Bird species Number of Each country

[Lihu_Xiong]

I don't know how many species of birds each country has. I just know China has a number of 1184 or 1244 or 1253 bird species . Then how about other countries?

Lihu

[Charles Harper]

Japan's list is only about 585 recorded species, of which 250 are breeding birds and 17 are endemic. A victim of isolation from the Asian continent.

By the way, 'ecology' is an interesting word, Lihu-- it comes from Greek oikos house + logos word. The science or study of the house we all live in.

[robinm]

The "Official" British List is maintained by the BOU (http://www.bou.org.uk/) and the current number of recorded speies is 564.

[Charles Harper]

By the way again, Lihu, where did you get the three different numbers (1184, 1244, 1253) for #species in China?

[Sumit]

India has about 1200 recorded species. With sub-species included, the list swells to 1900+. Incidentally, many are common with China.
Sumit

[Lihu_Xiong]

Originally posted by Charles Harper
By the way again, Lihu, where did you get the three different numbers (1184, 1244, 1253) for #species in China?

Zuoxin_Zheng, One Ornithologist of China has published the number 1244 in a Chinese academic journal named "Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica" in 1994. And in 1999 his student has sumed up the number as 1253.
And 1184 is from "a field guide of China birds".

Maybe there are more than that, i think.

[Charles Harper]

Birds of the World: A Checklist, by James Clements (2000), includes an appendix listing the 'Distribution of Bird Species of the World by Countries'. He lists China as the 7th birdiest country, with 1204 species (50 endemics). Number One is Colombia, with 1725 species (62 endemics). The country with the most endemic species is New Guinea, with 330!

PS: You can't count subspecies, Sumit! Not fair!

[birdman]

Go on, charles... pander to my curiosity!

Who's at the other end of the list?

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Birdman,

Don't know if it counts as a country, but I'll put a guess on Antarctica

Michael

[Charles Harper]

Country with the fewest (not 'least') endemics-- would you believe it?!-- a 137-country tie, with 0 endemics!

Country with the fewest species of birds: Easter Island (is that a country?) with 9 species (and 0 endemics).

[Lihu_Xiong]

Oh, interesting.

It has made me know more. thanks. Charles.

[Sumit]

Sorry Charles, I was just expanding on the theme......
Sumit

[birdman]

Cheers Charles

I would have automatically thought Antarctica as well Michael, but then I suppose it depends on what counts in a country's range.

Apart from Penguins, I guess there would be some seabirds (Albatrosses etc.) that stick pretty close to the placefrom time to time.

The 137-way tie sounds surprising for no endemics - but Iguess those that can fly know no borders!

I'm with you Charles, I'm not sure Easter Island is a "country".

(Do you have the ISBN by the way?)

[Edward]

Easter Island belongs to Chile I believe, so I'm sure they have an endemic or two there.

I confess to Iceland being one of the 137 without an endemic, unless the Dutch split Icelandic Redpoll!!

By the way Charles, good luck enforcing the fewest/least and fewer/less rule. Recent trips back to the home country have revealed that people either don't know or don't care about the difference in usage.

E

[andythomas]

Easter Island belongs to Chile.

According to Avibase, it has 21 species. The list is here (http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/avibase.jsp?region=clei&pg=checklist&list=sibleymonroe).

--
Andy

[Dave Smith]

Excuse my ignorance, but can someone explain to me exactly what constitutes an endemic species. Is it to do with where a bird can be found or where it breeds? If for example a Pink Pigeon (endemic of Mauritious) were to get lost and be blown to the coast of Africa does it cease to be endemic or does it have to breed in a second country to lose that status?

Dave

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Dave,

Interesting question!

I'd say to qualify as an endemic, the entire population has to breed in the relevant area, and basically all the population has to remain there all year, except that I don't think an occasional departing vagrant would be allowed to 'de-endemic' it.

I wonder if the differences between the two Easter Island lists can be accounted for by the nine being breeding species (bet they're all seabirds!), and the 21 being all species recorded, vagrants included.

Michael

Edit:
Looks more like the nine are perhaps native breeding species (yes, all seabirds!), and the 21 being all species recorded, vagrants and introductions included.

M

[Dave Smith]

I'd say to qualify as an endemic, the entire population has to breed in the relevant area, and basically all the population has to remain there all year, except that I don't think an occasional departing vagrant would be allowed to 'de-endemic' it.

Thanks Michael

Dave

[Tim Allwood]

Peru hovers around 1800!
Colombia about the same
there are MANY potential splits in the Asian region that could see lists rise a fair bit indeed - an article in the next OBC Bulletin will discuss taxonomy in Asia (see www.orientalbirdclub.org for details on how to join)

[Tim Allwood]

endemism could be described biogeographically or geopolitically - endemic to a country or to a habitat type/island/extended or more likely, restricted area etc. - hope this doesn't sound pretentious as i'm anything but! I guess the best approach depends on what you're wanting to do

[dennis]

According to Clements the U.K. has 1 endemic. Well I'll bite....what is it?

dennis

[Charles Harper]

Good morning. 0-934797-16-1, B'man.

[birdman]

Originally posted by dennis
According to Clements the U.K. has 1 endemic. Well I'll bite....what is it?
I guess that would be Scottish Crossbill Loxia scoticus (Scientific name off the top of my head so may be incorrectly spelt!)

It is supposed to be halfway between Common (or Eurasian or whatever) Crossbill, and Parrot Crossbill regarding bill size, although I think there are other slight distinguishing features also.

