Objective  To investigate species diversity and potential pathogenicity of bacteria carried by wild birds’ claws preliminarily for clarifying the necessity of monitoring pathogenic bacteria carried by wild birds.

  Methods  Toe/claw swab specimens were collected from 12 kinds of wild forest/aquatic birds for isolation of bacteria. Amplicon sequence variants (ASV)-based high-throughput sequencing was used to analyze bacterial species composition and pathogenic bacteria isolated.

  Results  A large number of bacteria dominant in the wild birds’ habitats were detected and the bacterial spectrum and its similarity for the bacteria detected in the wild birds of different species were associated with the birds’ living habitats. Of all the detected bacteria at genus and species levels, 81.25% and 75.00% were pathogenic bacteria, with more kinds of pathogenic bacteria detected in the forest birds and all as human pathogenic bacteria except for a small amount of plant pathogenic bacteria in the aquatic birds.

  Conclusion  Wild birds’ toes/claws could carry pathogenic bacteria from their habitats and the detection of pathogenic microorganisms carried by different types of wild birds needs to be included in the scope of routine monitoring for public health.