Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis) - BirdLife species factsheet

Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis

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.
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.

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
2013	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	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	134,000,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	129,000,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	45400000-73600000 mature individuals	-	-	2018
Population trend	unknown	-	estimated	-
Generation length	2.49 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the total population size is estimated at 2,270,000-3,680,000 mature individuals, with 1,130,000-1,840,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2021), and comprises approximately 5% of the species' global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is between 45,400,000-73,600,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is desirable. Following recorded range expansions in Europe in recent decades (del Hoyo et al. 2006), the species' population is considered to have remained relatively stable over three generations (10 years) (BirdLife International 2021). Given the small proportion of the species' global range in Europe, and the lack of data from other regions, the global population trend is unknown,

Trend justification: .

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor
Afghanistan	extant	uncertain
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native
Angola	extant	native
Australia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	vagrant
Bangladesh	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	native		yes
Benin	extant	native
Botswana	extant	native
Bulgaria	extant	vagrant
Burkina Faso	extant	native
Burundi	extant	native
Cambodia	extant	native		yes
Cameroon	extant	native
Central African Republic	extant	native
Chad	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Congo	extant	native
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	vagrant
Egypt	extant	native
Equatorial Guinea	extant	native
Eritrea	extant	native
Eswatini	extant	native
Ethiopia	extant	native
France	extant	native	yes
Gabon	extant	native
Gambia	extant	native
Ghana	extant	native
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native	yes
Greece	extant	native		yes
Guinea	extant	native
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native		yes
India	extant	native		yes
Indonesia	extant	native		yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes
Ireland	extant	vagrant
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Japan	extant	native		yes
Jordan	extant	native			yes
Kenya	extant	native
Kuwait	extant	vagrant			yes
Laos	extant	native		yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes
Lesotho	extant	native
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	vagrant
Malawi	extant	native
Mali	extant	native
Malta	extant	native	yes
Mauritania	extant	native
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native
Mozambique	extant	native
Myanmar	extant	native		yes
Namibia	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native
Nigeria	extant	native
North Macedonia	extant	native		yes
Oman	extant	vagrant			yes
Pakistan	extant	native		yes
Palestine	extant	native	yes
Philippines	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	extant	native
Saudi Arabia	extant	native	yes
Senegal	extant	native
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Sierra Leone	extant	native
Singapore	extant	native		yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native
South Africa	extant	native
South Korea	extant	native		yes
South Sudan	extant	native	yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native		yes
Sudan	extant	native
Sweden	extant	vagrant
Switzerland	extant	native		yes
Syria	extant	native	yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native		yes
Tanzania	extant	native
Thailand	extant	native		yes
Timor-Leste	extant	native	yes
Togo	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native
United Kingdom	extant	vagrant
Vietnam	extant	native		yes
Yemen	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native
Zimbabwe	extant	native

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	breeding
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	Urban Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Salt Marshes (Emergent Grasses)	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Salt Marshes (Emergent Grasses)	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Climate change & severe weather

Habitat shifting & alteration

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Future

Minority (<50%)

Unknown

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/zitting-cisticola-cisticola-juncidis 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.