Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This small, charismatic parrot is endemic to Java and Bali, Indonesia, where an apparent increase in demand for it in the cagebird trade is thought to be causing moderately rapid declines. Since approximately 2016, these declines are thought to have approached the threshold for listing as threatened; the species is therefore assessed as Near Threatened. Monitoring to determine the impact of the cagebird trade on wild populations is urgently needed to more precisely determine ongoing rates of decline.
Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as generally uncommon throughout its range (del Hoyo et al. 1997, Eaton et al. 2021) and recent records span much of Java and Bali where forest remains (eBird 2023). Nonetheless, it is evidently scarce, being observed in only nine (0.4%) of 2,417 surveyed grid squares (although many only partially) during the BigMonth2020 citizen science project (Squires et al. 2021) and having a relatively low average encounter rate of 0.11 (birds/groups per hour) on mountains across Java (Marsden et al. 2023).
Trend justification
Suspected to be declining, perhaps moderately rapidly, although the evidence base for this precautionary assumption is weak. Historically, the widespread clearance of lowland forest on Java undoubtedly caused wide-ranging declines on the island, with the species now remaining only in well-forested areas (although it is evidently tolerant of degradation and secondary forests (Eaton et al. 2021, eBird 2023). However, forest cover loss on Java this century has been minimal (Hansen et al. 2013, Higginbottom et al. 2019, Global Forest Watch 2023), and the only contemporary threat thought to be driving declines in this species is capture for the cagebird trade.
Symes et al. (2018) assigned probability curves according to expert opinion on trade desirability in conjunction with accessibility (based on a distance to forest edge from remote sensed forest data) to determine possible rates of population loss over the next three generation period across the entire range of the species. The estimated reduction for this species was 49%, but this analysis had no term to account for reproduction and was largely speculative. Evidence for an increase in desirability for this species is however presented by some market data, which show a possible increase in demand from c.2016/2017, broadly in line with an increase in cagebird ownership on Java over the past decade (cf. Jepson and Ladle 2009, Marshall et al. 2020). For example, an inventory of a Jakarta market found none in July 2014 but 68 in July 2019 (Anon. in litt. 2021); while a survey of Bali bird markets found 11 in 2017, but 52 in 2018 (Chng et al. 2018). Other surveys on Java similarly reported previously low numbers: one at Bandung market in September 2016 and only two in East Java in 2015 (Chng and Eaton 2016). Conversely, Okarda et al. (2022) found none for sale among 284,118 birds listed online between April 2020 and September 2021, and Marshall et al. (2020) found only a single bird kept among 3,000 households. While scarcity in markets/households is sometimes caused by a complete collapse in wild birds (i.e. the source), Loriculus pusillus remains commonly encountered across most forested areas it might be expected (eBird 2023), with a compilation of citizen science datasets (Squires et al. 2021, eBird 2023) finding that the species does not appear to have been extirpated from any site since 2016.
Determining a rate of decline for this species is therefore exceedingly difficult, but the rate of –49% over three generations suspected by Symes et al. (2018) appears overly pessimistic. However, the trajectory of apparent increasing demand for the species is concerning, and accordingly the species is suspected to decline at a rate of 15–29% over the next three generations (13 years: 2023–2036) and in the window 2016 to 2029, thus approaching the thresholds for listing as threatened under criteria A3d+4d.
Loriculus pusillus is endemic to Java and Bali, Indonesia.
It inhabits lowland, swamp and montane forests to 1,800 m; it is also tolerant of plantations and agricultural land where near forest (Eaton et al. 2021).
Historically, the widespread clearance of lowland forest on Java undoubtedly caused wide-ranging declines on the island, with the species now remaining only in well-forested areas (although it is evidently tolerant of degradation and secondary forests (Eaton et al. 2021, eBird 2023). However, forest cover loss on Java this century has been minimal (Hansen et al. 2013, Higginbottom et al. 2019, Global Forest Watch 2023), and the only contemporary threat thought to be driving declines in this species is capture for the cagebird trade. There is evidence for increasing demand of this species for the cagebird trade over the past decade, and this is suspected to be driving moderately rapid population declines. Market data show a possible increase in demand from c.2016/2017, broadly in line with an increase in cagebird ownership on Java over the past decade (cf. Jepson and Ladle 2009, Marshall et al. 2020). For example, an inventory of a Jakarta market found none in July 2014 but 68 in July 2019 (Anon. in litt. 2021); while a survey of Bali bird markets found 11 in 2017, but 52 in 2018 (Chng et al. 2018). Other surveys on Java similarly reported previously low numbers: one at Bandung market in September 2016 and only two in East Java in 2015 (Chng and Eaton 2016). Conversely, Okarda et al. (2022) found none for sale among 284,118 birds listed online between April 2020 and September 2021, and Marshall et al. (2020) found only a single bird kept among 3,000 households. There is no evidence that this species is traded internationally, with most, if not probably all, the demand for this Indonesian (Java and Bali) endemic coming from within the species' native range.
Conservation Actions Underway
This species is listed in CITES Appendix II and is ostensibly protected under Indonesian national law.
Text account compilers
Berryman, A.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Yellow-throated Hanging-parrot Loriculus pusillus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/yellow-throated-hanging-parrot-loriculus-pusillus 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.