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

Taxonomic source(s)
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
2021	Near Threatened	C1
2018	Near Threatened	C1
2017	Near Threatened	C1
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	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	31 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	630,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	3300-8900 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2015
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	2014-2023
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	10-19%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	10-19%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	10-19%	-	-	-
Generation length	2.4 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size was estimated by Taylor et al. (2015) as 3,300-8,900 mature individuals. The species is common in Lethoso, and has been observed at the following densities on Clarens formation sandstone cliffs: 57 breeding pairs per 107 km transect (Kopij 2013a), 17 breeding pairs in the Roma Valley (Kopij 2001), 4 pairs per 3 km transect in Morija (Kopij 2006), and 22 breeding pairs per 24 km transect around the Qeme and Masite Plateaus (Kopij 2010). 5 breeding pairs per 24 km transect were found in the lowland river valleys, while 4 breeding pairs per 25.5 km transects in the foothill river valleys (Kopij 2012). 28 breeding pairs per 110 km transect were found at the Lower Senque river drainages, while 72 pairs per 104 km transect were found at the Upper Senque drainages (Kopij 2013a, b). In afro-montane grasslands c.2,000-2,300 m above sea level, 13 pairs per 61.2 km transect were found (Kopij 2015b), while 13 pairs per 54km and 7 pairs per 120km were found in the highlands and foothills respectively (Kopij 2015a). No birds were recorded in the lowlands (Kopij 2015a) or in Alti-mountain grassland at 2,500-3,500m above sea level (Kopij 2015b), however 10 breeding pairs per 90km transect were found on farmlands (Kopij 2018).

Trend justification: The species may have undergone a population size reduction over the past 10 years based on a decline of c.34% in Area of Occupancy (based on comparisons of South African Bird Atlas Project data) and c.11% in Extent of Occurrence, although this may be in part influenced by incomplete sampling in part of its range (Taylor et al. 2015). Lee et al. (2017) instead suggest a range decline of 13% (with a core range decline of 9% since 1992). Given the uncertainty over the rate of decline, the species is cautiously suspected to be undergoing an ongoing decline in the range 10-19%, though further evidence could suggest that the rate of decline is greater than this.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Eswatini	extant	native	yes
Lesotho	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Subarctic	suitable	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	1000 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations - Small-holder plantations	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Yellow-tufted Pipit Anthus crenatus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/yellow-tufted-pipit-anthus-crenatus on 26/12/2024.
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 26/12/2024.