Conservation

Classified as globally Endangered (EN; BirdLife International 2017) and Vunerable (VU) in Colombia (Martínez-Gómez et al. 2013). Numbers are decreasing, and continued declines (20-29%) are expected in the next 10 years (3 generations; BirdLife International 2017).

The future of Banded Ground-Cuckoo is bleak due to several behavorial and ecological factors.

First and foremost, this species depends on primary forest for nesting and foraging, and is rarely seen far from vast tracts of undisturbed forest (López-Lanús et al. 1999, Karubian et al. 2007, Karubian and Carrasco 2008). Deforestation is particularly rapid in the Chocó Ecoregion, and logging has intensified since the mid-1970s. By 1996, the remnant cover of premontane forests in western Ecuador was only 40%, with a 7% reduction having occurred in the previous decade (BirdLife International 2017). In addition, primary forests in Nariño and within 60 km of San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas have been converted to oil palm plantations (Cárdenas 2007, Jahn 2011). Infrastructural improvements in the area, such road-building, have also exacerbated deforestation and the concomitant decline of this species because it has facilitated an increase in agricultural development (coca and banana plantations, and cattle), gold mining, and opportunistic hunting for food (Salaman 1994, Wege and Long 1995, Jahn 2011, BirdLife International 2017). Moreover, large businesses have exploited changing land transfer legislation making it cheaper and easier to acquire land (BirdLife International 2017.)

Ecological factors that are contributing to the species’ declines include its large home range requirements, low population density, poor dispersal ability, and low reproductive rates, small clutch size in particular (probably one egg; Karubian et al. 2007).