Kangean Tit-Babbler

Kangean Tit-Babbler is currently listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Prior to 2024, it was listed as Vulnerable. The change in status resulted from recent surveys on Kangean (Berryman et al., in review) that found that it's an abundant bird throughout wooded habitats on the island, including overgrown teak plantations and selectively logged forest, and is therefore unlikely to be declining. For instance, surveys in 2023 found it to be one of the most common songbirds, with ~100 individuals tallied in just four days.

Prior to a June 2023 expedition, this little known bird, found only on the Kangean Archipelago (120 km north of Bali, Indonesia) was last documented in December 2010. There are now dozens of images of this bird and its habitat archived in Macaulay Library, alongside a few audio recordings.

Kangean Tit-Babbler was considered a subspecies of Gray-cheeked Tit-Babbler (Mixornis flavicollis) in the eBird taxonomy prior to the 2022 taxonomy update when it was split as a distinct species.