
Conservation Actions Proposed
Conduct surveys to get better estimates of population size and trends.
The adult is dark grey above, with rufous, barred flight-feathers and a long tail. Rectrices are broad, and may be tipped white or pale rufous. It is barred black below, and the belly is an unmarked, reddish buff. The bird also has yellow eyelids, a greenish-black bill, and yellow legs and feet. The juvenile has rufous edges to its crown, neck and breast feathers, has variably rufous-barred upperparts, and pointed rectrices (Payne 2020). May have slightly shorter wings and tail, but otherwise morphologically indistinguishable from C. mechowi (Boesman & Collar 2019). Voice: short song consists of a leisurely, rich whistled tiuu-wip-wip, with longer notes at a much lower frequency and with a much narrower frequency band than C. mechowi, and a long call delivered half as fast as that of C. mechowi (Boesman & Collar 2019).
Text account compilers
Clark, J.
Contributors
Phalan, B.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Whistling Long-tailed Cuckoo Cercococcyx lemaireae. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/whistling-long-tailed-cuckoo-cercococcyx-lemaireae on 01/12/2024.
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 01/12/2024.