Taxon name
Anthus campestris
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Anthus campestris
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Vertebrates
Birds
Species authority
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Location and scope
Specific locality or subnational name or regional name
United Arab Emirates (the)
Scope (of the Assessment)
National
Countries included within the scope of the assessment
United Arab Emirates (the)
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Not_assigned
Conservation Status
Assessed as
Least Concern
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
Assessment rationale/justification
Although this species has a relatively small non-breeding population size within the UAE, there is no strong evidence to support any deterioration in the population (and it is likely that there is a rescue effect from outside the country). Therefore, the species is listed here as Least Concern as it does not approach the thresholds for listing as threatened.
Assessment details
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Criteria system used
IUCN
Reference for methods given
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.
Further information
Endemism (according to assessment)
Endemic to region
Not assigned
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
This species is very common during migration and winter in open country throughout the UAE. Numbers are highest between mid-September and late April. The species is uncommon between May and August (Pedersen et al. 2017). Individuals wintering in or migrating through the UAE breed in western-central Asia.
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This species inhabits a wide variety of open country, including sparsely vegetated plains, grassland, desert scrub, cultivations, parks and rubbish dumps (Richardson 1990, Aspinall and Porter 2011). There is no information available about its diet in the UAE; elsewhere it mainly feeds on insects, although other invertebrates and seeds are also taken, as well as rarely small vertebrates (Tyler and Christie 2016). The species often occurs in groups (Richardson 1990). It is migratory and breeds between mid-April and mid-August.
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
Overgrazing outside of Protected Areas potentially could have an impact on this species, while climate change may also have an impact (Tyler and Christie 2016).
History
This species has increased its population size since 1996 due to increasing availability of suitable irrigated habitat, and it is suspected that the population size (accounting for regional adjustments) may have been sufficiently small in 1996 that it would have warranted a listing as Near Threatened under criterion D1 then, whereas now (2019) it is assessed as Least Concern.
Publication
Burfield, I.J., Westrip, J., Sheldon, R.D., Hermes, C., Wheatley, H., Smith, D., Harding, K.A. Allen, D.J. and Alshamsi, O. 2021. UAE National Red List of Birds. Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
