This discussion was first published as part of the 2021 Red List update. At the time a decision regarding its status was pended, but to enable potential reassessment of this species as part of the 2024 Red List update this post remains open.
The initial discussion on this topic can be viewed here.
I agree with the proposed change, but it implies that other São Tomé endemic species currently listed as VU and that have similar habitat requirements are reassessed, namely the São Tomé Oriole, which is proposed to become NT.
There is no also new data to justify this change, which is a bit concerning regarding the stability of IUCN Red List assessments.
The population estimates should be revised, as they are based on old density estimates that are suspitiously high.
Preliminary proposal
Based on available information, our proposal for the 2022.1 Red List is to pend the decision on this species and keep the discussion open, while leaving the current Red List category unchanged in the 2022.1 update.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 27 February 2022, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
Final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Preliminary proposal
Based on available information, our proposal for the 2022.2 Red List is to pend the decision on this species and keep the discussion open until 2023, while leaving the current Red List category unchanged in the 2022.2 update.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 24 July 2022, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN. The final 2022.2 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in December 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Preliminary proposal
Based on available information, our proposal for the 2023.1 Forum process is to pend the decision on this species and keep the discussion open.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 12 February 2023, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
Final 2023 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in December 2023, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Preliminary proposal
Based on available information, our proposal for the 2023 Red List is to pend the decision on this species and keep the discussion open, while leaving the current Red List category unchanged in the 2023 update.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 2 July 2023, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2023 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in December 2023, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
This is another case that matches closely those of the ST Scops Owl and Giant Sunbird (see comments on these two species), and by the same reasoning the proposed change to EN is justified for the Short-tail.
On the evidence presented, these three cases differ from that of the Sao Tome Oriole (see comments thereunder), which, according to the evidence, meets the criteria only for VU, owing to its larger range.
I’m not sure why the proposed changes for these 4 species have been left pending for two years but perhaps the slightly differing evidence for these four species (which leads to 3 of them becoming EN and the Oriole remaining VU) that has been causing some confusion. But on the evidence presented the logical conclusion should be that the ST Scops Owl, Giant Sunbird and Short-tail become EN and the ST Oriole remains VU.
I maintain my position regarding this species.
There is no significant new information since the last assessment that justifies this change, but if you want to make it, please be coherent and change also the status of the Giant Sunbird, the São Tomé Scops Owl and the São Tomé Oriole (even though the latter would only classify for criteria B1 and not B2).
However, the changes that are being proposed make me question the objectivity of these criteria…
Preliminary proposal
Following a lengthy consideration of the issues with this proposal it has been decided that it should be withdrawn. The existing published assessment, published only shortly before these proposals were first posted, will stand until the species is reassessed during the next assessment cycle (2025-2030).
All comments received will be retained to inform the reassessment and we thank those who have so helpfully contributed.
The interpretation of locations in this proposal is not supported by the available evidence, which had already been incorporated into the existing published assessment. This does not support the assertion that invasive species are a sufficient threat to this species to define its occurrence as a single location.
No further comments will be approved on this topic and it will be closed at the end of this forum window.