Kangean Tit-Babbler

The Kangean Tit-Babbler is presently listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List (last assessed October 2016), based on the following justification and threats:

"This species has a small, declining population and its largest subpopulation is likely to hold fewer than 1,000 mature individuals."

"Extensive deforestation ... has greatly reduced the amount of available habitat, and deforestation continues in the Kangean Islands."

However, evidence from recent surveys on Kangean (Berryman et al., in review) suggest 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. As such, it is likely that this species will be downlisted whenever its conservation status is next assessed.

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.