Christian Hoefs

There are several sub-species of Twite - in mainland Europe ssp. flavirostris and ssp. pipilans in Britain & Ireland. The endemic subspecies pipilans is Red-listed (Eaton et al. 2015). In Europe, most populations are migratory.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendUnknown
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		159000-548000,285000
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 Twite

There are data from NW, W, C and N European regions. Recent analyses of recovery data show high connectivity between breeding and non-breeding areas for pipilans, the British & Irish subspecies (Dunning et al. 2020), which is a short-distance migrant. Mainland populations of flavirostris, roughly follow a N-S or NW-SE axis of migration.

Recoveries by Condition for Twite

Overall, most recoveries are of recaptured birds  (91%). This percentage is similar between periods: changing from 86% before 1961 to 97% from 1991 to present. There is a very high concentration of recoveries in Belgium, most in Oct-Nov, but also in Mar, as a result of intensive ringing campaigns using sound-lures designed to capture actively migrating finches.

Annual Movements for Twite

Movements S to lowlands of coasts and estuaries, principally around S Baltic and N Sea, start from late Aug-late Sep; migration peaks in Oct-Nov. Twite are present in C Europe from Oct, remaining to Mar-Apr. Birds return to the breeding quarters as soon as weather conditions improve, which can be as early as Jan, up to Apr. N Scandinavian populations reach their breeding sites by Apr-May.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Twite

Birds from the British Isles mainly overwinter there (Raine et al. 2006), but some cross the English Channel and are the mainly found in Belgium in Oct-Nov, but many of these of birds are probably still on passage and may go as far as N Italy (one encounter). Scandinavian birds (mainly from W Norway) move N-S, with most recoveries in winter (Oct-Mar, concentrated in Nov-Feb) in S Scandinavia to northern half of C/E Europe.

Olatz Aizpurua & Juan Arizaga

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Dunning, J.; Finch, T.; Davison, A.; Durrant, K.L.2020 . Population-specific migratory strategies of Twite Linaria flavirostris in Western Europe. Ibis 162: 273–278
Eaton, M., Aebischer, N., Brown, A., Hearn, R., Lock, L., Musgrove, A., Noble, D., Stroud, D., & Gregory, R.2015 . Birds of ConservationConcern 4: the populationstatus of birds in the UK,Channel Islands and Isle of Man. British Birds 108: 708–746
Raine, A. F., Sowter, D. J., Brown, A. F., Sutherland, W. J.Migration patterns of two populations of Twite Carduelis flavirostris in Britain. Rringing & Migration 23: 45–52

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