Species

Justification
This species has an extremely 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). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not 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.

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of _the_WP15.xls.
Christidis, L.; Boles, W. E. 1994. The taxonomy and species of birds of Australia and its territories. Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union, Melbourne.
Cramp, S.; Perrins, C. M. 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Dowsett, R. J.; Forbes-Watson, A. D. 1993. Checklist of birds of the Afrotropical and Malagasy regions. Tauraco Press, Li
Sibley, C. G.; Monroe, B. L. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.
Turbott, E. G. 1990. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

Taxonomic note
Ixobrychus minutus (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993; Christidis and Boles 1994) was split into I. minutus and I. dubius by Christidis and Boles (2008) but this treatment is not followed by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group (BTWG) because the authors fail to adequately document their treatment and do not provide valid references to support the argument.

Trend justification
The overall population trend is decreasing, although some populations have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2006).

Ecology
Behaviour Palearctic populations of this species undergo extensive post-breeding dispersal movements in all directions and are also fully migratory, travelling southward on a broad front (del Hoyo et al. 1992) between August and October and returning to the north from March to April (Kushlan and Hancock 2005). Other populations (e.g. in the tropics) are resident but may make partial migratory movements connected with fluctuations in water-level (del Hoyo et al. 1992). In the western Palearctic and India the species breeds mainly between May and July, breeding from October to January in Australia, June to February in South Africa, or in relation to the rains in tropical Africa (del Hoyo et al. 1992). It breeds singly or occasionally in small loose groups in favourable areas (del Hoyo et al. 1992) (e.g. 2-3 nests were spaced 50 m apart at the same pond, Africa) (Brown et al. 1982). When not breeding the species may be found singly, in pairs (Africa) (Brown et al. 1982), in small flocks of 5-15 individuals (Snow and Perrins 1998) (e.g. on migration) (del Hoyo et al. 1992), or roosting in groups of 30 individuals (Africa) (Brown et al. 1982). In most areas it is mainly a crepuscular feeder (del Hoyo et al. 1992, Kushlan and Hancock 2005) although it may be diurnal in some regions (e.g. South Africa) (Kushlan and Hancock 2005). Habitat The species is most common in freshwater marshes with beds of bulrushes Typha spp., reeds Phragmites spp. (Hockey et al. 2005) or other dense aquatic vegetation, preferably also with deciduous bushes and trees (del Hoyo et al. 1992) such as willow Salix spp. or alder Alnus spp. (del Hoyo et al. 1992, Kushlan and Hancock 2005). It may also occupy the margins of lakes, pools and reservoirs (del Hoyo et al. 1992), wooded and marshy banks of streams and rivers (Kushlan and Hancock 2005), desert oases, peat bogs (del Hoyo et al. 1992), wooded swamps, wet grasslands, rice-fields (del Hoyo et al. 1992), rank vegetation around sewage ponds (Hockey et al. 2005), and in places mangroves, the margins of saline lagoons (del Hoyo et al. 1992) and saltmarshes (Kushlan and Hancock 2005). Diet Its diet varies with region and season (del Hoyo et al. 1992) but it is essentially insectivorous and takes aquatic adult and larval insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars (del Hoyo et al. 1992) and beetles (Kushlan and Hancock 2005). Other food items include spiders, molluscs, crustaceans (del Hoyo et al. 1992) (e.g. shrimp and crayfish) (Kushlan and Hancock 2005), fish, frogs, tadpoles, small reptiles and birds (del Hoyo et al. 1992). Breeding site The nest is constructed from reeds and twigs (del Hoyo et al. 1992) and is normally placed near open poolsin thick emergent vegetation (Kushlan and Hancock 2005) (such as beds of bulrushes Typha spp. or reeds Phragmites spp.) (Hockey et al. 2005) close to the surface of the water or up to 60 cm above it (Snow and Perrins 1998). Alternatively nests may be placed in low bushes or trees (e.g. alder Alnus spp. or willow Salix spp.) up to 2 m above water (del Hoyo et al. 1992, Kushlan and Hancock 2005). Preferred nesting sites are usually 5-15 m out from the shore in water 20-30 cm deep (Snow and Perrins 1998). The species usually nests singly but may nest in loose colonies in favourable habitats with neighbouring nests as close as 5 m apart (solitary nests are usually 30-100 m apart) (Kushlan and Hancock 2005). Nests are often reused in consecutive years (Kushlan and Hancock 2005).

Threats
The species is threatened by habitat degradation and loss (Hafner and Kushlan 2002) through direct destruction, pollution (del Hoyo et al. 1992) and hydrological changes (e.g. in rivers) (Kushlan and Hancock 2005). The species also suffers mortality as a result of drought and desertification on African staging and wintering grounds (degrades wetland habitats needed by the species) (Hafner and Kushlan 2002).

References
Brown, L. H.; Urban, E. K.; Newman, K. 1982. The birds of Africa vol I. Academic Press, London.

del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A.; Sargatal, J. 1992. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

Snow, D. W.; Perrins, C. M. 1998. The Birds of the Western Palearctic vol. 1: Non-Passerines. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Hafner, H.; Kushlan, J. A. 2002. Action plan for conservation of the Herons of the world. Heron Specialist Group, Gland, Cambridge and Arles.

Kushlan, J. A.; Hancock, J. A. 2005. The herons. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.

Hockey, P. A. R.; Dean, W. R. J.; Ryan, P. G. 2005. Roberts birds of southern Africa. Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town, South Africa.

Further web sources of information
Detailed species account from Birds in Europe: population estimates, trends and conservation status (BirdLife International 2004)

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
Butchart, S., Ekstrom, J., Malpas, L.

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

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Ixobrychus minutus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/05/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/05/2013.

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

To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums.

Additional resources for this species