







| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANIMALIA | CHORDATA | AVES | CICONIIFORMES | THRESKIORNITHIDAE |
| Scientific Name: | Bostrychia hagedash | ||||||
| Species Authority: | (Latham, 1790) | ||||||
Common Name/s:
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| Red List Category & Criteria: | Least Concern ver 3.1 | ||||||
| Year Published: | 2009 | ||||||
| Assessor/s: | BirdLife International | ||||||
| Reviewer/s: | Bird, J., Butchart, S. | ||||||
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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). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not 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. |
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| History: |
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| Countries: |
Native:
Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Lesotho; Liberia; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; Sudan; Swaziland; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
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| Range Map: | Click here to open the map viewer and explore range. |
| Habitat and Ecology: | Behaviour This species is predominantly sedentary, although it may make local nomadic movements in response to rainfall during periods of drought1, 4. It forages diurnally in pairs or small groups of between 5 and 30 individuals1 (occasionally in groups of 50-200)1, 3, and roosts nightly in groups of up to 1001, 3. It often uses the same roost site year-round, year after year, although it will wander several kilometres away to forage during the day 1, 3. The species breeds in solitary pairs1, with breeding reaching a peak during or just after the rainy season (although in Gambia and Tanzania breeding is restricted to the dry season)1. Habitat This species inhabits wooded streams and river courses in open moist grassland and savanna woodland1, 2, and is attracted to man-made irrigated habitats3, such as cultivated land, large gardens and playing fields1, 4. It less often occurs in marshes, flooded grassland, the edges of lakes and reservoirs, mangrove swamps, coastal beaches1, 2, open woodland and at forest edges1. Diet This species is carnivorous, its diet consisting largely of insects (especially weevils, Diptera, the pupae of Lepidoptera and the larvae of Coleoptera), as well as crustaceans, millipedes, centipedes, spiders, earthworms, snails and small reptiles1. Breeding site The nest is a basket-shaped platform of sticks and twigs situated 1-12 m (usually 3-6 m) above the ground or above water on a horizontal tree branch, in bushes or on man-made structures such as telegraph poles1, 2, dam walls or pergolas4. The same nest site is usually used year after year (but not necessarily by the same breeding pair)2. |
| Systems: | Terrestrial; Freshwater |
| Major Threat(s): | The species is threatened by extended droughts (which reduce food availability by causing damp soil to harden, making it more difficult to probe for insects)3. The population in South Africa declined markedly at the turn of the century due to hunting during colonial expansion1. Utilisation The species is hunted and traded at traditional medicine markets in Nigeria5. |
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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. Hancock, J. A.; Kushlan, J. A.; Kahl, M. P. 1992. Storks, ibises and spoonbills of the world. Academic Press, London. 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. Nikolaus, G. 2001. Bird exploitation for traditional medicine in Nigeria. Malimbus 23: 45-55. |
| Citation: | BirdLife International 2009. Bostrychia hagedash. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 22 May 2012. |
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