This is a list of bird species by global population, divided by

bird classification This article lists living Order (biology), orders and Family (biology), families of birds. In total there are about 11,000 species of birds described as of 2024, though one estimate of the real number places it at almost 20,000. The order passe ...

. 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 The term population biology has been used with different meanings. In 1971, Edward O. Wilson ''et al''. used the term in the sense of applying mathematical models to population genetics, community ecology, and population dynamics. Alan Hasting ...

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 (biophysical), environment, such as birth rate, birth and death rates, and by immigration an ...

. Contributing organizations include the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

, and

Partners in Flight Partners in Flight / Compañeros en Vuelo / Partenaires d’Envol is an organization launched in 1990 in response to growing concerns about declines in the populations of many land bird species, and to emphasize the conservation of birds not covered ...

. The average global population of all mature birds is estimated to be on the order of 100 billion individuals. 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 The spectacled flowerpecker (''Dicaeum dayakorum'') is a species of bird belonging to the flowerpecker family, Dicaeidae. It was first observed in 2009 in the forests of Borneo, but due to limited information and the lack of a specimen for scient ...

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

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

s 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 Observation in the natural sciences is an act or instance of noticing or perceiving and the acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the percep ...

, and a given number of 50

slender-billed curlew The slender-billed curlew (''Numenius tenuirostris'') is an extinct species of curlew native to Eurasia and North Africa. Isotope analysis suggests the majority of the former population bred in the Kazakh Steppe despite a record from the Siberia ...

s does not necessarily mean there are 10 more of this species than the

black stilt The black stilt (''Himantopus novaezelandiae'') or kakī (Māori language, 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 ...

, 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 dotterel The shore plover (, Moriori: , ''Charadrius novaeseelandiae''), also known as the shore dotterel, is a small plover endemic to New Zealand. Once found all around the New Zealand coast, it is now restricted to a few offshore islands. It is one of ...

s compared with 4,500 – 5,000

wrybill The wrybill or (in Māori language, Māori) ngutuparore (''Anarhynchus frontalis'') is a species of plover Endemic (ecology), endemic to New Zealand. It is the only species of bird in the world with a beak that is bent sideways in one direction, ...

s, on the other hand, means that the latter has well over one

order of magnitude In a ratio scale based on powers of ten, the order of magnitude is a measure of the nearness of two figures. Two numbers are "within an order of magnitude" of each other if their ratio is between 1/10 and 10. In other words, the two numbers are ...

more individuals than the former. The wrybill only has approximately one tenth the population of

great skua The great skua (''Stercorarius skua''), sometimes known by the name bonxie in Britain, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is roughly the size of a herring gull. It mainly eats fish caught at the sea surface or taken fro ...

s (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 guille ...

(470,000). It is these large differences between species that this list tries to convey.

By taxonomy

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

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Birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

By taxonomy

See also

Notes

References