Michele Mendi

A polytypic Holarctic passerine, breeding from Iberia in W Europe to Alaska and Canada. Migratory, wintering ranges extended from SW Europe and Africa to SE Asia (Collar 2005). Six subspecies breed in Europe: L. s. azuricollis (Iberia only, Johnsen et al., 2006), namnetum (mostly Atlantic wetlands of France), cyanecula (from E France to Russia), svecica (N Scandinavia to N Russia), volgae (from E Ukraine to Russia), magna (Caucasus).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		7930000-14800000,10900000
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 Bluethroat

Two main migratory axes; SW (namnetum, cyanecula, azuricollIs) (Arizaga & Tamayo 2013) or SE (svecica, magna, volgae) (Collar 2005). Subspecies azuricollis recently revealed to winter in W Africa (Lomas-Vega et al. 2019)., while namnetum migrates along the coast of N Iberia (Arizaga et al. 2006) to overwinter mainly in Portugal/N Africa (Zucca & Jiguet 2002) and cyanecula overwinters from S Europe to W Africa. Migration is on a broad front, although there is some connectivity: Bluethroats breeding further east were also located further east during autumn migration, winter and spring. There are few data for svecica  outside Scandinavia, but recoveries spread across a NW-SE axis, across to India. Studies with geolocators confirm an Indo-European flyway (Lislevand et al. 2015). Few data for the E and Caucasian populations. There are few data for the E and Caucasian populations. Birds breeding in SE Russia/Caucasus have been recovered in Israel and the E Mediterranean.

Recoveries by Condition for Bluethroat

Most recoveries are of birds recaptured for ringing. Before 1960 ca. 15% of recoveries were of birds found dead, including those shot or sick/wounded.

Annual Movements for Bluethroat

Birds leave the breeding quarters soon after breeding, mostly in Jul/Aug, up to Sep in very N populations (Lislevand et al. 2015). Passage in W Europe starts in mid-Aug, peaking in Sep (Arizaga et al. 2010). By Nov, most birds already found at their wintering sites. Spring migration starts in Mar, peaking in Apr in S/C Europe and also the Indo-European flyway-associated Bluethroats (Lislevand et al. 2015),  arrival on the northern European breeding grounds (Scandinavian birds) is in May; later than for the W/C European populations. Migratory speed seems to be slow, assessed to be <200 km/day (including stopovers; Lislevand et al. 2015), though probably much faster in spring (Lomas-Vega et al. 2019).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Bluethroat

There are fewer recoveries during spring migration than in autumn. Autumn recoveries There are fewer recoveries during spring migration than in autumn. Autumn recoveries cyanecula are common both on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean coasts of W/C Europe, while in spring most recoveries show a Mediterranean–biased distribution, suggesting loop migration at least in this subspecies are common both on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean coasts of W/C Europe, while in spring most recoveries show a Mediterranean–biased distribution, suggesting loop migration at least in this subspecies (Arizaga & Tamayo 2013). In autumn, svecica moves through C Asia from Sep to Oct/Nov; reaching India from late Sep to Oct/Nov (Lislevand et al. 2015).

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
Arizaga, J., Alonso, D., Campos, F., Unamuno, J. M., Monteagudo, A., Fernandez, G., Carregal, X. M., Barba, E.2006 . ¿Muestra el pechiazul Luscinia svecica en España una segregación geográfica en el paso posnupcial a nivel de subespecie?. Ardeola 53: 285–291
Arizaga, J., Barba, E., Alonso, D., Vilches, A.2010 . Stopover of bluethroats Luscina svecica cyanecula in northern Iberia during the autumn migration period. Ardeola 57: 69–85
Arizaga, J., Tamayo, I.2013 . Connectivity patterns and key non–breeding areas of white–throated bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) European populations. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 36: 69–78
Collar, N. J.2005 . Family Turdidae (Thrushes). In: Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol 10. Lynx, BarcelonaEditor(s): Del Hoyo, J., Elliot, A., Christie, D. A.: 514–807
Johnsen, A., Andersson, S., Garcia Fernandez, J., Kempenaers, B., Pavel, V., Questiau, S., Raess, M., Rindal, E., Lifjeld, J. T.2006 . Molecular and phenotypic divergence in the bluethroat Luscinia svecica subspecies complex. Molecular Ecology 15: 4033–4047
Lislevand, T., Chutný, B., Byrkjedal, I., Pavel, V., Briedis, M., Adamik, P., Hahn, S.2015 . Red-spotted Bluethroats Luscinia s. svecica migrate along the Indo-European flyway: a geolocator study. Bird Study 62: 508–515
Lomas-Vega, M., Willemoes, M., Arizaga, J., Onrubia, A., Cuenca, D., Alonso, D., Torralvo, C., Tøttrup, A. P., Thorup, K.2019 . Migration Strategies of Iberian Breeding White-Rumped Swifts Apus caffer, Rufous-Tailed Scrub-Robins Cercotrichas galactotes and Bluethroats Cyanecula svecica. Ardeola 66: 51–64
Zucca, M., Jiguet, F2002 . La Gorgebleue à miroir (Luscina svecica) en France: nidification, migration et hivernage. Ornithos 9: 242–252

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