Having just returned from a two week holiday on the other side of the world I was astounded at the number of birds that I encountered. Birding is one of my true passions and often a good barometer as to my enjoyment of a destination. It stands to reason that I am thus not much of a city traveller but rather into destinations far more exotic, removed, natural and scenic. Beside from the numbers of birds I saw, what caught my attention was seeing flocks of Cattle Egrets!
From the rain forests of the Amazon, to the wetlands of the Pantanal to the grassy plains of Londolozi – the Cattle Egret
Cattle Egrets, you may say are very ordinary looking white birds. Nothing too striking on the eye. It was not the plumage, however which caught my eye, but rather the fact that this is the exact same bird that we see 5400 miles away (8577 km) at Londolozi. It got me thinking about which birds are the most widely spread across planet earth. The word ubiquitous came to mind. A wonderful word full of passion and mystery.
The English Oxford Dictionary defines ubiquitous as: present, appearing, or found everywhere.
It seems like this was a fun word to try describe bird species by. As for the origins of this unusually encountered word: well in the mid 19th century the latin ‘ubique’ meant ‘everywhere’ so it appears that it may have stemmed from there.
I decided to research which were the world’s most ubiquitous birds…not necessarily the most abundant birds but those whose distribution is widest globally.
Approximate range map of the Peregrine Falcon
This is what I was able to come up with (in no order)
-Barn Owl
-Osprey
-Peregrine Falcon
-Rock Dove (Common Pigeon) – although is this human assisted distribution?
-House Sparrow
-Chicken – not sure this counts
-Arctic Skua (Parasitic Jaeger) – however this is a seabird
-Arctic Tern – also a seabird
and of course the Cattle Egret
I would like to now open it up to all our bird lovers to add (or subtract) to this list and debate which is the most Ubiquitous bird in the World – my vote goes with the Peregrine Falcon
A rough map showing the approximate distribution of the Barn Owl – a contender for the most ubiquitous bird in the world
Written by Adam Bannister
Well, there must be something to your choice. The only wildlife that I get to see during my workday are the pair of Peregrine Falcons that perch and eat their kill outside my window 37 stories above the Hudson River.
I would consider myself one luck person to be able so work and observe the Peregrines Ed..
My submission is House Sparrow:
not a very colorful bird but quite common
http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Image:Map-House_Sparrow.jpg
The bird that seems to be everywhere is the ubiquitous, and very noisy “Hadeda” – or are they only a Southern African phenomena ?
i think only i our part of the world 🙂 but there are Ibis’s all over the show globally
My gut reaction to this poll would be the House sparrow which acts very unpleasant in these parts. I am wondering if it’sdistribution has been helped along but we humans. Sure wish it was the Barn Owl as I have yet to see one in new England or my travels.
Abby
Adam,
I really meant to get back to you right away after this post. The day after you posted I went out with the Director of the Birds of Prey Project for the U. of California. Glenn was flying three of his Peregrine falcons and I was lucky enough to be invited. When asking him about the Peregrine being the most ubiquitous of birds, he said it is the most wide-spread, but not enough of a population to be the most ubiquitous.
House sparrow would be my vote.
I am bringing Birders with us in May to Pioneer Camp. Hope to benefit from your interest in birds, if not in the field, perhaps at the BOMA.
Looking forward to some quality bird watching 😉