Northern House Martin (Delichon urbicum) - BirdLife species factsheet

Northern House Martin Delichon urbicum

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note

Delichon urbicum and D. lagopodum (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as D. urbicum following AERC TAC (2003), AOU (1998 & supplements), Cramp et al. (1977-1994), Dowsett & Forbes-Watson (1993) and Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993).

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	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	30,800,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	43,500,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	38300000-80200000 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2018
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	2.76 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the total population size is estimated at 23,000,000-48,100,000 mature individuals, with 11,500,000-24,100,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2021), and comprises approximately 60% of the species' global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is between 38,300,000-80,200,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is desirable. Following earlier declines, the species' population in Europe is considered to have remained relatively stable over three generations (10 years) (BirdLife International 2021). As this region holds the majority of the species' global range, the global population size is currently considered to be stable over three generations.

Trend justification: .

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native	yes
Andorra	extant	native		yes
Angola	extant	native			yes
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native		yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native		yes
Bahrain	extant	native				yes
Barbados	extant	vagrant
Belarus	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	native		yes
Benin	extant	native			yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Botswana	extant	native			yes
Bulgaria	extant	native		yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native			yes
Burundi	extant	native			yes
Cameroon	extant	native			yes
Cape Verde	extant	native			yes
Central African Republic	extant	native			yes
Chad	extant	native			yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Comoros	extant	vagrant
Congo	extant	native			yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native			yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native			yes
Croatia	extant	native		yes
Cyprus	extant	native		yes
Czechia	extant	native		yes
Denmark	extant	native		yes		yes
Djibouti	extant	vagrant
Egypt	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native			yes
Estonia	extant	native		yes
Eswatini	extant	native			yes
Ethiopia	extant	native			yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native		yes
Finland	extant	native		yes		yes
France	extant	native		yes		yes
Gabon	extant	native			yes
Gambia	extant	native			yes
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native		yes		yes
Ghana	extant	native			yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native		yes
Greece	extant	native		yes		yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Guinea	extant	native			yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native			yes
Hungary	extant	native		yes
Iceland	extant	native		yes
India	extant	native		yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native		yes		yes
Iraq	extant	native		yes		yes
Ireland	extant	native		yes
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native		yes
Jordan	extant	native				yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kenya	extant	native			yes
Kuwait	extant	native			yes	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Latvia	extant	native		yes
Lebanon	extant	native		yes		yes
Lesotho	extant	native			yes
Liberia	extant	native			yes
Libya	extant	native	yes
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native		yes
Luxembourg	extant	native		yes
Malawi	extant	native			yes
Maldives	extant	vagrant
Mali	extant	native			yes
Malta	extant	native		yes
Mauritania	extant	native			yes
Moldova	extant	native		yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native			yes
Namibia	extant	native			yes
Nepal	extant	vagrant
Netherlands	extant	native		yes
Niger	extant	native			yes
Nigeria	extant	native			yes
North Macedonia	extant	native		yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Oman	extant	native				yes
Pakistan	extant	native		yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Qatar	extant	native				yes
Romania	extant	native		yes
Russia	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Rwanda	extant	native			yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native				yes
Senegal	extant	native			yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Seychelles	extant	vagrant
Sierra Leone	extant	native
Slovakia	extant	native		yes
Slovenia	extant	native		yes
Somalia	extant	native			yes
South Africa	extant	native			yes
South Sudan	extant	native			yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
St Helena (to UK)	extant	vagrant
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	vagrant				yes
Sudan	extant	native			yes
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native		yes
Switzerland	extant	native		yes
Syria	extant	native		yes		yes
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Tanzania	extant	native			yes
Togo	extant	native			yes
Tunisia	extant	native	yes
Türkiye	extant	native		yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Uganda	extant	native			yes
Ukraine	extant	native		yes		yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native				yes
United Kingdom	extant	native		yes
USA	extant	vagrant
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Western Sahara	extant	native			yes
Yemen	extant	native			yes	yes
Zambia	extant	native			yes
Zimbabwe	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	Arable Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		major	breeding
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		major	non-breeding
Savanna	Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 2000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 4500 m

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Climate change & severe weather

Storms & flooding

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 - Passer domesticus

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Causing/Could cause fluctuations

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Competition, Reduced reproductive success

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Northern House Martin Delichon urbicum. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/northern-house-martin-delichon-urbicum on 22/11/2024.
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 22/11/2024.