Most people are interested in the birds they can see in their own back yard. With a little effort, birders can visit local bird habitats – wetlands, state parks, bodies of water, nearby mountains, and so on. The further one is willing to travel, the more species of birds he is likely to see. Avid birders love to take trips. When I meet up with local birders, they frequently tell me about their trips: Cape May, the Southwest, Alaska, Central America, Spain, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, among others.
I am a much more local birder. My list includes birds I saw when I lived in New Hampshire (and a few side trips to Maine), birds from Pennsylvania (where I have lived most), and birds from Florida (where I made several trips to visit my brother). Additionally, I added a few species on trips to Mexico (25) and Honduras (13); birding was not my primary purpose in those countries, but I did see some birds along the way.
Why do birders like to travel so much? The simple reason is that there are only so many species available locally, and other places have a different selection of birds. My mom has often said that it is possible to see 200 different species close to home, but in order to see more than that, one has to travel. I am acquainted with a local birding couple who are two of the top birders in Pennsylvania. A few years ago they made an effort to see 300 different species in Pennsylvania in a single year. Even for them, that was a challenge, and they traveled the state to do it.
According to eBird, the total number of species ever recorded in Lebanon County, where I live, is 304. That includes rarities that may have shown up only once. Of that number perhaps 220 are year-round residents, seasonal residents, or fairly regular migrants; the remainder are considered rare and unlikely. I have seen 193 of those, so I’m getting really close to that 200 number.
What makes birding so exciting for avid birders is the global potential. There are approximately 11,000 species globally, but no individual region has more than several hundred. In fact, no continent has more than 4,000. God has spread different bird families across different regions and in different habitats that suit each bird. When God created the birds, “God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth’” (Genesis 1:22). “God blessed [Adam and Eve] and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule … over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:28).
That word “earth” at the end of the verses above refers to the world at large. God intended for man to reproduce and spread out to all the earth, where he would oversee birds in all the earth. God intended for the birds to be everywhere, and He intended for them to reproduce everywhere. Even at the time of creation, it is likely that birds pervaded the entirety of the existing land mass and bordering oceans. Just as God created plants and trees to fill the whole earth, so He created the birds and animals and fish necessary to fill those ecosystems. I suspect the bird populations were small at the beginning, which is why God blessed them and instructed them to multiply. In a pristine world where there were no predators, the population of birds would have expanded rapidly. (According to Genesis 1:30, all the creatures were herbivores at the beginning.)
When the Flood came, things changed dramatically. For a time, the bird population was severely reduced, but God’s intention was always for the birds to once again reach a global distribution. He stated that intention when He gave His instructions to Noah. “Also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth” (Genesis 7:3). After the Flood, God repeated the same intention. “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth” (Genesis 8:17).
Global distribution was God’s goal, and He has accomplished that goal. Immediately after the Flood, He may have accelerated that plan; notice God’s desire that they “breed abundantly,” in addition to “be fruitful and multiply.” I believe that there was one land mass prior to the Flood, and I believe that land mass separated into the continents we know today (perhaps as a repercussion of the Flood’s trauma to the earth). “Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided” (Genesis 10:25). Peleg was the great, great, great grandson of Noah. The birds had five generations of human time in which to spread to the areas where they would live thereafter.
In the big picture of global distribution, we can consider the continents. It’s hard to find consistent and definitive numbers, but based on a bit of research, I believe the below numbers are reasonably accurate. North America has 2,400 bird species, South America 3,500, Europe 960, Africa 2,700, Asia 3,800, Oceania (including Australia) 2,200, and Antarctica 63.
The first observation is that birds do indeed fill the entire earth – even Antarctica. The second observation is that each continent is pretty distinct in terms of bird species. Again, there are approximately 11,000 total species in the world. Adding the numbers above for each continent comes to a total of just over 15,600. So there is some overlap of birds that live on more than one continent, but there is also a lot of uniqueness. This is why birders have to travel if they are going to amass thousands of birds on their lists. Someone could crisscross the vast African continent all his life and would never be able to surpass 3,000 species.
In the smaller picture, there is this delightful term “endemic species.” An endemic species is one that is totally unique to an area, existing nowhere else in the world. Remember Peleg and the dividing of the land mass into continents? When Australia broke off from the larger land mass, it became separated by vast stretches of water. Whatever birds were on Australia were staying there, and whatever birds were not there had little possibility of ever showing up. Australia has around 375 endemic bird species; nearly half of Australia’s birds are not found anywhere else on the globe.
New Guinea has 380 endemic species. Brazil has 293. New Zealand has around 175. Peru has 120. Madagascar has 109. India has 72. The Galapagos Islands have 45. If you are looking for endemic species in the continental US, you are almost out of luck. There are only fifteen. (Of these 15, I have seen the Carolina chickadee, fish crow, and boat-tailed grackle.)
God’s birds are distributed all across God’s globe by God’s purpose and design. It would take a truly diligent and widely-traveled person to see anywhere close to the 11,000 total species. Peter Kaestner, from the US, is believed to lead the pack. He started in the US and took his first international trip at age nine. As a young adult, he served in the Peace Corp in Africa, where he amassed an impressive 1,500 species. He then became a foreign diplomat for 36 years, during which time he was sent all over the world, adding more and more birds. He continued birding after retirement, and in February 2024, he recorded his 10,000th species to set a Guiness World Record.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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