Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) | Details | BirdLife International

Whinchat Saxicola rubetra

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

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., 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	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

Species attributes

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

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	20,500,000 km²
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	17,000,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	20500000-28100000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2018
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	2.33 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the total population size is estimated at 15,400,000-21,100,000 mature individuals, with 7,730,000-10,600,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2021), and comprises approximately 75% of the species' global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is between 20,500,000-28,100,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is desirable. The species' population in Europe is considered to have undergone a small decline over three generations (10 years), especially in western and central Europe (BirdLife International 2021). As this region holds the vast majority of the species' global range, the global population size is considered to be decreasing slowly over three generations

Trend justification: .

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	uncertain
Albania	extant	native	yes
Algeria	extant	native
Andorra	extant	native	yes
Armenia	extant	native	yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahrain	extant	native			yes
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Benin	extant	native
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native	yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes		yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native
Burundi	extant	native
Cameroon	extant	native
Central African Republic	extant	native
Chad	extant	native
Congo	extant	native
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes		yes
Djibouti	extant	native
Egypt	extant	native
Eritrea	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native
Finland	extant	native	yes		yes
France	extant	native	yes		yes
Gabon	extant	native
Gambia	extant	native
Georgia	extant	native	yes
Germany	extant	native	yes		yes
Ghana	extant	native
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native
Greece	extant	native	yes		yes
Guinea	extant	native
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native
Hungary	extant	native	yes
Iceland	extant	vagrant
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes		yes
Iraq	extant	native			yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native
Italy	extant	native	yes		yes
Jordan	extant	native			yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native
Kuwait	extant	native			yes
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native			yes
Liberia	extant	native
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	native	yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native
Mali	extant	native
Malta	extant	native
Mauritania	extant	native
Moldova	extant	native	yes
Montenegro	extant	native	yes
Morocco	extant	native
Namibia	extant	vagrant
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	vagrant
Nigeria	extant	native
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	native	yes
Oman	extant	native		yes	yes
Poland	extant	native	yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Qatar	extant	native			yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native	yes
Russia (European)	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	extant	native
Saudi Arabia	extant	native		yes	yes
Senegal	extant	native
Serbia	extant	native	yes
Seychelles	extant	vagrant
Sierra Leone	extant	native
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native
South Africa	extant	native
South Sudan	extant	native		yes
Spain	extant	native	yes		yes
Sudan	extant	native
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native			yes
Tanzania	extant	native
Togo	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native	yes		yes
Uganda	extant	native
Ukraine	extant	native	yes		yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
Western Sahara	extant	native
Yemen	extant	native		yes	yes
Zambia	extant	native
Zimbabwe	extant	vagrant

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Finland	Lemmenjoki-Hammastunturi-Pulju
Germany	Elbe lowlands between Schnackenburg and Lauenburg
Germany	Oberwesterwald, incl. Westerwald lake area and Neunkhausener Plateau
Germany	Peenetal (Peenetalmoor and Anklamer Stadtbruch)
Germany	Recknitz and Trebel valley
Germany	Unteres Rhinluch-Dreetzer See / Havelländisches Luch / Belziger Landschaftswiesen
Russia (European)	Flood-plain of Algashka river (Kirsko-Algashinskaya)
Russia (European)	Insaro-Kovylkinski
Ukraine	Lyman lake
Ukraine	Molochna river valley
United Kingdom	Exmoor Coast and Heaths

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Boreal	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Whinchat Saxicola rubetra. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/whinchat-saxicola-rubetra on 22/12/2024.
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 22/12/2024.