This is a list of bird species by global population, divided by
bird classification
This article lists living orders and families of birds. The links below should then lead to family accounts and hence to individual species.
The passerines (perching birds) alone account for well over 5,000 species. In total there are about 1 ...
. While numbers are estimates, they have been made by the experts in their fields. For more information on how these estimates were ascertained, see Wikipedia's articles on
population biology and
population ecology
Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment, such as birth and death rates, and by immigration and emigration.
The discipline is import ...
. Contributing organizations include the
IUCN,
BirdLife International, and
Partners in Flight.
The average global population of all mature birds is estimated to be somewhat less than 90 billion (actually, somewhere between 40 and 130 billion; this too is a rough estimate). The total population including younglings is somewhat higher during the breeding season of each species.
This list is incomplete, because experts have not estimated all bird numbers. For example, the
spectacled flowerpecker was only discovered in 2010, and did not receive its scientific name (''Dicaeum dayakorum'') until 2019,
[Saucier, Jacob R.; Milensky, Christopher M.; Caraballo-Ortiz, Marcos A.; Ragai, Roslina; Dahlan, N. Faridah; Edwards, David P. (2019-10-17). "A distinctive new species of flowerpecker (Passeriformes: Dicaeidae) from Borneo". Zootaxa. 4686 (4): 451–464. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4686.4.1. ISSN 1175-5334.] adding to the other 73 new bird species described by
ornithologists from 2000 – 2009.
[Reuters.]
''"Spectacled flowerpecker" bird found in Borneo''
scientificamerican.com, 13 January 2010, accessed on 15 January 2010.[Walton, Doreen, science reporter.]
''New bird species found in rainforests of Borneo''
BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk, 14 January 2010, accessed on 15 January 2010. Global population estimates for many of these at this time would lack accuracy.
All numbers are estimates, because they are taken by
observation, and a given number of 50
slender-billed curlew
The slender-billed curlew (''Numenius tenuirostris'') is a bird in the wader family Scolopacidae. Isotope analysis suggests the majority of the former population bred in the Kazakh Steppe despite a record from the Siberian swamps, and was mig ...
s does not necessarily mean there are 10 more of this species than the
black stilt
The black stilt (''Himantopus novaezelandiae'') or kakī (Māori) is a wading bird found in New Zealand. It is one of the world's rarest birds, with 169 adults surviving in the wild as of May 2020. Adult kakī have distinctive black plumage, l ...
, which has been estimated at 40: there is a possibility that the latter species has a larger population than the former.
This list should not be taken that literally. An estimate of 250
shore dotterels compared with 4,500 – 5,000
wrybill
The wrybill or (in Māori) ngutuparore (''Anarhynchus frontalis'') is a species of plover endemic to New Zealand. It is the only species of bird in the world with a beak that is bent sideways in one direction, always to the right (in the crossbil ...
s, on the other hand, means that the latter has well over one
order of magnitude
An order of magnitude is an approximation of the logarithm of a value relative to some contextually understood reference value, usually 10, interpreted as the base of the logarithm and the representative of values of magnitude one. Logarithmic di ...
more individuals than the former.
The wrybill only has approximately one tenth the population of
great skuas (48,000), which are outnumbered ~10:1 by the
pigeon guillemot
The pigeon guillemot (''Cepphus columba'') () is a species of bird in the auk family, Alcidae. One of three species in the genus ''Cepphus'', it is most closely related to the spectacled guillemot. There are five subspecies of the pigeon guil ...
(470,000).
It is these large differences between species that this list tries to convey.
By taxonomy
See also
*
Lists of mammals by population
This is a collection of lists of mammal species by the estimated global population, divided by orders. Lists only exist for some orders; for example, the most diverse order - rodents - is missing. Much of the data in these lists were created by th ...
*
Lists of organisms by population
This is a collection of lists of organisms by their population. While most of the numbers are estimates, they have been made by the experts in their fields. Species population is a science falling under the purview of population ecology and biog ...
Notes
:1.Amount of quantified species contained in the list as of the "Retrieved" date in the corresponding citation. The amount of species in each order is according to the IUCN and BirdLife International; bird taxonomy is currently in flux and these figures may soon change.
:2.Preliminary estimate.
:3.Mature only.
References
{{Authority control
Birds