The Bird Atlas

The BirdAtlas

Discover the extraordinary world of birds, their place in nature, and what happens when they disappear.

41 species
10 ecosystems
Explore the encyclopedia
An Atlantic Puffin resting on a rock with a beakful of silvery sand eels in its red-and-yellow striped bill
Atlantic PuffinFratercula arctica
A moss-green Kākāpō drinking from a forest pool at night, its mottled feathers and owl-like facial disc reflected in the water
KākāpōStrigops habroptilus
A male Resplendent Quetzal perched in cloud-forest foliage, shaggy emerald crest, crimson belly and long green tail streamers
Resplendent QuetzalPharomachrus mocinnoNT
Photo: er-birds · CC BY 4.0 · Source · Resized and recompressedPhoto: Pierre Tellier · CC BY 4.0 · Source · Resized and recompressedPhoto: M Rutherford · CC BY 4.0 · Source · Resized and recompressed

Speciesin theatlas

Common and rare, living and lost — each with a complete profile of what it eats, what eats it, and what it does for the ecosystem around it.

  1. (01)Common KingfisherLCAlcedo atthis
  2. (02)Emperor PenguinNTAptenodytes forsteri
  3. (03)Harpy EagleVUHarpia harpyja
  4. (04)White-rumped VultureCRGyps bengalensis
  5. (05)Resplendent QuetzalNTPharomachrus mocinno
  6. (06)KākāpōCRStrigops habroptilus
  7. (07)Spoon-billed SandpiperCRCalidris pygmaea
  8. (08)Greater HoneyguideLCIndicator indicator
Explore all 41 species
(Featured species)

Kākāpō

A moss-green Kākāpō drinking from a forest pool at night, its mottled feathers and owl-like facial disc reflected in the water
Photo: M Rutherford · CC BY 4.0 · Source · Resized and recompressed
01 / 01

A flightless, night-active, moss-green parrot whose every individual is known by name.

The kākāpō is a large, flightless, nocturnal parrot found only in New Zealand. It once lived across the North, South and Stewart Islands, but introduced predators reduced it to a few dozen birds, and it now survives only on predator-free islands under one of the most intensive recovery programmes for any bird. It breeds only in years when rimu and some other podocarp trees fruit heavily.

Scientific name
Strigops habroptilus
Family
Strigopidae · Psittaciformes
IUCN Red List
CRCritically Endangered · 2018
Population
325 individuals (every known bird; DOC, 1 September 2026). The 2018 IUCN assessment used 116 mature individuals (2017).
Length
58–64 cm
Weight
1–4 kg
Range
Endemic to New Zealand. Formerly widespread across the North, South and Stewart Islands; the last North Island record was in 1927 and the last Fiordland birds disappeared in the late 1980s. Today all birds live on predator-free islands. In 2026 DOC listed three breeding populations, on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, Pukenui/Anchor Island and Te Kāhaku/Chalky Island; birds from Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island and Pearl Island were moved to southern islands in 2024–25.
Read the full profile
03The web of life

Pull one thread

No bird lives alone. Explore who eats whom, who plants whom and who depends on whom — then remove a bird and watch what might unravel. Every link is graded documented, likely or hypothesised.

What if it disappeared? — remove a bird
Hyacinth MacawBirdToco ToucanBirdPLManduvi treePlantPLAcuri palmPlantPLBocaiúva palmPlantMACattleMammalBIOther fruit-eating birdsBirdMAOther nest predatorsMammalPEPeoplePeople
Pantanal wetlands, Brazil

The Macaw Paradox

In the Pantanal the Hyacinth Macaw nests almost entirely in old manduvi trees. Those trees are planted mainly by the Toco Toucan — the same bird that eats more macaw eggs than any other predator. Remove the toucan and you help the macaw today, but harm it in the long run.

Select any organism to see its relationships, or remove a bird above to see what might follow.

Relationships
  • Eats / feeds on
  • Disperses seeds
  • Benefits from
  • Provides nest sites
  • Supports / shapes
Evidence
  • Documented
  • Likely
  • Hypothesised
All 10 ecosystems

Lost birdsExtinctionis forever

At least 187 bird species are confirmed or suspected to have gone extinct since 1500 (BirdLife International, 2022) — most of them on islands.

