Taxon name
Anthus spinoletta
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Anthus spinoletta
(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
This species has a small non-breeding population size within the UAE that could warrant listing as Near Threatened under Criterion D1. However, there is no strong evidence to support any deterioration and it is likely that there is a rescue effect from outside the country. Therefore, a regional adjustment has been made and the species is listed here as Least Concern.
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 common within the UAE during winter and on passage to and from the breeding grounds. Numbers are highest between late October and early April (Pedersen et al. 2017). Individuals wintering in or migrating through the UAE breed in south-central Eurasia.
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This species occurs in a variety of open habitats, including lowland grasslands, large open gardens, wetlands, lakesides, sewage works and water treatment plants (Richardson 1990, Aspinall and Porter 2011). There is no information available about its diet in the UAE; elsewhere it feeds mainly on invertebrates but also takes some plant material. The species is a short-distance migrant and breeds between late April and early July on mountain slopes and pastures in south-central Eurasia.
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
Within the UAE land-use changes may have an impact on this species, but the severity of such a threat is essentially unknown. Artificial habitats that favour this species within the UAE may be transient, so monitoring of such habitats will be important. Individuals visiting the country are likely to be impacted by other threats. For instance, in some areas, grazing animals have been shown to have a significant negative impact on the nesting success of this species (Pavel 2004). It is also thought to be threatened by climate change (Ebenhöh 2003, Melendez and Laiolo 2014).
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
