Search for Species

Through this search you can look for information on all birds of the world. You can find information on a particular species or sets of species by specifying a number of different search criteria. You can select species by either picking a family (listed in taxonomic order), entering free text for a genus, species or common name (in English only as this stage, although common names in other languages will be added in the future). For example, to find all cranes, you could enter “*crane” into the common name field (where * is a wild card) or “grus” into the genus field or select “GRUIDAE (Cranes)” from the family field. Search can also be restricted by region, country/territory or IUCN Red List category. For example, to select all “extinct” species, tick the extinct check box and click search.

For the Globally Threatened Birds (those evaluated as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable), each factsheet contains a summary account, range map and an illustration, plus additional data tables. For Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Near Threatened, Least Concern and Data Deficient species, each contains a concise summary paragraph and some additional data tables. Background information describing the terms and definitions and a reference list is available through the right-hand links.

Click here to download ‘The BirdLife checklist of the birds of the world with conservation status and taxonomic sources.’ Version 2 (Zip, 1.5 MB).