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Noah's Ark Possibility Project (NAPP)
Table 3 provides a rough estimate of the total weight of 8,887 species of adult male and female birds alive today and a calculated overall average weight for these adult birds based on this total.
Estimates are based on as large of sampling as practical using primarily online resources. As adult bird weights for a particular species can vary considerably depending on age, sex, and other factors, averaging became the preferred method. Rough average adult weights were calculated for each sample species in a group (i.e order, suborder, family, or genus). Then these rough average adult weights were averaged for the group. This group average then was multiplied with few exceptions times the number of species in the group times two to give a total weight for male and female couples in the group. All total weights for the groups were then added together to give the total weight of the female and male adult birds. The rough overall average weight per bird was then determined by dividing the latter total weight first by two and then by total number of bird species.
Table 3 - Extant Bird Weights
Birds
Ref.
No. of
Bird Adult Weights and Sizes
Adult Ave.
Ave. of
Total Wt.
No.
Species
from References
Wt. Used
Adult Ave.
Males +
from
Wt. Used
Females
Ref.
(oz)
(oz)
(oz)
Accipitriformes
1
200
121.22
48488
Osprey
2
2.0 to 4.6 lb
52.80
African fish eagle
3
f 7 to 8 lb m 4.4 to 5.5 lb
99.60
Bald eagle
4
f 12 lb ave. m 9.0 lb ave.
168.00
Steller's sea eagle
5
10.8 to 15.0 lb
206.40
Papuan eagle
6
1600 to 2400 g
70.56
Long-legged buzzard
7
f 2.9 lb m 2.4 lb
42.40
Montagu's harrier
8
m 9.3 oz f 12.2 oz
10.75
Pearl kite
9
2.8 to 3.3 oz
3.05
Black-shouldered kite
10
10.3 oz
10.30
California condor
11
15 to 31 lb
368.00
Bearded vulture
12
9.9 to 17.2 lb
216.80
Turkey vulture
13
1.8 to 5.1 lb
55.20
Rüppell's vulture
14
14 to 20 lb
272.00
Anseriformes
15
150
118.58
35575
Southern screamer
16
6 to 11 lb
136.00
Mandarin duck
17
1 to 1.3 lb
18.40
Mallard duck
18
1.6 to 3.5 lb
40.80
Madagascar teal
19
up to 0.85 lb
10.20
Canada goose
20
m 8.6 lb f 7.9 lb
132.00
Mute swan
21
m 23.4 to 26.2 lb f 18.7 to 21.3 lb
358.40
Black swan
22
10 to 15 lb
200.00
Egyptian goose
23
1.5 to 2.25 kg
66.15
Horned screamer
24
7.7 lb
123.20
Steller's eider
25
1.90 lb
30.40
Tundra swan
26
f 6.3 kg m 7.5 kg
243.43
Indian runner duck
27
around 3 to 5 lb
64.00
Apodiformes
Humming birds
28
350
approx.
