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Open Access CC BY V4.0
Dataset
Avian wingspan database: empirical and predicted wingspan for 10,618 flighted bird species
figshare
2026
Abstract
This dataset provides empirical and predicted wingspan data for 10,618 flighted bird species, representing approximately 97% of all extant bird species. It accompanies the manuscript "Estimating avian wingspan from wing length: an order-level regression approach" (Fox, M.R., Brunton, E.A., Shephard, J.M.).Empirical wingspan data (n = 1,442 species) were compiled from three sources: BirdWingData (Shiomi et al., 2025), the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB; BirdLife Australia, 2023), and Birds of the World (Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2026). Wingspan data were joined to the AVONET morphological database (Tobias et al., 2022), which provides standardised wing length measurements for all bird species. Order-level linear regression models (n = 20) were fitted to predict wingspan from wing length, with a global model used as a fallback for orders lacking sufficient empirical data. Predicted wingspan values include midpoint, minimum, and maximum estimates derived from order-specific median intraspecific half-ranges.
Reproducible code: Full pipeline code is available at https://github.com/MichaelRihaFox/project_wingspan
Details
- Title
- Avian wingspan database: empirical and predicted wingspan for 10,618 flighted bird species
- Authors/Creators
- Michael FoxBrunton Elizabeth A.Jill, M. Shephard
- Publisher
- figshare
- Identifiers
- 991005878748907891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Centre for Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and Sustainability; School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dataset
Metrics
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