• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note

Turdus merula, T. simillimus, T. maximus and T. mandarinus (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as T. merula following AERC TAC (2003), AOU (1998 and supplements), Christidis and Boles (2008), Cramp et al. (1977–1994), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), and Turbott (1990).

 

Taxonomic source(s)
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.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	113 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	32,400,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	33,400,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	145000000-220000000 mature individuals	medium	suspected	2018
Population trend	increasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.64 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the total population size is estimated at 116,000,000-176,000,000 mature individuals, with 58,100,000-88,000,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2021), and comprises approximately 80% of the species' global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is between 145,000,000-220,000,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is desirable. The species' population in Europe is considered to have undergone a moderate increase over three generations (13.92 years) (BirdLife International 2021). As this region holds the vast majority of the species' global range, the global population size is considered to be increasing over three generations.

Trend justification:    .

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native	yes
Albania	extant	native	yes
Algeria	extant	native	yes
Andorra	extant	native	yes
Armenia	extant	native	yes
Australia	extant	introduced	yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahrain	extant	vagrant
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native	yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
Canada	extant	vagrant
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes
Egypt	extant	vagrant
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native	yes
Finland	extant	native	yes
France	extant	native	yes
Georgia	extant	native	yes
Germany	extant	native	yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native	yes
Greece	extant	native	yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Hungary	extant	native	yes
Iceland	extant	native	yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native			yes
Iraq	extant	native			yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native			yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Jordan	extant	native	yes
Kazakhstan	extant	vagrant
Kuwait	extant	native			yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	vagrant
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes
Libya	extant	vagrant
Liechtenstein	extant	native	yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Malta	extant	native	yes
Moldova	extant	native	yes
Montenegro	extant	native	yes
Morocco	extant	native	yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
New Zealand	extant	introduced	yes
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Palestine	extant	native			yes
Poland	extant	native	yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Qatar	extant	vagrant
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	vagrant
Russia (European)	extant	native	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes
Serbia	extant	native	yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
St Helena (to UK)	extinct	introduced
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native	yes
Tajikistan	extant	vagrant
Tunisia	extant	native	yes
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	vagrant
Ukraine	extant	native	yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
USA	extant	vagrant
Uzbekistan	extant	vagrant
Western Sahara	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Bulgaria	Central Balkan
Bulgaria	Rila
Bulgaria	Sredna Gora
Bulgaria	Western Balkan
Bulgaria	Western Rhodopes
Serbia	Derdap gorge
Serbia	Golija
Serbia	Kucaj-Beljanica
Serbia	Stara mountains
Serbia	Valjevske mountains

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Boreal	suitable	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	breeding
Forest	Temperate	major	breeding
Forest	Temperate	major	non-breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 2300 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 2700 m

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Climate change & severe weather	Temperature extremes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects
Human intrusions & disturbance	Work & other activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species disturbance
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Unspecified species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Eurasian Blackbird Turdus merula. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/eurasian-blackbird-turdus-merula on 02/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 02/01/2025.