This species is very rare and restricted to Christmas island. It breeds in Christmas island and a significant proportion of its population migrates to Australia, India, China, Myanmar, and Southeast Asian countries in its non-breeding season. It mostly remains congregative in large numbers during migration but gets dispersed to different regions in small groups to its destined grounds (BirdLife International 2018).

This species is listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (https://www.iucnredlist.org/).

According to the IUCN Red List Assessment, the population of this species is declining, with the current population size ranging between 2,400 and 4,800 individuals. The threat to its persistence comes from habitat disturbance due to large scale mining, agriculture, aquaculture, and other human encroachments. Adult survival is also possibly low due to hunting and trapping along the migratory route (BirdLife International 2018).