Critically Endangered
Réunion cuckooshrike
Lalage newtoni
The population has been declining and the range contracting, being currently about 16 square kilometres (6.2 sq mi), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated the species as "critically endangered", with the possibility that the bird could be wiped out by a tropical storm.
Appearance
The plumage is dimorphic between the sexes. The male is grey coloured with a darker back and lighter underside. The face is darker and has the impression of a mask. The female is quite different, being dark brown above and striped underneath with a white eye-line.
Range and habitat
The species is restricted to the forest canopy, with a distribution limited to two small patches of Réunion's native subtropical mountain forests in the north of the island. Although it once ranged across Réunion in suitable habitat, its stronghold is the Plaine des Chicots – Plaine d'Affouches Important Bird Area near the island capital of Saint-Denis. It is endemic to the island of Réunion, where it is restricted to two areas of mountain forest in the north of the island.
The species' survival plan also includes recommendations to translocate some individuals to suitable habitat in other parts of the island.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
Conservation efforts are being made by attempting to control the cats and rats that prey on the chicks, and this seems to have resulted in the population stabilising.
In crisis
The population has been declining and the range contracting, being currently about 16 square kilometres (6.2 sq mi), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated the species as "critically endangered", with the possibility that the bird could be wiped out by a tropical storm. The Réunion cuckooshrike is a critically endangered species and is currently the focus of conservation efforts. The population of the species is currently stable but at the low number of around 50 adult birds, and is very vulnerable to localised disasters such as forest fires or habitat degradation.
Introduced cats and rats prey on the species (particularly on young birds), and introduced herbivores such as deer degrade what little habitat remains. Formerly classified as an endangered species by the IUCN, it was suspected to be rarer than generally assumed.
Réunion cuckooshrike is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Réunion cuckooshrike, Wikidata item Q28836512. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
