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Passerines are successful because, over evolutionary time, many lineages diversified across a wide range of habitats and became widespread and abundant—not because one proven trait or Earth-history event explains them all. Also called perching birds, they make up the most species-rich order of birds: a 2022 review estimated nearly 6,500 species, or about two out of every three bird species. The best-supported explanation is therefore a combination of patterns and processes, with important differences among branches of the group.
What does “successful” mean for passerines?
In this question, success refers mainly to the order’s species richness, broad geographic distribution and abundance. It does not mean every passerine species is thriving, that every individual has an unusually high chance of survival, or that the group is immune to environmental change. Those are different questions that require different evidence.
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The scale is striking. A 2022 primer in Current Biology describes passerines as the most species-rich bird order, with nearly 6,500 species—approximately two-thirds of all bird species. These are estimates reported in that review, not a permanent count: species totals can change as classifications and knowledge of birds change.
The same review describes passerines as globally distributed and among the most abundant birds at nearly every terrestrial location. This combination of many species and broad presence is the pattern to explain. A useful caution is that a pattern this large need not have a single cause. An order can become diverse through repeated diversification in different branches, rather than through one universal advantage shared in an identical way by every species.
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Why is there no single accepted explanation?
Passerines include many lineages with distinct evolutionary histories. A proposed explanation may fit a particular group or type of change without explaining the order-wide pattern. Researchers therefore ask not just whether a factor is associated with diversity, but what it explains, at what scale, and whether the evidence supports causation.
For example, a factor might coincide with an increase in the splitting of lineages, or with changes in body form, without explaining why passerines are abundant across terrestrial locations today. Those outcomes are related, but they are not interchangeable. Likewise, a result from a comparison of two groups cannot automatically be extended to every passerine.
The strongest overall account is consequently plural rather than singular: passerine diversity accumulated across a long evolutionary history, and different processes may have mattered in different branches and periods. Studies of evolutionary relationships, song and skeletal form each illuminate part of that picture, but none establishes a master cause for the entire radiation.
Did climate warming or colonizing new continents drive the radiation?
A major analysis found that neither rising global temperatures through the Cenozoic nor colonization of new continents was a primary driver of passerine diversification. These broad events may sound like obvious explanations for a large radiation, but the analysis did not find the expected simple link between either event and changes in diversification rates.
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In 2019, Oliveros and colleagues used extensive genomic sampling, included all passerine families, and calibrated a time-based evolutionary tree with fossils. Their analysis found changes in diversification rates over the Cenozoic, but no relationship between passerine diversification rate and Cenozoic global temperature. It also found that increases in diversification rate were disconnected from the colonization of new continents.
The authors’ conclusion was that “singular events in Earth history,” including global temperature increases and colonization of new continents, were not the primary forces driving passerine diversification. The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points instead to a more complex history than one global environmental shift or a single episode of ecological opportunity.
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Could song have helped passerines diversify?
Song is a plausible contributor to divergence in some passerine groups, but evidence from two radiations does not establish that song—or vocal learning—caused the success of the whole order. The relevant comparison found a relationship between song evolution and speciation in both groups it studied, with faster overall vocal evolution in the learned-song group.
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Mason and colleagues compared tanagers, which have learned songs, with furnariids, which have innate songs. In both radiations, bursts of song evolution coincided with bursts of speciation. Across the comparison, vocal evolution proceeded at a higher overall rate in the learned-song taxa.
Why might song matter? Vocal traits can affect mate choice and gene flow, so changes in song could be associated with divergence between populations or lineages. But the study’s result is comparative association: it shows that song evolution and speciation bursts occurred together in the groups examined. It does not demonstrate that song changes caused speciation, that vocal learning was the cause, or that the same relationship explains passerine diversity everywhere.
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What does body-plan research add?
Recent work suggests that changes in passerine form were uneven: rare, nested bursts of body-plan innovation occurred near the origins of major groups. Those bursts aligned with periods of climatic instability, but alignment in time does not prove that climate instability caused the changes.
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A 2026 study in Nature Ecology & Evolution examined more than 170,000 skeletal measurements across 2,057 passerine species, covering roughly 50 million years of body-plan history. It inferred rare bursts of phenotypic innovation nested within one another and concentrated around the origins of major passerine groups. It also reported that the bursts aligned with intervals of climatic instability and with spatial patterns in modern rates of phenotypic evolution.
This evidence broadens the discussion beyond behavior: evolutionary change in body form is another part of passerine history. It also reinforces the need to distinguish a temporal alignment from a causal mechanism. The study supports a relationship worth investigating, not a proof that climate instability produced those bursts or that body-plan change alone explains the order’s species richness.
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Read alongside the 2019 diversification analysis, the newer work does not create a contradiction that can be resolved by declaring climate either irrelevant or decisive. The studies examine different patterns and evidence: diversification-rate changes in one case, and morphological evolution and its timing in the other. A climatic association with some bursts of form change is not the same claim as climate being the primary driver of passerine diversification overall.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should these explanations be weighed?
Separate the evidence by scale and outcome. This makes it easier to see what each study supports—and where the evidence stops.
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| Proposed explanation or pattern | What the evidence supports | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Global temperature increase | The 2019 analysis found no link between Cenozoic global temperature and passerine diversification rate. | That climate never affected any individual lineage or any other kind of evolutionary change. |
| Colonization of new continents | The 2019 analysis found diversification-rate increases disconnected from colonization of new continents. | That geography was unimportant to every passerine group or at every time. |
| Song evolution | In tanagers and furnariids, bursts of song evolution coincided with bursts of speciation; learned-song taxa had higher overall vocal-evolution rates in the comparison. | That song or vocal learning caused the order-wide radiation. |
| Climatic instability and body-plan change | The 2026 study found rare bursts of phenotypic innovation aligned with climatic instability. | That this temporal alignment proves climate caused the bursts, or accounts by itself for species richness. |
The table highlights why claims need careful wording. A finding about a rate is not automatically an explanation for current abundance or geographic range. An association in selected groups is not an order-wide mechanism. And an alignment in time can guide further explanations without establishing cause.
So, why are passerines so successful?
The most accurate answer is that passerine success is the accumulated result of diversification across many lineages and a broad distribution, with different evolutionary processes likely contributing in different branches. Research identifies possible pieces of the story—song evolution in two radiations, and bursts of body-plan innovation near the origins of major groups—while rejecting a simple explanation based mainly on Cenozoic warming or colonization of new continents.
There is no confirmed single trait that accounts for nearly 6,500 estimated species, nor a settled cause that explains their abundance and global distribution together. The evidence instead describes a complex evolutionary history: diverse lineages, changes through time, and signals that are informative but limited in scope. That is why the question has a strong answer about the pattern, but a qualified answer about its causes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does passerine success mean every species is doing well?
No. Species richness and broad distribution describe the order as a whole; they do not show that each species is abundant, increasing, or secure. A claim about the status of a particular bird needs evidence about that species.
Are songbirds and passerines exactly the same thing?
The research here uses passerines to mean the bird order Passeriformes, also called perching birds. It does not establish that every bird casually called a songbird belongs to that order, so the scientific name is the clearer term when precision matters.
Does the 2026 body-plan study prove climate change caused passerine diversity?
No. It reports that bursts of body-plan innovation aligned with intervals of climatic instability, which is a temporal relationship rather than proof of cause. It also addresses morphological evolution, not a single explanation for the whole order’s species richness.
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