A  bird species occurring in Sri Lanka is considered nationally threatened, where it has been evaluated to be Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU) according to the IUCN ‘2007 Red List of Threatened Fauna and Flora of Sri Lanka’

 

These species have been evaluated using the IUCN global red list categories and criteria

(version 3.1, IUCN 2001 http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/redlists/RLCats2001booklet.htm),
adapted at a regional level (version3.0, IUCN 2003; http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/redlists/regionalguidelines.htm).

 

The red list categories and criteria are elaborated in Annex 1 and annex 2 respectively. Of the five IUCN Global red list criteria, only the first four (A – Population reduction; B – Restricted geographic range; C – Small population size and decline; D – Very small or restricted population) have been used to evaluate the status of species in Sri Lanka. Most species have been evaluated using criteria B in particular, in the above mentioned IUCN red list book.

 

Regarding bird species, data collected and compiled by the Ceylon bird club were extensively used in the evaluation. Of the eleven expert reviewers who participated in the birds category, eight were Ceylon bird club members, as given below

Nanda Senanayake  
Deepal Warakagoda 
Udaya Siriwardena
Upali Ekanayake
Jagath Gunawardena  
Lester Perera 
Gehan De Silva Wijeyaratna
Uditha Hettige 

Chairman,
Joint Secretary,
Editor CBCN and committee member　
Former Editor CBCN and former committee member
Former committee member
Member
Member
Member

 

According to the IUCN 2007 ‘Red List of Threatened Fauna and Flora of Sri Lanka’,
the following bird species are considered to be nationally threatened.

 Critically Endangered (EN)   

Black-necked Stork
Spot-billed Duck
Jerdon’s Baza
Painted Partridge
Jungle Bush-Quail
Indian Courser
Saunders’s Tern 
Rock Pigeon
Yellow-legged Green-Pigeon
Blue-eared Kingfisher

Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus
Anas poecilorhyncha
Aviceda jerdoni
Francolinus pictus
Perdicula asiatica
Cursorius coromandelicus
Sterna saundersi
Columba livia
Treron phoenicopterus
Alcedo meninting

 

Endangered (EN)

Ruddy Crake 
Oriental Pratincole
Ceylon Bay Owl
Serendib Scops Owl
Brown-throated Spine-tail Swift
Alpine Swift
Broad-billed Roller
Hill Swallow
Ceylon Scaly Thrush
Blackbird
Ceylon Whistling Thrush
Pied Bush-Chat
Ashy-headed Laughing Thrush
Ceylon Warbler
White-headed Starling

Porzana fusca
Glareola maldivarum  
Phodilus assimilis
Otus thilohoffmanni
Hirundapus giganteus
Tachymarptis melba
Eurystomus orientalis
Hirundo tahitica
Zoothera imbricate
Turdus simillimus
Myophonus blighi
Saxicola caprata
Garrulax cenereifrons
Bradypterus palliseri
Sturnia albofrontatus

Vulnerable (VU)

Lesser Adjutant 
Crested Goshawk
Besra Sparrow-Hawk
Legge’s Hawk-eagle
Shaheen Falcon 
Little Pratincole
Ceylon Wood-Pigeon
Chestnut-backed Owlet
Green-billed Coucal
Red-faced Malkoha
Drongo Cuckoo
Yellow-fronted Pied Woodpecker
Small Scaly-bellied Woodpecker
Black-backed Yellow Woodpecker
Yellow-eared Bulbul
Dusky Blue Flycatcher
Ceylon Rufous Babbler
Legge’s Flowerpecker
Ceylon Hill Munia
Ceylon Grackle
Ceylon Blue Magpie

Leptoptilos javanicus
Accipiter trivirgatus
Accipiter virgatus
Spizaetus kelaarti
Falco peregrinus
Glareola lactea
Columba torringtoni
Glaucidium castanonotum
Centropus chlororhyncus
Phaenicophaeus pyrrhocephalus
Surniculus dicruroides
Dendrocopos mahrattensis
Picus xanthopygeus
Chrysocolaptes festivus
Pycnonotus penicillatus
Eumiyas sordidus
Turdoides rufescens
Dicaeum vincens
Lonchura kelaarti
Gracula ptilogenys
Urocissa ornate

 

The following is the list of Globally threatened migratory birds that visit Sri Lanka

Spoon-billed Sandpiper
Spotted Greenshank
Wood Snipe
Lesser Kestrel
Kashmir Flycatcher
Sociable Lapwing

Eurynorhynchus pygmeus
Tringa guttifer
Gallinago nemoricola
Falco naumanni
Ficedula subrubra
Vanellus gregarious

A further forty one species are considered as Near threatened