Michele Mendi

The species occupies various types of semi-open habitats with sparse vegetation on the ground – open forest, clearings, woodland with low undergrowth, wooded pasture, orchard, unimproved meadowland with scattered trees etc. Its breeding range covers the temperate zone of Eurasia – from the Iberian Peninsula to Japan (Winkler et al. 2020).

Widely distributed in Europe, apart from the British Isles, most of Greece and the extreme N of NW Russia (Keller et al. 2020).

Eurasian-African migrant wintering mostly in Sahel; some populations winter in SW Europe.

Its population trend in Europe is currently increasing. Evaluated as “Least Concern” (BirdLife International 2020).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		1590000-3040000,2190000
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 Eurasian Wryneck

No clear migratory divide is evident in Europe – a gradual shift in migration directions is apparent depending on the ringing site longitude: birds ringed in W Europe show more westerly migration directions compared to those ringed in E Europe (Reichlin et al. 2009).

Birds breeding in Fennoscandia mainly migrate SW with numerous encounters in C, W, NW, SW and SC Europe, S to NW Africa; however, some birds travel S and SE towards the Balkan Peninsula and E Mediterranean region. A bird marked in Karelia (NW Russia) has been encountered in France (Noskov et al. 2016). C European breeders migrate mostly SW, but some travel S & SE, with encounters as far as N & NW Africa. Birds breeding in the Baltic countries and Belarus take SW routes with encounters during migration in W & SC Europe. In general, data from E & SE Europe are limited.

Recoveries by Condition for Eurasian Wryneck

The bulk of encounters are obtained after 2000. They come from mainly from the breeding season, peaking in Jun (25% of all cases). Majority of encounters (ca. 94%) are recorded in C, SC, N % SW Europe (41, 26, 15 and 12% respectively). The encounters based on dead birds significantly decreased over time: from 70% pre-1960 to 5% after 1991; those based on alive birds markedly increased from 20% before 1960 to 95% after 1991. Shooting was an important factor mostly in the past – 18% pre-1960 and 5% in 1961-1990; most of these cases are concentrated in the Mediterranean region. Nowadays, most of the encounters come from alive birds due to ringing, including ringing at nestboxes (2.4% of all encounters). 

Long-distance ring recoveries from African winter quarters S of Sahara apparently lacking.

Annual Movements for Eurasian Wryneck

Post-breeding movements start from late Jul, autumn migration take place mostly Aug-Sep, with progressively decreasing numbers afterwards. N Africa is reached as early as Sep, mostly in Oct. Most winter encounters in Europe are from the Iberian Peninsula and Italy. European breeding grounds are occupied primarily from Apr to mid-May.

In the Middle East (Israel) passage birds are more numerous in spring (Mar to mid-May) than in autumn (Sep to mid-Nov) (Yosef & Zduniak 2011).

Tracked birds from C Europe wintered both in SW Europe (Spain & Portugal) and Morocco: they reached their non-breeding areas between early Sep and mid-Oct (early Oct on average) and stayed there for 4.5-6 months; spring departure took place in early Mar (van Wijk et al. 2013).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Eurasian Wryneck

Dispersal and autumn migratory movements begin as early as mid-summer. European breeders are encountered on the continent mostly until early autumn, small fraction of birds is encountered mid- to late autumn or during winter. Spain, Portugal and Italy hold the bulk of winter encounters in Europe. Passage and wintering sites in Africa are reached from early autumn, mostly mid-autumn.  Return movements within Europe take place mostly mid- to late spring.

Isotope analyses suggested low migratory connectivity for two studied breeding

populations (German and Swiss), leapfrog migration and partially overlapping wintering regions in Africa – possible wintering region of the German population is the Sahel zone, while that of the Swiss also included S Iberian Peninsula and S Italy (Reichlin et al. 2010).

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
BirdLife International 2022 . Species factsheet: Jynx torquilla. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/01/2022
Noskov, G. A., Rymkevich, T. A., Gaginskaya, A. R. 2016 . Migration of Birds on Northwest Russia. Non-Passerines. ANO LA “Professional”, Saint Petersburg
Reichlin, T. S, Hobson, K. A, Wassenaar, L. I, Schaub, M., Tolkmitt, D., Becker, D., Jenni, L., & Arlettaz, R. 2010 . Migratory connectivity in a declining bird species: using feather isotopes to inform demographic modelling. Diversity & distributions 16: 643–654
Reichlin, T.S., Schaub, M., Menz, M.H.M., Mermod, M., Portner, P., Arlettaz, R., Jenni, L. 2009 . Migration patterns of Hoopoe Upupa epops and Wryneck Jynx torquilla: an analysis of European ring recoveries. J Ornithol 150
van Wijk, R.E., Schaub, M., Tolkmitt, D., Becker, D. and Hahn, S. 2013 . Short-distance migration of Wrynecks Jynx torquilla from Central European populations. Ibis 155: 886–890
Winkler, H., D. A. Christie, and G. M. Kirwan 2020 . Eurasian Wryneck (Jynx torquilla), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.eurwry.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Yosef, R., Zduniak, P. 2011 . Migration and Staging Patterns of the Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) at Eilat, Israel. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution 57: 247–256

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