Resplendent Quetzal

Narrowing down my list to just 80 proved tricky. I could easily have chosen 80 entirely different species. The process, however, reinforced for me just how deeply birds are embedded in our cultures. Some enjoy an emblematic status: for example, the Red-crowned Crane is a centuries-old symbol of longevity and fidelity to the people of Japan. Some open a window on our history: Steller’s Sea Eagle derives its name from German naturalist George Steller, who first encountered this massive raptor on Vitus Bering’s ill-fated 1733 Great North Expedition. Many have served as a resource – from Iceland’s Common Eider, whose down is still harvested today for luxury quilts, to Thailand’s Red Junglefowl, which, domesticated as the farmyard chicken, is now the most numerous and ubiquitous bird species on the planet, providing eggs and meat to billions of people.

In selecting my 80, I also wanted to showcase the extraordinary diversity of the avian world and the many different qualities by which birds captivate and inspire us. Some of the species I chose are celebrated for their dazzling plumage: the likes of Scarlet Ibis, Hyacinth Macaw or Superb Bird-of paradise. Others for the spectacles they create, from a blizzard of migrating Snow Geese to the choreographed courtship of the Andean Cock-of-the-rock. For some, it’s their voices – whether lyrical, such as Common Nightingale or raucous, such as Laughing Kookaburra. And a few simply appeal to our love of the bizarre: take the preposterous mug of a Shoebill or the inflated chest balloon of a Greater Sage-grouse.

We are also dazzled by the extraordinary things birds can do, whether it’s enduring a four-month fast in temperatures of –50C with an egg balanced on your feet (Antarctica’s Emperor Penguin) or working with hundreds of sparrow-sized companions to construct a one-tonne, four-metre apartment-block nest of dried grass (Namibia’s Sociable Weaver).

And of all birds’ accomplishments, it is their flight that has most impressed us. Take China’s Bar-headed Goose, whose annual migration takes it over the Himalayas. Or our own Common Swift, which can feed, mate, drink and sleep on the wing, and remain airborne for a year at a time. Our admiration for birds’ flying skills acquired a particular poignancy during the pandemic, when – confined to our homes – we could only gaze in awe and envy at the countless feathered travellers that continued on their airborne journeys around the globe.

I should confess that I haven’t personally laid eyes on every bird species in my book. In a lifetime of chasing wildlife around the globe, I’ve been lucky enough to encounter 62 of them. This still leaves plenty on my wish list, including such classics as Southern Cassowary and Great Grey Owl. But that’s the beauty of birds: with some 11,000 species out there, even the most ardent world-lister is unlikely to tick all of them in a lifetime. Meanwhile, every journey you make brings more feathered excitement and discovery.

On a more sobering note, there is another category to which some birds owe their fame and hence their inclusion: their rarity. Species such as the Philippine Eagle and Kakapo would be extinct today were it not for the heroic efforts of conservationists – indeed, the exquisite Gurney’s Pitta was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1986. Today, with perils such as habitat loss, pollution and hunting leaving one in eight bird species endangered, we must never take birds for granted. They need us – just as we need them.

Around the World in 80 Birds is written by Mike Unwin, with illustrations from Ryuto Miyake, and published by Laurence King. For an exclusive 20% discount on this book please visit the publisher's website here and use this code: NATURETREK