Lists

The Five Most Common Wild Bird Species

September 18, 2025 by Kai Pflug 1 Comment

While the numbers are obviously only estimates, there are probably five wild bird species with more than one billion individuals:

  1. House Sparrow (1.6 billion, photo)
  2. Red-billed Quelea (1.5 billion)
  3. Common Starling (1.3 billion)
  4. Ring-billed Gull (1.2 billion)
  5. Barn Swallow (1.1 billion)

In total, it is estimated that there are about 50 billion wild birds, which gives you an average of about 5 million individuals for each species. But of course, that is wildly misleading, given the large numbers of the species listed above. 1180 species have fewer than 5000 individuals, according to the New Scientist. For some species, the numbers are still smaller – a Smithsonian Magazine article gives the oddly precise number of 377 individuals for the Great Spotted Kiwi.

Overall, only a few bird species are very common. For most others, a general rule applicable not only to birds applies: “Most species are rare. But not very rare“.

Main Sources: HBW, Smithsonian Magazine.

Written by Kai Pflug
Kai has lived in Shanghai for 21 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well.He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.