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Sturnus vulgaris

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA AVES PASSERIFORMES STURNIDAE

Scientific Name: Sturnus vulgaris
Species Authority: Linnaeus, 1758
Common Name/s:
English – Common Starling, European Starling, Starling
French – Etourneau sansonnet

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 is not known, but the population is not believed to be decreasing sufficiently rapidly to approach the thresholds 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:
2009 – Least Concern
2008 – Least Concern
2004 – Least Concern

Geographic Range [top]

Countries:
Native:
Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Argentina; Armenia (Armenia); Aruba; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahamas; Bahrain; Belarus; Belgium; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Canada; Cayman Islands; China; Croatia; Cuba; Curaçao; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Dominican Republic; Egypt; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Georgia; Germany; Gibraltar; Greece; Haiti; Hong Kong; Hungary; Iceland; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Kyrgyzstan; Latvia; Lebanon; Libya; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Malta; Mexico; Moldova; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Nepal; Netherlands; Norway; Oman; Palestinian Territory, Occupied; Poland; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Qatar; Romania; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia; Serbia (Serbia); Sint Maarten (Dutch part); Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain (Canary Is.); Spain (Canary Is.); Sweden; Switzerland; Syrian Arab Republic; Tajikistan; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Turks and Caicos Islands; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Uzbekistan
Introduced:
Australia; Fiji; New Zealand; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; Tonga; United States
Vagrant:
Bermuda; Bhutan; Cape Verde; Greenland; Korea, Republic of; Maldives; Myanmar; Panama; Svalbard and Jan Mayen; Taiwan, Province of China; Thailand; Vanuatu; Viet Nam; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Yemen
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population: The global population is estimated to number > c.310,000,000 individuals (Rich et al. 2004), while national population estimates include: < c.50 individuals on migration and < c.50 wintering individuals in Taiwan; < c.1,000 individuals on migration and < c.1,000 wintering individuals in Korea and < c.1,000 individuals on migration and < c.1,000 wintering individuals in Japan (Brazil 2009).
Population Trend: Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Systems: Terrestrial; Marine

Bibliography [top]

Brazil, M. 2009. Birds of East Asia: eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, eastern Russia. Christopher Helm, London.

Crick, H. Q. P.; Dudley, C.; Glue, D.E.; Thomson, D.L. 1997. UK birds are laying earlier. Nature 388: 526.

Gordo, O.; Sanz, J. J. 2005. Phenology and climate change: a long-term study in a Mediterranean locality. Oecologia 146: 484-495.

IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2012.1). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 19 June 2012).

Jenni, L.; Kery, M. 2003. Timing of autumn bird migration under climate change: advances in long-distance migrants, delays in short-distance migrants. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 270(1523): 1467-1471.

Rich, T.D.; Beardmore, C.J.; Berlanga, H.; Blancher, P.J.; Bradstreet, M.S.W.; Butcher, G.S.; Demarest, D.W.; Dunn, E.H.; Hunter, W.C.; Inigo-Elias, E.E.; Martell, A.M.; Panjabi, A.O.; Pashley, D.N.; Rosenberg, K.V.; Rustay, C.M.; Wendt, J.S.; Will, T.C. 2004. Partners in flight: North American landbird conservation plan. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY.

Sokolov, L. V.; Gordienko, N. S. 2008. Has recent climate warming affected the dates of bird arrival to the Il'men Reserve in the Southern Urals? Russian Journal of Ecology 39: 56-62.

Tryjanowski, P.; Flux, J. E. C.; Sparks, T. H. 2006. Date of breeding of the starling Sturnus vulgaris in New Zealand is related to El Nino Southern Oscillation. Austral Ecology 31: 634-637.

Vahatalo, A. V.; Rainio, K.; Lehikoinen, A.; Lehikoinen, E. 2004. Spring arrival of birds depends on the North Atlantic Oscillation. Journal of Avian Biology 35: 210-216.
Citation: BirdLife International 2012. Sturnus vulgaris. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 22 May 2013.
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