Museum photograph of the mounted skeleton of a South Island giant moa seen from the front against a black background: a very long upright neck, broad pelvis and massive, long leg bones standing on a grey plinth
South Island Giant Moa1420
Hand-coloured lithograph of a dodo standing on a grassy patch beside a rock inscribed 'Roelandt Savery fe 1626': a plump grey bird with a large hooked yellowish bill, small pale wings and a curled tuft of tail feathers
Dodo1662
Copper engraving titled 'De Solitaire': a tall, long-necked solitaire stands among fruiting shrubs in the foreground, while in the background people climb a palm tree and another walks with a pole on his shoulder past a hut on Rodrigues
Rodrigues Solitaire1761
Hand-coloured engraving of two great auks on a rocky North Atlantic shore: large upright black-and-white seabirds with heavy grooved bills and a white patch in front of each eye, one on a rock and one among breaking waves, with cliffs behind
Great Auk1844
Hand-coloured lithograph of a pair of huia on a berry-laden branch: the male in front with a short, stout bill and the female behind with her long, curved bill; both black with orange wattles and white-tipped tails
Huia1907
Hand-coloured lithograph of a laughing owl perched on a mossy branch, large and streaked brown with a pale whitish face, beside a smaller dark morepork, with tussock grass and a mountain behind
Laughing Owl1914
Hand-coloured engraving of a pair of passenger pigeons on bare branches: the brownish female above leans down to meet the blue-grey, rose-breasted male below, beak to beak
Passenger Pigeon1900
Hand-coloured engraving of seven Carolina parakeets clambering and feeding among cocklebur stems: green birds with yellow heads and orange-red faces, and one all-green young bird
Carolina Parakeet1918
Hand-coloured lithograph of two paradise parrots perched on bare twigs: slender, long-tailed parrots with turquoise faces and breasts, a dark cap with a red forehead, scarlet shoulder patch and belly, and dark brown back
Paradise Parrot1927
Enter the archive of extinct birds

Why birdsmatter

(Ecological work)

Pollinating, planting forests, regulating insects, clearing carcasses, building homes and moving nutrients.

  1. Pollinators
    A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird hovering with wings spread, iridescent red gorget, white collar and green back
    Birds carry pollenAround the world, birds carry pollen between flowers — hummingbirds in the Americas, sunbirds in Africa and Asia, honeyeaters in Australasia.
  2. Seed dispersers
    Close view of a Toco Toucan against blue sky, enormous orange bill with a black tip, white throat and blue eye-ring
    Birds plant forestsFruit-eating birds swallow fruit, fly off and deposit the seeds elsewhere — often far from the parent tree, where seedlings have a better chance.
  3. Insect regulators
    A Great Tit perched on a twig, glossy blue-black head with white cheeks, olive back and yellow underparts
    Birds eat insectsThe world’s insect-eating birds are estimated to consume 400–500 million tonnes of arthropods a year — most likely towards the lower end of that range.
  4. Scavengers
    An adult White-rumped Vulture standing on bare ground at a feeding site in Nepal, blackish plumage, grey head and white neck ruff, with other vultures behind
    Birds clean upVultures are nature’s fastest carcass-removal service. A large group can strip a carcass to the bone within hours.
  5. Ecosystem engineers
    An Atlantic Puffin resting on a rock with a beakful of silvery sand eels in its red-and-yellow striped bill
    Birds build homesSome birds physically change their surroundings, creating resources that other species use.
  6. Nutrient transporters
    An adult Guanay Cormorant standing on a coastal rock, glossy blue-black upperparts, white throat and belly, red eye-ring and pink feet
    Birds move the ocean ashoreSeabirds feed at sea and rest, roost and breed on land — moving nitrogen and phosphorus from the ocean onto islands and coasts.
All ecological roles
6 Nov
(Bird of the day)

Western Barn Owl

A ghostly farmland hunter that can catch a vole in total darkness by sound alone.

LCLeast Concern · 2025
0:00 / 0:22
Open profile
A Western Barn Owl perched on a weathered fence post, heart-shaped white facial disc and golden-buff, grey-speckled back
Photo: caroline legg · CC BY 4.0 · Source · Resized and recompressedRecording: Christoph Moning · CC BY 4.0 · Source · Trimmed to 22 s excerpt (from 40 s), converted to mono MP3 (96 kbps); high-pass filtered, loudness normalised, short fades added
(Start exploring)Meet 41 birds
Seed disperserPollinatorInsect regulatorRodent regulatorPredatorScavenger