[goosey]

I was going to try to answer the thread "World bird emblem" and it got me thinking - Is there a bird which can be found in the wild on every continent?
The closest I could think of, would be a type of parrot! They can now be found in Britain in the wild although they are not native so thats Europe taken care of, they are in South America, Australia and probably Asia? but I dont know. What about Africa are they there?

[paul m]

Intriguing question - I'm sure someone will know - and we're not counting Antarctica are we?

Naturally for a wide distribution, I would suspect some gull or other seabird to have a very wide range.
Otherwise, we may be talking house sparrows or some such that spread the world along with European settlers?

[goosey]

Originally Posted by paul m

Intriguing question - I'm sure someone will know - and we're not counting Antarctica are we?

You say that, but think about the penguin, they are found in Australia, Galapagos Islands as well as other parts of South America, Africa and course Antartica. Still rules out Europe an Asia and North America.

Originally Posted by paul m

Naturally for a wide distribution, I would suspect some gull or other seabird to have a very wide range.
Otherwise, we may be talking house sparrows or some such that spread the world along with European settlers?

I originally thought of sea birds but I think you may have it with sparrows or even finches!

[goosey]

Got It - I think Owls, I recently went to World Owl Centre at Muncaster Castle, and there were owls from all over the world there!

[paul m]

Originally Posted by goosey

Got It - I think Owls, I recently went to World Owl Centre at Muncaster Castle, and there were owls from all over the world there!

Yes, and no .... Truly there are owls worldwide but, as I said, certainly also gulls. I thought we were talking about a single species - thus my thoughts on the house sparrow......

And what about the albatrosses - fly all round the world .... although, I suppose, over sea so not registering on many continents?

[goosey]

Originally Posted by paul m

Yes, and no .... Truly there are owls worldwide but, as I said, certainly also gulls. I thought we were talking about a single species - thus my thoughts on the house sparrow......

Sorry I was actually talking about a single species - my brain went into overdrive for a while
I am still with you on the house sparrow !

[Guy F]

I think that Peregrine Falcons and Barn Owls are 2 of the most widespread birds, possibly occuring on every continent (except Antarctica). Also Cattle Egrets are very widespread, and their range is growing!
House Sparrows are very widespread, but they've been introduced over a lot of their range e.g. America.
Guy

[wild worlds]

Hope you don’t mind my some what light hearted answer, but it has to be the LBJ The Little Brown Job. You see them all over the world. You know what it isn’t, but you can never find out what it is!!! They must even turn up in Antarctica! WW

[H Dogg]

Originally Posted by Guy F

I think that Peregrine Falcons and Barn Owls are 2 of the most widespread birds, possibly occuring on every continent (except Antarctica). Also Cattle Egrets are very widespread, and their range is growing!
House Sparrows are very widespread, but they've been introduced over a lot of their range e.g. America.
Guy

Also ospreys

[Guy F]

Originally Posted by H Dogg

Also ospreys

Forgot about those! It's interesting that the most widespread are predatory birds.
Guy

[ericrovve]

I'd have thought starlings have lot going for them for world domination. They are even pushing back those enormous American blackbird flocks

[goosey]

Originally Posted by ericrovve

I'd have thought starlings have lot going for them for world domination. They are even pushing back those enormous American blackbird flocks

I never even thought about starlings being in other continents apart from Europe . I saw quite a few hundred last weekend swooping and flying from tree to tree, but nothing like the huge numbers seen coming in for the night on wildlife programmes - that must be an amazing experience

[ericrovve]

Quite a few down on the coast here, now the olive-picking season is on.
BTW goosey, I've put up a pic of A.muscaria in the fungi gallery, if you want a bite

[paul m]

Originally Posted by Guy F

Forgot about those! It's interesting that the most widespread are predatory birds.
Guy

Perhaps not too surprising though. Individual predators have fairly wide home ranges so as populations they will cover fairly wide areas and the species as a whole vast areas. Since they're not tied to a particular prey (a sparrow is much like a great tit like any bird of that size .... or a rodent or other small mammal of a particular size) then they can survive over wide areas of different habitats ... and, of course many of them shift fairly large distances with the seasons ...