Upupa epops | UAE National Red List of Birds
Taxa
Upupa epops | Linnaeus, 1758
Publication
Asessment status in full
Least Concern
Assessment status abreviation
LC
Assessment rationale/justification
This species has increased rapidly since initially colonising the country in the late 1980's as a regular breeding species. The population size is now estimated to be 500-1,000 pairs (1,000-2,000 mature individuals), and this would warrant a listing of Near Threatened under criterion D1. The species is likely to continue to increase, and the possibility of rescue effect is good. Therefore, a regional adjustment has been made and it is listed as Least Concern here.
Assessment year
2019
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment
Government
IGO
Assessor affiliation specific
Government|IGO
Criteria system specifics
IUCN v3.1 + Regional Guidelines v4.0
Criteria system used
IUCN
Criteria Citation
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Endemic to region
Not_assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Threats listed in assessment
This species has likely expanded thanks to the spread of suitable irrigated areas. These artificial habitats within the UAE may be transient, so monitoring of such habitats will be important.;Individuals that over-winter in country may face additional threats outside of the country, such as hunting (KriÅ¡tín;and Kirwan 2015).
Conservation Measures
Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:
History
The breeding population has been increasing over the past decades (R. Sheldon;in litt. 2019). The species had started breeding regularly by 1988 (R. Sheldon;in litt. 2019), but in the early 1990s, the species was still considered scarce - estimated at 10-100 pairs (Aspinall 1996). This would mean that in 1996 it warranted a listing as Critically Endangered under criterion D, but it would have undergone a regional adjustment to Endangered. Subsequent estimates increased to 100-200 pairs (Jennings 2010), and the population now is suspected to be 500-1,000 pairs, implying a population increase which might be due to the increase in the availability of suitable habitat (R. Sheldon;in litt. 2019).
Scientific Name | Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Upupa epops | Animalia | Chordata | Aves | Bucerotiformes | Upupidae | Upupa |