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

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. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	103,000,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	146,000,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	250000-3200000 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2020
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.39 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The European population is estimated at 20,000-41,700 pairs, which equates to 40,100-83,400 mature individuals (BirdLife International in prep.). Europe forms approximately 15% of the global range so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 267,000-556,000 mature individuals. Partners in Flight (2020) estimate the North American population at approximately 1,600,000 mature individuals, and the global population at 3,200,000 mature individuals. Given the wide range of the population estimates, the global population is placed in the band 250,000-3,200,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification: In North America, this species has undergone a large and statistically significant increase over the last five decades (on average 3.5% per year, equating to 56% over three generations; Partners in Flight 2020). Note, however, that these surveys cover less than 50% of the species's global range. In Europe, the breeding population size is decreasing by at least 30% over 13 years (three generations [Bird et al. 2020]) (BirdLife International in prep.). Overall, the global population is suspected to be stable.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native				yes
Albania	extant	native
Algeria	extant	native
Anguilla (to UK)	extant	native
Antigua and Barbuda	extant	native
Armenia	extant	native			yes
Aruba (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Austria	extant	native			yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native
Bahamas	extant	native
Bahrain	extant	vagrant			yes
Barbados	extant	native
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native			yes	yes
Belize	extant	native			yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	native
Bhutan	extant	vagrant
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Brazil	extant	native
Bulgaria	extant	native			yes	yes
Canada	extant	native		yes		yes
Cayman Islands (to UK)	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Colombia	extant	native
Costa Rica	extant	native			yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes			yes
Cuba	extant	native
Curaçao (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Cyprus	extant	native			yes
Czechia	extant	native			yes
Denmark	extant	native			yes	yes
Dominica	extant	native
Dominican Republic	extant	native
Ecuador	extant	native
Egypt	extant	native
El Salvador	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native	yes
Finland	extant	native	yes			yes
France	extant	native			yes	yes
French Guiana	extant	native
Georgia	extant	native			yes
Germany	extant	native			yes	yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native
Greece	extant	native			yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Grenada	extant	native
Guadeloupe (to France)	extant	native			yes
Guatemala	extant	native
Guyana	extant	native
Haiti	extant	native
Honduras	extant	native
Hungary	extant	native			yes
Iceland	extant	native	yes
India	extant	native
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native			yes
Iraq	extant	native			yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes			yes
Israel	extant	native
Italy	extant	native			yes	yes
Jamaica	extant	native
Japan	extant	native
Jordan	extant	native			yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kuwait	extant	native			yes	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native	yes
Laos	extant	native
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native			yes	yes
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	vagrant
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native			yes
Malta	extant	vagrant
Martinique (to France)	extant	native
Mexico	extant	native
Moldova	extant	native			yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native			yes
Montserrat (to UK)	extant	native
Morocco	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native
Netherlands	extant	native			yes
Nicaragua	extant	native
North Korea	extant	native
North Macedonia	extant	native			yes
Norway	extant	native		yes		yes
Oman	extant	vagrant			yes
Pakistan	extant	native
Panama	extant	native
Peru	extant	native
Philippines	extant	vagrant
Poland	extant	native			yes	yes
Portugal	extant	native			yes
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native
Qatar	extant	native			yes	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	vagrant
Serbia	extant	native			yes
Sint Maarten (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Slovakia	extant	native			yes
Slovenia	extant	native			yes
South Korea	extant	native
Spain	extant	native			yes
St Barthelemy (to France)	extant	native
St Kitts and Nevis	extant	native
St Lucia	extant	native
St Martin (to France)	extant	native
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native	yes			yes
St Vincent and the Grenadines	extant	native
Sudan	extant	vagrant			yes
Suriname	extant	native
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	native			yes
Syria	extant	native			yes
Tajikistan	extant	native
Thailand	extant	vagrant
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native			yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Ukraine	extant	native			yes	yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	vagrant			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
USA	extant	native		yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native
Venezuela	extant	native
Vietnam	extant	native
Virgin Islands (to UK)	extant	native			yes
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Yemen	extant	vagrant			yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Croatia	Krka and Surrounding Plateau
Croatia	Middle Dalmatian Islands and Peljesac Penninsula
Croatia	Ravni Kotari
Ireland	Wicklow Mountains
Latvia	Adazi
Latvia	Irbe valley and Dizpurvs
Latvia	Teici and Pelecare bogs
Portugal	Castro Verde plains
Romania	Danube Delta
Romania	Dealurile Târnavelor - Valea Nirajului
Romania	Dobrogei gorge
Romania	Kogălniceanu - Gura Ialomiţei
Romania	Măcin - Niculiţel
Romania	Mândra wetlands
Romania	Prut river flood-plain - Vlădeşti - Frumuşiţa
Romania	Râului Negru valley
Romania	Stepa Saraiu - Horea
Sweden	Lake Ånn – Storlien
Sweden	Sjaunja
United Kingdom	Berwyn
United Kingdom	Bowland Fells
United Kingdom	Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands
United Kingdom	Grampian Mountains
United Kingdom	Lammermuirs
United Kingdom	Lewis Peatlands
United Kingdom	Loch Shin and nearby lochs
United Kingdom	Migneint - Arenig - Dduallt
United Kingdom	Muirkirk and North Lowther Uplands
United Kingdom	North Pennine Moors
United Kingdom	North Yorkshire Moors
United Kingdom	Ornkey Mainland Moors
United Kingdom	Ronas Hill - North Roe and Tingon
United Kingdom	South Pennine and Peak District Moors
United Kingdom	West Inverness-shire Lochs

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	resident
Forest	Boreal	suitable	breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Grassland	Tundra	suitable	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Mud Flats and Salt Flats	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Salt Marshes (Emergent Grasses)	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Boreal	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 3000 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%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species disturbance
Energy production & mining	Renewable energy	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Human intrusions & disturbance	Recreational activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Vulpes vulpes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Pollution	Industrial & military effluents - Type Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Merlin Falco columbarius. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/merlin-falco-columbarius on 23/12/2024.
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 23/12/2024.