Albania (B), Algeria, Andorra (B), Armenia (B), Austria (B), Azerbaijan (B), Bahrain (P), Belarus (B), Belgium (B), Bosnia and Herzegovina (B), Bulgaria (B), Chad, China (mainland), Côte dIvoire, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B), Cyprus (P), Czech Republic (B), Denmark (P), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia (B), Ethiopia, Finland (B) (P), France (B) (P), Georgia (B), Germany (B) (P), Gibraltar, Greece (B) (P), Guinea, Hungary (B), Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B), Iraq (P), Ireland, Israel, Italy (B) (P), Jordan (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kuwait, Latvia (B), Lebanon (B), Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania (B), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B), Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Moldova [Republic of] (B), Mongolia (B), Montenegro (B), Morocco, Netherlands Antilles (B), Nigeria, Norway (B), Oman, Poland (B), Portugal (B), Qatar, Romania (B), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B), Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia (B), Sierra Leone, Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (B), Slovenia (B), Somalia, Spain (B), Sudan, Sweden (B), Switzerland (B), Syrian Arab Republic (B), Tunisia, Turkey (B), Uganda, Ukraine (B), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (P), Uzbekistan, Western Sahara, Yemen.
Vagrant to Afghanistan, Cameroon, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Seychelles, South Korea, Tajikistan.
Breeds in Europe from northern Fennoscandia (almost reaching Arctic Circle) south, very patchily, to northern Portugal, central Spain (including Balearic Is), southern France, northern Italy, Greece, Crete, Turkey and northern Israel, extending eastern across European Russia, Ukraine and northern Caspian region to northern Kazakhstan and Altai and Khangai Ranges in north-western and west-central Mongolia and, in south, through Caucasus, northern Iraq and northern Iran to borders of Turkmenistan; also northern Africa (coastal Algeria). Non-breeding range not well known, probably mountains along southern fringes of Sahara, where recorded Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana and Nigeria in west, and eastern Chad and south-eastern Sudan east to Ethiopia and Eritrea in east, and probably includes Yemen and Oman.
Population
Estimated population is 20,000,000 - 100,000,000 (2010).
Proposed subspecies elisabethae (Uliastai, in north-western Mongolia) claimed to differ in colour intensity, but these differences seem to be due to individual variability.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet