Indian Blackbird (Turdus simillimus) - BirdLife species factsheet

Indian Blackbird Turdus simillimus

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

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 & supplements), Christidis & Boles (2008), Cramp et al. (1977-1994), Sibley & 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.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

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

Species attributes

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

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,630,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	1,360,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	3.38 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The population has not been quantified since the species was split. This species is considered to have a medium dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 2.5% within its mapped range over the past 10 years (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). Therefore, as a precautionary measure, it is tentatively suspected that this loss of cover may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame.

Trend justification: .

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
India	extant	native	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Moist	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 4580 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

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

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Indian Blackbird Turdus simillimus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/indian-blackbird-turdus-simillimus on 24/11/2024.
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 24/11/2024.