Lesser Whitethroat (Curruca curruca) - BirdLife species factsheet

Lesser Whitethroat Curruca curruca

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Sylvia curruca (AOU [1998 and supplements]; Dowsett and Forbes-Watson [1993]; Sibley and Monroe [1990, 1993]), S. minula and S. althaea (Sibley and Monroe [1990, 1993]) have been lumped into S. curruca following del Hoyo and Collar (2016).

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: #http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of _the_WP15.xls#.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Distribution

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km²)	32,700,000
Extent of Occurrence non-breeding (km²)	23,100,000
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population and trend

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Number of mature individuals	21000000-35999999	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	stable		estimated	-
Generation length (years)	4	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 4,800,000-7,990,000 pairs, which equates to 9,600,000-16,000,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms c.45% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 21,300,000-35,500,000 mature individuals, placed here in the range of 21,000,000-35,999,999 mature individuals; although further validation of this estimate is needed.

Trend justification: In Europe the overall trend from 1980-2013 was stable (EBCC 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding	Passage
Afghanistan	extant	native				yes
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native		yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native		yes
Bahrain	extant	native				yes
Belarus	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	native		yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Bulgaria	extant	native		yes
Cameroon	extant	native
Chad	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Croatia	extant	native		yes
Cyprus	extant	native
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native		yes		yes
Djibouti	extant	native
Egypt	extant	native
Eritrea	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native		yes
Ethiopia	extant	native
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native		yes
Finland	extant	native		yes		yes
France	extant	native		yes
Gambia	extant	vagrant
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native		yes		yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native
Greece	extant	native		yes		yes
Hungary	extant	native		yes
Iceland	extant	vagrant
India	extant	native
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native		yes		yes
Iraq	extant	native				yes
Ireland	extant	native		yes
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native		yes		yes
Jordan	extant	native		yes		yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kuwait	extant	native			yes	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Latvia	extant	native		yes
Lebanon	extant	native		yes		yes
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native		yes
Luxembourg	extant	native		yes
Mali	extant	native
Malta	extant	native
Mauritania	extant	native
Moldova	extant	native		yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native
Nigeria	extant	native
North Macedonia	extant	native		yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Oman	extant	native			yes	yes
Pakistan	extant	native
Palestine	extant	native				yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	vagrant
Qatar	extant	native				yes
Romania	extant	native		yes
Russia	extant	native		yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native				yes
Senegal	extant	native
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Slovakia	extant	native		yes
Slovenia	extant	native		yes
Somalia	extant	vagrant
South Korea	extant	vagrant
South Sudan	extant	native			yes
Spain	extant	native
Sri Lanka	extant	native
Sudan	extant	native
Sweden	extant	native		yes
Switzerland	extant	native		yes
Syria	extant	native		yes		yes
Tajikistan	extant	native
Thailand	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native		yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Ukraine	extant	native		yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native				yes
United Kingdom	extant	native		yes
USA	extant	vagrant
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Yemen	extant	native				yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Afghanistan	Salang Kotal
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Rud-i-Gaz and Rud-i-Hara deltas
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Rud-i-Jagin and Rud-i-Gabrik deltas
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Bahu Kalat (Gandu) Protected Area
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Hamoun-i Sabari and Hamoun-i Hirmand
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Rud-i-Shur, Rud-i-Shirin and Rud-i-Minab deltas
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Golestan
Yemen	Ma'rib - Naqil Fardah - Baraqish

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Savanna	Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Moist	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 2350 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Primary form used	Life stage used	Source	Scale	Level	Timing
Pets/display animals, horticulture	-	-		international	non-trivial	recent
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	-	-			non-trivial	recent

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Curruca curruca. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lesser-whitethroat-curruca-curruca on 26/09/2023. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2023) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org on 26/09/2023.