Justification This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend is not known, but the population is not believed to be decreasing sufficiently rapidly to approach the thresholds under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size may be moderately small to large, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Family/Sub-family Scolopacidae

Species name author Bonaparte, 1839

Taxonomic source(s) Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

30,000 - 230,000

unset

497,000 km²

No

Important Bird Areas Click here to view map showing IBAs where species is recorded and triggers any of the IBA criteria.

Ecology: Behaviour This species is mainly sedentary³ although it is subject to local movements associated with the drying of temporary floods¹, sometimes moving several hundred kilometres away from nesting sites². In East Africa it also descends to lower altitudes after breeding^{1, 2}. The species is usually found feeding in small numbers or scattered groups² and nesting solitarily (not closer than 30 m)³. It is also least active during the middle of the day (although it is not crepuscular)³. Habitat This species is always found associated with freshwater or brackish wetlands, and is typically found on vleis, marshes, highland bogs, wetlands around artificial water bodies, ditches, inland deltas (e.g. the flood plain of the Okavango River)³, swampy lake edges, seasonally flooded grasslands^{1, 2} and wet moorlands². It most frequently occurs at high altitudes (1,500 m in Ethiopia and north-east Africa, occasionally reaching up to 4,000 m)^{1, 2} and typically nests at between 1,800-2,700 m in East Africa², although it can also be found on lowland wetlands inhabiting shallow estuaries and lagoons³. The species also favours soft muddy areas among shallowly flooded vegetation on which to feed^{1, 3}. Diet The diet of this species mainly consists of the larvae of beetles, dragonflies and flies, annelid worms, small crustaceans, molluscs and sometimes seeds². Breeding site The nest of this species is a pad of grass leaves hidden in a tuft of grass or fine rushes, surrounded by flooded or moist ground^{1, 2, 3}, often where grazing animals have opened up muddy patches and paths³.

Threats This species is threatened by habitat loss and degradation in Kenya (such as decreases in the area of natural pasture, lake-edge and stream-edge marshes; agricultural expansions; and increases in the area of lake mudflats due to increased siltation and reduced water supply) owing to encroachment, overgrazing, burning and the drainage of wetland areas by peasant farmers⁴. A population in Zimbabwe recently crashed after an extreme drought, and the species is may also be threatened by future outbreaks of avian botulism^{3, 5}.

References 1. Urban et al. (1986). 2. del Hoyo et al. (1996). 3. Hockey et al. (2005). 4. Gichuki et al. (2006). 5. Blaker (1967).

Text account compilers Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Jonathan Ekstrom (BirdLife International), Lucy Malpas (BirdLife International)

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Gallinago nigripennis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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