Birds by Continent
Each continent has its own bird story, shaped by climate, geography and millions of years of evolution. South America alone holds about a third of the world’s species.
The world’s bird regions
Ornithologists often divide the world into realms rather than continents, because birds are shaped by shared evolutionary history more than by political borders.
Palearctic
Europe, North Africa and northern Asia. Home of many long-distance migrants that winter in Africa and South Asia — including Pakistan.
Indomalayan
South and Southeast Asia. Hornbills, pittas, bulbuls and pheasants. Most of Pakistan lies at the meeting point of the Palearctic and Indomalayan realms.
Afrotropical
Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar: turacos, mousebirds, shoebill, secretarybird and the mesites.
Neotropical
Central and South America — the richest bird realm on Earth, with hummingbirds, toucans, tanagers and cotingas.
Nearctic
North America: wood warblers, turkeys and the bald eagle, linked to the tropics by huge migrations.
Australasian & Oceanic
Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and the Pacific: lyrebirds, birds-of-paradise, kiwis and kakapo.