Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species has an extremely large range and the population size is very large, hence does not approach threatened thresholds for the range or population size criteria. The population trend is not known, but the population is not believed to be decreasing sufficiently rapidly to approach the thresholds under the population trend criterion. For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Population justification
In Europe, the total population size is estimated at 179,000-572,000 mature individuals, with 89,500-286,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2021), and comprises approximately 20% of the species' global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is between 895,000-2,860,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is desirable. In Europe the trend for this species is not known (BirdLife International 2021). As no other data are available to derive trends, the global population trend for this species is unknown
Trend justification
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The species breeds on wild rocky mountainsides and high hills with scattered shrubs and sporadic grass cover, rocky heaths, extensive limestone screes, lava flows, eroded canyons, crags, open riverbeds, scrubby river gorges, boulder-strewn alpine meadows, upland farmland with stone walls and buildings, rocky ravines and valleys with stunted trees. In Europe it breeds from May to June, it breeds April-June in north-west Africa, end April-mid-July in Israel, May-June in Afghanistan and Pakistan, May-early August in Mongolia and May-July in China. It is territorial and the male performs display-flights over its territory. The nest is a neat flat cup of coarse grass, rootlets and moss, lined with moss and fine rootlets. Normally it is placed under a rock overhang or in a horizontal rock crevice, wall or ruin, sometimes under a boulder on steep hillside and occasionally in a tree hole. Nest sites are often used successively, including from year to year. Clutches are typically four to six eggs. It feeds principally on insects but also fruit and berries (Collar and Bonan 2015). Typically it forages by surveying from a perch then flying to the ground to take prey (Tucker and Heath 1994). The species is a nocturnal trans-Saharan migrant (Hagemeijer and Blair 1997). European birds begin to leave their breeding grounds from August to September. Aside from a small number wintering in the southern Arabian Peninsula the entire species overwinters in Africa (Collar and Bonan 2015).
Declines in Europe may be owing to habitat loss in both summer and winter quarters through afforestation and tourism development, as well as succession following pastoral abandonment in Europe. The proportion of upland pasture (i.e. overgrazed, barren hill country) in Franconia fell from 20% in 1850 to 1% in 1995 (Collar and Bonan 2015).
Conservation Actions Underway
Bern Convention Appendix II. There are currently no known conservation measures for this species within its European range.
Conservation Actions Proposed
The protection of its mountainous breeding grounds should be ensured by preventing afforestation, regulating tourism and preserving pastoral practices. Monitoring programmes and research into the species's ecology will help develop future conservation measures.
Text account compilers
Martin, R., Rutherford, C.A.
Contributors
Dowsett, R.J.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush Monticola saxatilis. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/rufous-tailed-rock-thrush-monticola-saxatilis on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.