Which bird species is the most common in the world?
The most common bird in the world is defined as the species of bird that breeds the most, and therefore has the most numbers.
There are two categories: 1) non-wild, domesticated bird, and 2) wild bird.
The most common non-wild bird in the world is the chicken.
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What is a group of swallows called?
A group of swallows is called a flight of swallows.
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There are 50 billion wild birds on Earth – but four species dominate – says a New Scientist article on 17 May 2021.
Earth has around 50 billion wild bird species according to a new global estimate, but most species are very rare and only a handful number in the billions.
Just four wild species have over a billion individuals, and they are the most common wild bird species in the world. This is in contrast to 1,180 species that have less than 5,000 individual birds each.
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The Common Swift (Apus apus) is a bird in the Apodiformes order. It looks similar to the Barn Swallow and the House Martin, but it is related to the Hummingbird and Treeswift.
The Common Swift is black-brown, except for a small patch of white or pale-grey on its chin. It has long swept-back, narrow wings that resemble the silhouette of an anchor or a boomerang. It has a short-forked tail. It has short legs.
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What is the difference between a Swallow and a Swift?
Both Swallows and Swifts have long pointed wings.
Both Swallows and Swifts have short legs.
Both Swallows and Swifts have wide beaks to catch insects.
Both Swallows and Swifts are highly aerial when flying.
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The African Black Swift (Apus barbatus) is a small passerine bird in the Apodidae family of swifts. It is highly aerial, spending most of its life in the air. It is not related to swallows; it is in the same Order as hummingbirds.
The African Black Swift is black-brown except for a small, white or pale-grey patch on its chin. It has a short, forked tail. It has long, swept-back wings, which can rotate at the base (like hummingbird wings). It has short legs.
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The Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula fusciventris) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family.
The Rock Martin has brown feathers with pale-brown on the upper chest and underwings and white markings on the tail feathers.
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The Asian House Martin (Delichon dasypus) is a small bird in the passerine Hirundinidae family of swallows.
The Asian House Martin has blue-black upperparts, a white rump, and pale-grey underparts. Its wings are brownish-black. It has a short tail. Its legs and feet are brownish-pink, and covered with white feathers. Its small eyes are brown and its beak is black.
The Red-Rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) is a small bird from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The African Red-Rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica emini) is from Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, and Zambia. Unlike the European swallows, which are migratory, the African Red-Rumped Swallows are resident (they do not fly to another location in winter).
The Red-Rumped Swallow is a blue-black with a rufous (red-brown) rump with rufous patches on the sides of its head. It has rufous underparts with a pale throat. Its tail is plain and forked. It has dark eyes, a small grey beak, and pink-grey legs.
The Lesser Striped Swallow (Cecropis abyssinica) is a partially migratory bird that breeds in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Lesser Striped Swallow has dark blue upperparts with a red rump and a rufous-chestnut crown, nape and sides of the head. The underparts are white with dark streaking, and the upper wings and underwing flight feathers are blackish-brown.
The blackish tail has very long outer feathers, which are slightly longer in the male than the female. The Lesser Striped Swallow has heavier and darker striping, a deeper red rump, and a brighter head colour than the larger Greater Striped Swallow (Hirundo cucullata).
One swallow does not make a spring
The first sightings of swallows indicate that spring weather is coming.
The saying, one swallow does not make a spring, means that people should wait until they see more than one swallow before they say that spring has arrived.
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
The Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most common and abundant swallow in the world. It is a small migratory songbird (a passerine). It often heralds the spring weather.
The Barn Swallow, or Eurasian Swallow (Hirundo rustica rustica) is found in the Northern Hemisphere, in Europe and Asia. It is dark iridescent blue with a rufous (reddish-brown) forehead, chin and throat, white underbelly, and black wings and tail. It has a deeply forked tail with large white spots.