are there more birds than humans

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House sparrows, European starlings, barn swallows and ring-billed gulls all occupy the billion-bird club with gargantuan population numbers

According to a new study, there are at least 50 billion total wild birds—or six birds for every human on the planet.

The new paper, published this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined data collected by users of the citizen science database eBird and compared it with data collected by Partners in Flight and BirdLife International to check the accuracy. The researchers then combined the three pools of data to create an algorithm that estimated the population sizes for other species that were not the subject of the professional studies and lacked significant data, reports Adam Vaughan for New Scientist.

“The really big breakthrough in this paper was we could take the scientific data and the citizen science data and then fill the gap for birds which are not studied by professional scientists,” says ecologist and co-author Will Cornwell of the UNSW to Lisa Cox for the Guardian.

Out of all 9,700 species analyzed, four birds reached what the researchers call the “billion club,” or species with an estimated global population of over a billion. These included the house sparrow at 1.6 billion, the European starling at 1.3 billion, the ring-billed gull at 1.2 billion, and the barn swallow at 1.1 billion.

In contrast, 1,180 species, or 12 percent of the population numbers, have fewer than 5,000 individuals, reports New Scientist. Some of these species included the great spotted kiwi at 377 individuals, the Javan hawk-eagle at 630 individuals, and the Seychelles kestrel with under 100 individuals remaining, per Douglas Main for National Geographic.

“Its really ambitious—its a big undertaking to try and figure out how many birds there are in the world. They thought really deeply about it and took as many steps as possible to make it as precise as possible,” says Lucas DeGroote, a researcher at the Powdermill Avian Research Center at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, to National Geographic.

When the last review of bird populations was taken 24 years ago, estimates reached between 200 billion and 400 billion individuals, New Scientist reports. The vast discrepancy between the old and new data reflects different methods used for analysis and data collection; it does not reflect an overall decline in birds, reports New Scientist.

Overall, the study helps provide a baseline for researchers interested in future bird populations calculations, improve conservation efforts of rare species, and help researchers find what makes a rare species scarce, study author Corey Callaghan, a biologists at the University of New South Wales, explains to New Scientist.

“Quantifying the abundance of a species is a crucial first step in conservation. By properly counting whats out there, we learn what species might be vulnerable and can track how these patterns change over time – in other words, we can better understand our baselines,” says Callaghan in a statement.

“Its really ambitious—its a big undertaking to try and figure out how many birds there are in the world. They thought really deeply about it and took as many steps as possible to make it as precise as possible,” says Lucas DeGroote, a researcher at the Powdermill Avian Research Center at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, to National Geographic.

Massive populations of house sparrows, European starlings, barn swallows, and ring-billed gulls make up the billion-bird club.

Four bird species—of the 9,700 examined—made it into what the researchers refer to as the “billion club,” which is reserved for species with a global population estimated to be greater than one billion. These included the house sparrow at 1. 6 billion, the European starling at 1. 3 billion, the ring-billed gull at 1. 2 billion, and the barn swallow at 1. 1 billion.

In contrast, 1,180 species, or 12 percent of the population numbers, have fewer than 5,000 individuals, reports New Scientist. Some of these species included the great spotted kiwi at 377 individuals, the Javan hawk-eagle at 630 individuals, and the Seychelles kestrel with under 100 individuals remaining, per Douglas Main for National Geographic.

The new paper, published this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined data collected by users of the citizen science database eBird and compared it with data collected by Partners in Flight and BirdLife International to check the accuracy. The researchers then combined the three pools of data to create an algorithm that estimated the population sizes for other species that were not the subject of the professional studies and lacked significant data, reports Adam Vaughan for New Scientist.

All bird species may become extinct by the year 2021–20100. As of 2014, And 7-25% (28-56% on oceanic islands) may become “functionally extinct. It indicates that these species’ population will decline to the point where they are no longer significant to their ecosystem.

Those are very good questions. Since the world’s bird population is constantly fluctuating, it is difficult to respond to the first question. Additionally, a lot of birds are found in remote locations where it is difficult for humans to see and count them. But there have been some reasonable estimates.

FAQ

Are there more humans or birds?

But there have been some reasonable estimates. About 10 years ago, two scientists decided to estimate the total number of birds on the planet. The number they came up with was 200 to 400 billion individual birds. Compared to 5 billion people, this amounts to about 40 to 60 birds per person.

How many birds are in the world?

With over 50 billion birds worldwide, you may wonder what species accounts for the largest proportion of this figure. This is also a question that has been answered. You might be fascinated to learn that the most common bird is the domestic chicken, with roughly 22 billion.

Are there more birds than mammals?

In 2021, it listed 2.13 million species on the planet. In the chart, we see the breakdown across a range of taxonomic groups – 1.05 million insects, over 11,000 birds, over 11,000 reptiles, and over 6,000 mammals. These figures – particularly for lesser-known groups such as plants or fungi – might be a bit too high.

How many birds have ever existed?

The estimates vary from 150 thousand to 1.5 million birds that have ever lived. Whatever the number of birds that have ever existed, there were a lot more birds that used to exist than the ten thousand-ish that exist today.