Question: How many species of birds are there

Sean Kelly answered on 15 Nov 2014:

Hi there. There actually over 10,000 bird species currently described by science. By ‘described by science’ I mean that we have collected museum specimens of the species and taken detailed notes on what they look like, what they eat, where in the world they are found, what habitats they live in etc, and given them a scientific name. I think there are almost 10,500 bird species in total. But, as you might know, new species are being discovered every year! I think there are lots of new species to be found and that the number of species will be over 11,000 in a few years time!