Michele Mendi

A secretive crake inhabiting grasslands in natural habitats and flooding plains across Europe, from the British Isles to eastern Siberia, wintering in the eastern part of Austral Africa, from southern Tanzania to South Africa (Walther et al. 2012). In Europe, large populations in the North, e.g. southern Finland and Russia, but now highly fragmented and declining populations in the West.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		2310000-3430000,2800000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Corn Crake

Birds from the British Isles and Scandinavia move to the southern wintering sites by using routes structure longitudinally as for the breeding sites: birds from the North and East pass by the Middle East, birds from Central Europe move by South-East Europe, and birds from West and North-West Europe will pass by Lower Guinea and the Congo Basin. Future tracking data will certainly bring light on any structured connectivity pattern.

Recoveries by Condition for Corn Crake

There is a huge switch from mostly dead recoveries (>80%) before 1960 to nearly 90% of live recoveries after 1990, corresponding also to a huge increase in recovery numbers (after 1995).

Annual Movements for Corn Crake

The returns on breeding sites is visible from early May onwards, though singers continue to move in in June. The dispersal of the species is original, with some movements along the breeding season among suitable sites, often at distances above 50 km, hence the large amount of recoveries within a few hundred kilometres from the ringing site. Movements of British birds are attested by recoveries in adjacent France in August, while migration further south occurs mainly in September (Donaghy et al. 2011). Otherwise, there are some recoveries in the wintering sites, at distances of 6000-7000 km. The migration route is obviously via the eastern Mediterranean, to enter Africa mostly in Egypt, then moving south along the Nile valley. The species certainly suffers a high mortality at poaching sites in northern Egypt.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Corn Crake

In spring, records in South-East Europe and the Middle East are from mid-March to mid-April. In autumn, recoveries of northern and eastern birds in the same stopover regions are from the very end of August and until the end of October. As an example, British birds have been recovered in France mainly between mid-August and mid-September, while the few recoveries from Cyprus and Egypt are from early October.

Frédéric Jiguet

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Donaghy, A.M., Green, R.E., O’Halloran, J.2011 . Timing of autumn migration of young Corncrakes Crex crex. Ibis 153 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2011.01104.x) : 425–428
Walther, B.A., Taylor, B., Schäffer, N., Robinson, S., Jiguet, F.2012 . The African wintering distribution and ecology of the corncrake Crex crex. Bird Conservation International 23: 309–322

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