What Are The Most Populous Species of Birds in the World?
A paper published in the journal Proceedings Of The National Academy of Sciences reported that there were about 50 Billion birds in this world, or about six for each human being alive today. The study took reports submitted to eBird from the thousands of citizen scientists around the world and correlated it with data collected by Partners in Flight and Birdlife International. The scientists took the data from these three organizations and created an algorithm to estimate population sizes for birds that have not been subjected to rigorous scientific study; bird species which are endangered are often carefully studied while species with a lot of individuals tend not to be less studied.
The paper reported the four most populous bird species in the world. Can you guess which ones they were? I’ll give you a hint: one species is estimated to have 1.6 billion individuals, another has about 1.3 billion, a third has about 1.2 billion, and the fourth has 1.1 billion. So what’s your guess? Answers tomorrow!
Stay safe. Go birding. Take pics. Share here. Repeat.
Mike
If you’d like to learn more about Greatbirdpics.com Click Here. Members can post their own Great Bird Pics, create their own online gallery of their works, and receive regular emails about bird photography.