I’ve been trying to find a list of bird species that can be found on all continents except Antarctica, and this has proven rather difficult. There’s a short article on Wikipedia that explains that a species is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if it can be found almost anywhere around the world. It then gives some examples such as the Painted Lady butterfly, Brown Rat and of course Humans. I’ve started to make a list of bird species and came up with the following so far:
- Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
- Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
- Barn Owl (Tyto alba)
- Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica)
- Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
- Great Egret (Ardea alba)
- House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
- Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
The last two are obviously introduced to several continents by humans, but I’ve included them in the list because they are breeding in the wild in significant numbers, and the list is already so short! Surely there must be more species then this.
What other birds can be found on all six continents? Can you help to expand this list?
