Michele Mendi

The species occupies gently flowing streams, rivers, canals, and various wetlands of still water, such as lakes, ponds, flooded gravel pits with plenty of small fish. It requires lots of perches on the banks (shrubs, reeds, broadleaved trees etc.), as well as suitable banks for nesting. The global range extends across the whole of the Palearctic, from S Scandinavia, W Europe and Mediterranean region to Japan, S & SE Asia (Woodal 2020).

Resident or short-distance migrant in W & S Europe, the populations to the N & E mostly migratory.

Its population trend in Europe is decreasing. Evaluated as “Least Concern” (BirdLife International 2021).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		179000-440000,270000
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 Common Kingfisher

General movement pattern in continental populations follows NE – SW direction. British Isles breeders are apparently resident, but some movements of juveniles towards the Netherlands and W & SW France have been recorded. W European population is mostly sedentary but some birds take SW routes to Iberian Peninsula and S France. Breeding populations in SW & SC Europe are resident and locally dispersive. Breeders from S Scandinavia migrate mostly SW to overwinter in C & W Europe. C European population is partly resident but lots of birds migrate SW reaching W Europe and W & C Mediterranean region; there are much less encounters of birds going SE, reaching even N Africa. Breeding populations in E Europe take mainly S-SW routes to the C & E Mediterranean (incl. N Africa) and Black Sea regions.

Recoveries by Condition for Common Kingfisher

Most encounters are obtained after 2000, primarily during late summer and autumn – ca. 66% in the period Jul-Oct (mainly juveniles). More than half of all encounters are recorded in C & SW Europe – 31 and 23% respectively.

The encounters based on dead birds decreased over time – from 55% pre-1960 to 5% after 1991, while those based on alive birds – markedly increased from 42% pre-1960 to 95% after 1991; the latter is largely due to ringing recoveries. Shooting was significant factor in the past, with 12% of all cases before 1960.

Most distant recoveries (>=50 km) are less than 200km away from the ringing site.

Sample size from SE & E Europe is very limited.

Annual Movements for Common Kingfisher

Post-breeding dispersal is evident as early as Jul, being more pronounced until Oct. About 5% of the birds breeding on the British Isles are thought to migrate (Libois 2011), mostly juveniles are encountered in W Europe from Aug to Oct. Migratory birds from W, N & C Europe are encountered on their European wintering grounds as early as Jul, mostly Sep-Mar, some – until end of Apr. Most breeding sites to the N are left by Oct-Nov. Although Iberian population is largely resident, movement of a bird wintering in Morocco (Dec) has also been recorded.

About 94% of all birds encountered in Aug-Oct for two years in N Spain have been found to be juveniles (Arizaga et al. 2010). Similar results (85-98%) have been obtained for N Egypt in Sep-Oct (Rosińska, Busse 2012).

Return movements in the migratory populations take place Mar-Apr, until May in the N.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Common Kingfisher

Within Europe, the migratory tendency has been found to increase from S to N and from W to E (Libois 2011), ice-free wetlands during winter being а vital necessity.

Movements after the breeding season take place between late summer and mid-autumn. The wintering sites in Europe are occupied mostly between early autumn and early spring; sometimes spring migration does not start until mid-spring. Migrants from the most N populations leave their territories as late as mid- to late autumn. Migratory birds from C & SE Europe are encountered in N Africa and the Levant from early autumn.

The birds from migratory populations reach their breeding grounds most often early to mid-spring, sometimes as late as late spring in northernmost populations.

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
Arizaga J., Mendiburu A., Alonso D., Cuadrado J.F., Jauregi J.I. & Sánchez J.M. 2010 . Common Kingfishers Alcedo atthis along the coast of northern Iberia during the autumn migration period. Ardea 98: 161–167
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Alcedo atthis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 28/08/2021.
Libois, R. 2011 . Migration et déplacements du Martin-pécheur Alcedo atthis en Europe. Aves 48: 65–86

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