0.17
118
Magnificent hummingbird
29
0.21 to 0.35 oz
0.28
Amethyst woodstar
30
under 3 g
0.11
Bahama woodstar
31
0.085 to 0.106 oz
0.10
Band-tailed barbthroat
32
5 to 5.8 g
0.19
Swifts
33
109
2.85
621
Chestnut-collared swift
34
20 g
0.71
cayenne swift
35
18 g
0.64
White-collared swift
36
3.2 to 4.5 oz
3.85
White-naped swift
37
6.2 oz (20.5 to 25 cm)
6.20
Tree swifts
38
4
15 to 30 cm
6.00
e
6.00
48
Apteryglformes
39
5
86.40
864
North Island brown kiwi
40
f 6.2 lb m 4.9 lb
88.80
Northern brown kiwi
41
4.5 to 6 lb
84.00
Bucerotiformes
42
64
72.60
9293
Black dwarf hornbill
43
3.6 oz
3.60
Red-billed dwarf hornbill
44
111 g
3.92
Northern ground hornbill
45
8.8 lb
140.80
Southern ground hornbill
46
14 lb
224.00
Rhinoceros hornbill
47
4.4 to 6.6 lb
88.00
Great hornbill
48
4.7 to 8.8 lb
108.00
Hoopoe
49
1.6 to 3.1 oz
9.55
Violet woodhoopoe
50
72 to 96 g
2.97
Caprimulgiformes
Oilbird
51
1
12.3 to 16.8 oz
14.55
14.55
29
Frogmouths
52
14
11.83
331
General
53
m 12.5 oz f 9.8 oz
11.15
Tawny frogmouth
54
m 12.5 oz mean f 10.5 oz mean
11.50
Tawny frogmouth
55
34 cm to 53 cm
Papuan frogmouth
56
m 14.6 oz f 11.1 oz
12.85
Nightjars
57
98
2.27
444
Spotted nightjar
58
m 81 to 132 g f 74 to 123 g
3.62
European nightjar
59
m 1.8 to 3.6 oz f 2.4 to 3.4 oz
2.80
White-winged nightjar
60
m 46 to 55 g f about 51 to 56 g
1.84
Least nighthawk
61
0.81 oz
0.81
Owlet nightjars
62
11
6.18
136
New Zealand owlet-nightjar
63
150 to 200 g estimated
6.18
Pootos
64
7
15.06
211
Great pooto
65
360 to 620 g
17.30
Long-tailed potoo
66
280 to 447 g
12.83
Cariamiformes
67
2
52.95
212
Red-legged seriema
68
about 1.5 kg
52.95
Casuariformes
69
4
1398.00
11184
Cassowaries
70
f 129 lb m 64 to 75 lb
1588.00
Emu
71
m 69 lb and f 82 lb ave.
1208.00
Charadriiformes
72
350
15.70
10991
Least sandpiper
73
0.040 lb
0.64
Eurasian curlew
74
up to 2.9 lb
34.80
Australian painted-snipe
75
125 to 130 g
4.50
Golden plover
76
7 oz
7.00
Cassin's auklet
77
200 g
7.06
Com-crested jacana
78
m 2.4 to 3.0 oz f 4.2 to 5.3 oz
3.73
Rufous-bellied seedsnipe
79
10.6 to 14.1 oz
12.35
Far eastern curlew
80
about 1.9 lb
30.40
Beach thick-knee wader
81
about 2.2 lb
35.20
Buttonquail
82
1.1 to 4.6 oz
2.85
Little gull
83
4.2 oz
4.20
Great black-backed gull
84
3.9 lb
62.40
Black skimmer
85
m 12.3 oz f 9.0 oz
10.65
Least tern
86
1.1 to 1.6 oz
1.35
Caspian tern
87
18 to 25 oz
21.50
Common tern
88
3.9 to 5.0 oz
4.45
Inca tern
89
6.7 to 8 oz
7.35
Crested auklet
90
6.9 to 11.6 oz
9.25
Least auklet
91
3 oz
3.00
Thick-billed murre
92
2.2 lb
35.20
Brown skua
93
2.6 to 4.8 lb
59.20
Long-tailed jaeger
94
8.1 to 15.7 oz
11.90
Australian pratincole
95
55 to 75 g
2.29
Ibisbill
96
9.5 to 11.3 oz
10.40
American avocets
97
9.7 to 14.8 oz
12.25
Sooty oystercatcher
98
1.806 lb
28.90
Eurasian oystercatcher
99
1.160 lb
18.56
Collared plover
100
1.2 oz
1.20
Masked lapwing
101
13 oz
13.00
Northern lapwing
102
4.5 to 11.6 oz
8.05
Long-billed curlew
103
1.08 to 2.09 lb
25.36
Whimbrel
104
9.5 to 17.4 oz
13.45
Subtotal for this page only
118544
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12-5-15