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In a recent post, we looked at those bird species that try to impress taxonomists – and confuse birders – by having a large number of subspecies. Fortunately, most species know better. In fact, about 55% of bird species have no subspecies at all – a clear victory for common sense.
Even for those species that think they need some intra-species diversification, the ambition is usually quite modest (based on the current AviList):
- Almost three-quarters have no more than two recognized subspecies
- More than nine out of ten have five or fewer
- Fewer than 2% have more than ten
- Only nine species (0.08%) have 30 or more.
| 1 | 6,137 | 55.1% |
| 2 | 8,150 | 73.2% |
| 3 | 9,224 | 82.9% |
| 4 | 9,847 | 88.5% |
| 5 | 10,250 | 92.1% |
| 6 | 10,506 | 94.4% |
| 7 | 10,665 | 95.8% |
| 8 | 10,767 | 96.7% |
| 9 | 10,861 | 97.6% |
| 10 | 10,924 | 98.1% |
| 15 | 11,062 | 99.4% |
| 20 | 11,115 | 99.9% |
| 30 | 11,128 | 99.97% |
| 42 | 11,131 | 100.0% |
So, while birders complain about dealing with pesky subspecies, we should keep in mind that only a tiny minority of bird species is responsible for the vast majority of these unfortunate occurrences. Most species behave perfectly responsibly. It’s just a handful of repeat offenders that give the entire class a bad name.
Cover Illustration: Distribution of bird species by number of recognized subspecies (AviList taxonomy).
Written by Kai Pflug
Kai has lived in Shanghai for 22 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well. He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.
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