We reached a huge milestone in 2024 when the one billionth birdsong/call recording was made by a Haikubox in North America! For comparison, the Macaulay Library currently houses two million recordings.
The total number of bird songs and calls detected, identified, and recorded in 2024 was 1.04 billion, more than three and a half times as many as in 2023 when over 282 million were recorded. The increase is due to many more Haikuboxes coming online in 2024 across North America.
As in past analyses, combined data across North America showed that five species dominate the soundscape: House Sparrow, House Finch, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay and Carolina Wren. Together they made up over one-third all vocalizing birds identified by North American Haikuboxes. House Sparrows continue to be the most vocal, with over 84 million recordings, with the House Finch following with over 79 million recordings.
The 15 next most common species made up a further 38 percent of all birds: Black-capped Chickadee, American Goldfinch, Anna’s Hummingbird, Tufted Titmouse, American Robin, American Crow, Common Grackle, Carolina Chickadee, House Wren, Red-bellied Woodpecker, California Towhee, Downy Woodpecker, Gray Catbird, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, and Song Sparrow. The remaining birds, over 500 species, made up the final 32 percent of all identifications.
Fewer than 150 bird species made up over 90 percent of all birds identified. Beautiful and treasured birds like the Bald Eagle were just 0.017 percent of all identifications. Others made up even smaller percentages, like the Orchard Oriole (0.01 percent), Swallow-tailed Kite (0.003 percent), and Bohemian Waxwing (0.002 percent).
The results are skewed towards those species found more commonly in the eastern part of the United States because more Haikuboxes are located east of the Great Plains.
This kind of widespread nature monitoring is only possible with the help of Haikubox owners acting as community scientists by installing and allowing the use of their bird recordings to be used for scientific study.
Please see previous blog posts for details on previous analyses of Haikubox abundance data.