Species

Justification
This species has a small population, but there is no direct evidence of a decline at present. It is consequently classified as Near Threatened, but could be uplisted to Vulnerable if the population is found to be declining owing to habitat loss.

Taxonomic source(s)
AOU. 1998. Check-list of North American birds. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
SACC. 2006. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.html.
Sibley, C. G.; Monroe, B. L. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.
Stotz, D. F.; Fitzpatrick, J. W.; Parker, T. A.; Moskovits, D. K. 1996. Neotropical birds: ecology and conservation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Taxonomic note
Gender agreement of species name follows David and Gosselin (2002b).

Synonym(s)
Leucopternis plumbea Collar and Andrew (1988), Leucopternis plumbea Collar et al. (1994), Leucopternis plumbea BirdLife International (2000), Leucopternis plumbea BirdLife International (2004), Leucopternis plumbea Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), Leucopternis plumbea Stotz et al. (1996), Leucopternis plumbea

Distribution and population
Leucopternis plumbeus is considered rare to uncommon in east Panama, west Colombia and Ecuador, and extreme north-west Peru (Hilty and Brown 1986, Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Bierregaard 1994a, Bierregaard et al. 1994, Clements and Shany 2001). There is a 1995 sighting from Santa Fe in Veraguas, but it has been extirpated from much of west Panama (Bierregaard 1994a, G. Montañez in litt. 2000). It is known from several scattered localities in Colombia, notably in Nariño (Hilty and Brown 1986, Bierregaard 1994a, P. G. W. Salaman in litt. 1999). Accelerating rates of deforestation are presumably impacting the species, but it is inconspicuous - in part owing to its 'sit-and-wait' predatory behaviour (P. G. W. Salaman in litt. 1999) - so is probably under-recorded in remaining habitat.

Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but this species is described as 'uncommon' (Stotz et al. 1996).

Trend justification
The population is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing deforestation.

Ecology
It largely inhabits the closed-canopy interior of lowland and foothill (up to 800 m) humid forests, but has been recorded in degraded forest (Bierregaard 1994a, Bierregaard et al. 1994, P. G. W. Salaman in litt. 1999).

Threats
There has been widespread deforestation (primarily for agriculture) across most of its range.

Conservation actions underway
CITES Appendix II. CMS Appendix II.

Conservation actions proposed
Study its ability to persist in degraded and fragmented habitats. Survey and attempt to estimate global population. Extend protected areas network to include further core areas of remaining habitat.

References
Hilty, S. L.; Brown, W. L. 1986. A guide to the birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Ridgely, R. S.; Gwynne, J. A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Panama with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Bierregaard, R. O. 1994. Neotropical Accipitridae (Hawks and Eagles). In: del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (ed.), Handbook of the birds of the world, pp. 52-205. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

Clements, J. F.; Shany, N. 2001. A field guide to the birds of Peru. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

Further web sources of information
Hear sounds for this species from xeno-canto, the community database of shared bird sounds from around the world.

View photos and videos, and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection

Text account compilers
Benstead, P., Capper, D., Sharpe, C J, Symes, A.

Contributors
Montañez, G., Salaman, P.

IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Leucopternis plumbeus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/06/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/06/2013.

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.

To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife

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