How many bird species are in the US and Canada?

The short answer: 1,161 species. That's the total on the American Birding Association's ABA Checklist, version 8.19, from January 2026. It counts every bird species ever documented in the "ABA Area": all 50 US states, Canada, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and nearby waters. It includes rare strays and a few birds no longer found here, so it's a record, not a to-see list.

Here's what that number includes, why other sources give other totals, and what the usual milestones are.

Key facts

• The ABA Checklist, version 8.19 (January 2026), lists 1,161 species "documented to have occurred in the ABA Area."
• The ABA Area is the 49 continental US states, Hawaii, Canada, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and the ocean up to 200 miles from land.
• In January 2026, two splits (Whimbrel and Yellow Warbler) and one new record (Waved Albatross) raised the total from 1,158 to 1,161. On October 21, 2026, the ABA's checklist was still at version 8.19.
• For the United States alone there's no official bird count. Federal law protects 1,106 native bird species in the US and its territories (2023), and a rule proposed on October 1, 2026, would make it 1,131.
• AviList, the shared world checklist, published its 2026 edition on October 20, 2026, and eBird updates its taxonomy every October.

Facts checked: September 30, 2026; the totals checked again on October 21, 2026.

The numbers you'll see, and what they count

We last checked these totals on October 21, 2026.

How many bird species are in the United States?

No official list counts every bird species in the US alone, but the nearest federal number is 1,106. That's how many native bird species the Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects in the US and its territories, after a US Fish and Wildlife Service rule that took effect on August 30, 2023. On October 1, 2026, the Service proposed adding 32 species and removing 7, which would make it 1,131; it takes public comments until November 30, 2026.

That list isn't a full count of the birds you can see here. It leaves out birds that people brought in, such as the House Sparrow, and whole native families the bird treaties don't cover, among them grouse, turkeys and New World quail. It also counts the birds of US territories, not just the 50 states.

For birders, the usual figure is the ABA Checklist's 1,161, which adds Canada and its waters to the US.

Which state has the most bird species?

California. Its official list has 696 species (updated October 20, 2026), the longest of the state lists we track. Texas is second, with 678 as of June 7, 2026. Every state's official count, with who keeps the list, is in bird species by state.

How many bird species are in North America?

It depends on where you end North America. North of Mexico, with Hawaii, it's the ABA Area's 1,161 species. The American Ornithological Society (AOS) draws North America much wider in its Check-list of North and Middle American Birds: from the North Pole to the border of Panama and Colombia, plus the West Indies, Bermuda, Hawaii and nearby islands. That bigger region has a bigger total.

What the ABA Area covers (and what it leaves out)

The American Birding Association (ABA) keeps a checklist of every bird species recorded in its area, and many North American birders count their lists against it. The area includes:

• the 49 continental US states,
• Hawaii,
• Canada,
• the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon,
• and the ocean up to 200 miles from land, or halfway to a neighboring country if that's closer.

Bermuda, The Bahamas and Greenland are not included. Neither is Mexico. So when a birder says "North America" and means the ABA Area, they mean North America north of Mexico, plus Hawaii.

Hawaii is a fairly recent addition. ABA members voted to add it in November 2016, and the ABA expected it to bring roughly 100 to 115 more species. In its 2025 report, Hawaii's own records committee counted 105 species on the islands' list that have not been reported anywhere else in the ABA Area: see Hawaii's official bird list. If you'd rather leave Hawaii out, the ABA also defines an "ABA Continental" area without it.

Not all 1,161 are easy to see

Every species on the checklist has a code from 1 to 6:

• Codes 1 and 2: found regularly. Code 1 birds are the more widespread and numerous ones.
• Code 3: rare, but seen every year.
• Code 4: casual. Six or more records in all, with at least three in the past 30 years.
• Code 5: accidental. Five records or fewer, or fewer than three in the past 30 years.
• Code 6: can't be found. The bird is extinct, gone from the area, or survives only in captivity.

So the 1,161 includes birds that have turned up only a handful of times, and a few that nobody can see today. It's a record of what has been found here, not a list of what you can expect to find.

The total keeps changing

The checklist grows as rare birds are found and as scientists divide one species into two. In September 2025 the ABA Checklist stood at 1,158 species. In January 2026 three were added:

• Whimbrel was split into Hudsonian Whimbrel (common here) and Eurasian Whimbrel (a rare visitor).
• Yellow Warbler was split into Northern Yellow Warbler (common) and Mangrove Yellow Warbler, which breeds in the Florida Keys and locally in Texas.
• Waved Albatross was added after sightings in California in October 2025 and January 2026.

That made 1,161. Our guide to bird splits and lumps explains how these changes can move your own total, and our list of every split, lump and name change since 2018 has a free checker for your own list.

What might change next: eBird updates its list of species every October, and AviList published its 2026 edition, its first major revision, on October 20, 2026. The ABA's Checklist Committee publishes updates during the year; its last two came in September 2025 and January 2026.

Why other sources give other numbers

If you've seen a different total somewhere, there are four usual reasons.

1. A different area. The AOS Check-list covers a much bigger region than the ABA Area, from the Arctic to Panama, so its total is larger. A US-only count leaves Canada out, and federal lists add US territories.

2. A different checklist. Scientists don't always agree where one species ends and the next begins. Birders have long used different world checklists, including Clements (the one eBird uses), the IOC World Bird List and BirdLife International's. In June 2025 a joint project called AviList published one shared global checklist. The IOC list stopped at version 15.2, and eBird/Clements is making its final changes through 2026 to line up with AviList.

They still differ on a few birds, and they don't change on the same day. The AOS (August 2025) and eBird/Clements (October 2025) both split Warbling Vireo into an eastern and a western species, but AviList followed only in its 2026 edition, on October 20, 2026; its June 2026 edition, v2025b, still counts one Warbling Vireo. The same sightings can therefore give two different totals. The ABA itself recognizes both the AOS and Clements lists, notes where they differ, and sometimes follows AviList.

3. A different year. Every list is updated on a schedule. eBird updates its taxonomy once a year in October. AviList plans one edition a year. So a total from a few years ago may be out of date.

4. Only the regular birds. Some counts leave out the rare visitors. The National Wildlife Federation, for example, says more than 800 bird species occur in the United States. Its page doesn't say how it counts, but a lower total like this usually means the rare strays are left out.

For the whole world, AviList v2025b lists 11,131 species, including some that are now extinct. Its 2026 edition, out on October 20, 2026, lists 11,172 by our count of its spreadsheet: what changed in AviList 2026.

Common milestones

Birders love round numbers. None of these is official; they're simply the totals people celebrate. For scale, here's each one as a share of the 1,161 on the ABA Checklist.

Two tips when you reach a milestone:

• Check which area your total counts. A "life list" often includes birds seen abroad. An ABA Area total counts only birds seen here.
• Check which checklist your app uses. A split or a lump can move your total by one or two.

The ABA's Listing Central lets members record their totals for the ABA Area and smaller regions. You can start or tidy your own list with our guide, what is a life list?

Mark the moment

For one state or province, see the official count in bird species by state. Divided by land area, the small states of the East Coast lead: see which state has the most bird species for its size.

Your 100th or 500th species is worth remembering: where you were, and who was with you. A Birdfolio book marks milestone birds such as your 100th and 500th species, each with the date and place you first saw it. Look inside a Birdfolio.

Birdfolio is not affiliated with eBird, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology or iNaturalist.