Truth be told, I think someone down at the "Let's get the UK an endemic" Society has been putting in some overtime.

Species differentiation is a little bit of a bugbear of mine, and if this qualifies for definite, then I think someone should take a look at the credentials of the St. Kilda Wren.

Originally posted by Charles Harper
Good morning. 0-934797-16-1, B'man.
Good evening Charles, and many thanks!

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Birdman,

Spot on (except its L. scotica). I agree about the "Let's get the UK an endemic" Society; the other big reason was that there was a need for a 'flagship species' confined to the native Scots Pine forests in Scotland - the main aim being to attract EU money for preserving the forests, a very laudable aim.

Unfortunately, it now turns out that most of the crossbills nesting in the native pinewoods are Parrot Crossbills, and most Scottish Crossbills are in exotic conifer plantations, with (shock horror) one of the best areas for them being the dreaded plantations disfiguring the Sutherland Flow Country, that conservationists are trying hard to get rid of . . . .

As to its taxonomy, personally, I think Scottish Xb should be treated as a race of Parrot Xb. The best case for a UK endemic is actually Red Grouse, why that hasn't been split I don't know.

Michael

[dennis]

Thanks Birdman and Michael.

Don't think I'll be chasing it soon. Enough ticks to be had on this side of the lake.

dennis

[birdman]

Originally posted by Michael Frankis
The best case for a UK endemic is actually Red Grouse
Agreed!

[peteh]

Just attempted to count the Manx list.

From the 2001 list it came out at 313 (give or take a few cus I cant count)
and i know of 3 more since then
so thats 316...
I wouldnt mind knowing how the other islands fair, like Anglesey, Isle of Wight, etc etc if anyone knows.
ta
Pete.

[Tannin]

Antarctica is bird-rich, though there is not a great variety of species. At a rough guess, if Antarctica was a country, there would be something like 50 species on its list. (Caution: wild guess. I could comb through the seven volumes of HANZAB counting them, but I'm not that bored.

[Tannin]

Oh, and Easter Island is a special case. It is a terribly degraded environment, and it would be no surprise at all to discover that there were many other birds there before humans arrived and started breeding, breeding, breeding.

Easter Island was densely forested, but when man arrived, the trees were cut down one by one, the birds and their eggs were eaten, and eventually there were no trees left at all.

With no wildlife left to eat, and no wood left with which to build boats to go out fishing either, starvation set in on a massive scale. The only convenient source of protein that remained was human flesh. Society collapsed, the human population crashed to a fraction of its former size, and Easter Island now hosts just a handful of species.

It's a fair bet that there were any number of endemic plants that are now wiped out, and who knows what birds lived in the forests?

[christineredgate]

Tannin,that really is a very grim story,one which I should think has been repeated many ,many times ,as man has been responsible for wiping out entire species of wildlife and indeed still is doing so,as they cannot bear to see a "green patch " before they have to build even more houses etc and and are very slowly just destroying the environment plus the wildlife,
Christine.

[birdman]

Quote: Originally posted by Michael Frankis
The best case for a UK endemic is actually Red Grouse Agreed!
It occurs to me that we are mistaken, Michael.

I understand Red Grouse also occurs in the Irish Republic, which would still mean it is a British Isles endemic, but not a UK endemic.

Can't remember, in spite of the regular prompting of ouer Manx members, whether Man is UK or not, but it's there too.

I'm back with St. Kilda Wren.

[Andrew]

Easter Island with 9 species, I can't see a bird tour company getting away with charging £2k for a birding holiday there!!!

[Michael Frankis]

It occurs to me that we are mistaken, Michael.

I understand Red Grouse also occurs in the Irish Republic, which would still mean it is a British Isles endemic, but not a UK endemic.

Can't remember, in spite of the regular prompting of ouer Manx members, whether Man is UK or not, but it's there too.

I'm back with St. Kilda Wren.
Hi Birdman,

Too right, should've said British Isles!

For UK endemics, the UK races of Ptarmigan, Crested Tit, Willow Tit and Coal Tit are as good as any (and Ireland has its own endemic race of Coal Tit too, tho' I'm not sure where Manx Coal Tits fit in, whether Parus ater britannicus or P. a. hibernicus or a yet-to-be described endemic Manx race!)

Michael

[Tannin]

Christine: just so.

Damnit! Do you think, if we ever get invaded by Martians and they go around requiring us all to register our details, that I could get away with lying about my species and putting myself down as an elephant or a frog or something? It's so embarasing being a human. Hell, I'd almost rather be a Manchester United supporter.

[Tannin]

(Please excuse Tannin: he gets rushes of blood to the brain now and again. He will be perfectly OK once he stops frothing and sputtering.)

Errr .. Andrew. I rather imagine that the tour companies do charge that sort of money for a trip to Easter Island. It's incredibly remote (yes, even by Australian standards) and the travel cost alone would put a substantial dent in that £2k.

[peteh]

Birdman,

We are part of the British Isles.
Not Great Britain or the UK or anything like that.

Not sure if that helps or hinders with your discussion on Red grouse though :)

Regards
Pete.

[Michael Frankis]

Not sure if that helps or hinders with your discussion on Red grouse though :)
Hi Pete & all,

Guess what it does show is the silliness of using political boundaries to define biological endemism!

Not sure if there are any Red Grouse in IoM though, if CJW's experiences are anything to go by . . . ;)

Michael