Statistics & Records

Bird observation has grown in popularity among both the hunting community and the general public over the last few decades. This increase coincided with technological advances that made high-quality photographic equipment more affordable. As a result, social media platforms have become a valuable source for collecting statistical data on bird sightings. These platforms frequently record new species, document taxonomic splits, and share genuine sightings—often confirmed by multiple hunters while in the field.

The official checklist for the Maltese Islands currently documents 433  bird species (excluding hypothetical records) as of 2025. These species are categorized according to their 'Sighting occurrences' table, as detailed below.
 
In this page we have included a table of all the recorded bird species, their occurrence and the months in which it is best to encounter (denoted by 'o') and those other months that a species can be seen occasionally or have been recorded in the past (denoted by 'x').

Vagrant species are documented by their known record count and the most recent observation year. It is important to note that the actual incidence of vagrancy is presumed to exceed the official records. However, these recorded figures remain a valuable metric for quantifying and comparing the observation frequency across various vagrant species.