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

Taxonomic note

Agropsar sturninus (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) was previously listed as Sturnus sturninus.

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.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
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., 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	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)	4,430,000 km2
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	2,710,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	unknown	-	-	-
Generation length	3.27 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be reasonably common (Feare et al. 1998), while national population estimates include: c.100-100,000 breeding pairs and c.50-10,000 individuals on migration in China; < c.1,000 individuals on migration in Japan and c.100-100,000 breeding pairs and c.50-10,000 individuals on migration in Russia (Brazil 2009). The population trend is difficult to determine because of uncertainty over the impacts of habitat modification on population sizes.

Trend justification: The population trend is difficult to determine because of uncertainty over the impacts of habitat modification on population sizes.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Cambodia	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native
Christmas Island (to Australia)	extant	vagrant
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native
India	extant	native
Indonesia	extant	native
Japan	extant	native
Laos	extant	native
Malaysia	extant	native
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Myanmar	extant	native
North Korea	extant	native		yes
Norway	extant	vagrant
Pakistan	extant	uncertain
Russia	extant	native
Russia (Asian)	extant	native
Singapore	extant	native
South Korea	extant	native
Sri Lanka	extant	vagrant			yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native
Thailand	extant	native
Vietnam	extant	native

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Russia (Asian)	Kievka and Chernaya river basins

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Temperate	major	breeding
Altitude	0 - 3100 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Purple-backed Starling Agropsar sturninus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/purple-backed-starling-agropsar-sturninus 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.