There are 462 more species of bird in the world than previously thought after the most comprehensive avian analysis ever undertaken identified 46 new species of parrot, 26 extra owls and a host of other new entrants to the record books.
The study of the world’s 4,087 known species of non-songbirds discovered that there are in fact 4,549 of them, after the research group Birdlife International changed the way it analyzed the birds to a more consistent approach.
As a result, hundreds of birds that had been regarded as sub-species – essentially two or more different "races" of the same species – were in fact different enough to be considered separate species in their own right.
Conservationists welcomed the increase in bird species but cautioned that by splitting up often small populations more had also become endangered.
The newly discovered species are almost twice as likely to be endangered as the bird population at large because the simple fact of splitting a species makes it more vulnerable, while many already live in small, isolated populations, BirdLife said.
Some 13 per cent of bird species globally are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List – a number which rises slightly to 14 per cent when the new species, of which 25 per cent are endangered, are factored in.
The newly discovered bird species also include 36 hummingbirds, as well as pigeons, guinea fowls, partridges, ducks, ostriches and quail.
No new species were discovered in the UK or Europe, where record-keeping has typically been relatively thorough.
However, two islands in the South Atlantic that are part of the British Overseas Territories are involved.
Many of the new bird species are located on small islands around Indonesia and the Philippines, the Island of Java.