Map_thumbnail_large_font

Parus major

Status_ne_offStatus_dd_offStatus_lc_onStatus_nt_offStatus_vu_offStatus_en_offStatus_cr_offStatus_ew_offStatus_ex_off

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA AVES PASSERIFORMES PARIDAE

Scientific Name: Parus major
Species Authority: Linnaeus, 1758
Common Name/s:
English – Great Tit
Taxonomic Notes: Parus major (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was split by Päckert et al. (2005) into P. major, P. minor and P. cinereus who also transferred P. bokharensis (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) into P. major. The BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group supports the authors treatment of bokharensis because morphological, vocal and genetic differences are small, but the treatment of minor and cinereus as species is not followed owing to the authors own reservations about recognising cinereus as distinct from minor because of the minor morphological, vocal and genetic differences and due to uncertainty over taxonomic relationships in the westernmost Himalayan region which allows the possibility that major and bokharensis are connected to cinereus and cinereus to minor. Owing to this uncertainty it is not felt there is sufficient evidence to treat any of these taxa as distinct from major at the species level.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published: 2012
Assessor/s: BirdLife International
Reviewer/s: Butchart, S. & Symes, A.
Contributor/s:
Justification:
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
History:
2010 – Least Concern
2008 – Not Recognized
2004 – Not Recognized
2000 – Not Recognized
1994 – Not Recognized
1988 – Not Recognized

Geographic Range [top]

Countries:
Native:
Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Andorra; Armenia (Armenia); Austria; Azerbaijan; Bangladesh; Belarus; Belgium; Bhutan; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Cambodia; China; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Egypt; Estonia; Finland; France; Georgia; Germany; Gibraltar; Greece; Hong Kong; Hungary; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Kyrgyzstan; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Malaysia; Moldova; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Myanmar; Nepal; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Serbia (Serbia); Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Syrian Arab Republic; Tajikistan; Thailand; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Uzbekistan; Viet Nam
Vagrant:
Iceland; Malta; Taiwan, Province of China
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population: In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 46,000,000-91,000,000 breeding pairs, equating to 138,000,000-273,000,000 individuals (BirdLife International 2004). Europe forms 25-49% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 282,000,000-1,090,000,000 individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed. National population estimates include: c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in Russia and (for the subspecies minor) c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in China; c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in Korea; c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in Japan and c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in Russia and (for the subspecies cinereus) c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in China and c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in Japan (Brazil 2009).
Population Trend: Increasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Systems: Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s): Increased spring temperatures are resulting in a mismatch between food availability and offspring requirements leading to lowered reproductive success in at least some populations (Visser et al. 1998, Visser et al. 2006).
Citation: BirdLife International 2012. Parus major. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 19 May 2013.
Disclaimer: To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
Feedback: If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided