Bird families

Bird Families of the World

A resource of the UMMZ Bird Division

This account includes families current or historical, with families and orders adapted from those in Peters Checklist of Birds and Campbell & Lack A Dictionary of Birds (1985). Also included is a portion of the alternative arrangement of passerine families by Sibley in the DNA entry in A Dictionary of Birds, and in Sibley & Ahlquist Phylogeny and Classification of Birds (1990). In most cases the traditional families (as in Peters, Howard and Moore, and the Dictionary) are used, except where the author holds other views. Grouping of songbird families, and some of suboscines, follows Sibley & Ahlquist (1990). The numbers of species and genera are adapted from Sibley and Monroe (1990). Body size: small = warbler or small sparrow, medium = American robin to rock dove, large = crow or larger. Extinct species are mainly from Greenway (1967) and Sibley & Ahlquist (1990); see also the Dictionary entry on "extinct birds" and Collar et al. (1994).

Each link "to selected bibliography" is to the appropriate section of the UMMZ online resource A Bibliography of Ornithology. Each link "to individual species accounts" is to the appropriate page of the UMMZ online resource Animal Diversity Web.

CONTENTS

Bird Orders: Struthioniformes, Tinamiformes, Procellariiformes, Sphenisciformes, Gaviiformes, Podicipediformes, Pelecaniformes, Ciconiiformes, Phoenicopteriformes, Anseriformes, Galliformes, Falconiformes, Turniciformes, Mesitornithiformes, Gruiformes, Charadriiformes, Cuculiformes, Musophagiformes, Opisthocomiformes, Columbiformes, Psittaciformes, Strigiformes, Caprimulgiformes, Coliiformes, Apodiformes, Coraciiformes, Piciformes, Passeriformes

Passerine suborders and superfamilies: Old World Suboscines, New World Suboscines (Furnari, Tyranni), New Zealand Wrens, Oscines (Corvida [Menuroidea, Meliphagoidea, Corvoidea 1, Corvoidea 2], Passerida [Muscicapoidea, Sylvioidea, Passeroidea 1, Passeroidea 2])

Summary of extinct birds

Glossary of morphological terms

Order Struthioniformes, ratites. Large, flightless birds with palaeognathous palate, now restricted to the southern continents and New Zealand, fossils in Madagascar and the Palearctic.

Struthionidae. Ostrich. Males black and white, females gray. Long legs, two toes. Males build a nest scrape, one female lays most of the eggs, other hens mate with the male and lay in the common nest. The major hen incubates in the day and pushes out eggs of the others; the male incubates at night. The pair attends the young. 1 species, Africa, formerly southern Asia, feral in Australia.
Aepyornithidae. Elephant-bird. Extinct. Massive ratites to 3 m tall and 450 kg, stout legs, known from folk tales, fossil bones, and eggshells. 7? species, 2 genera. Madagascar (+? fossil eggshells elsewhere in Old World)
Rheidae. Rhea. Slender ratites with fluffy gray plumage. Tarsus scutellate. The male builds the nest, 1-6 females lay in it, and the male incubates the eggs and cares for the young. 2 species, 2 genera. South America.
Dromaiidae. Emu. Very large, robust, flightless birds with rudimentary wing, no wing quill. Tarsus reticulate. Feathers double-shafted (with aftershaft), plumage dark and drooping. Incubation and parental care is by the male. Island forms were exterminated soon after European settlement. 1 species. Australia.
Casuariidae. Cassowary. Very large birds with coarse, bristle-like, blackish, drooping plumage, aftershaft present, wing with spikey quills, and a casque or helmet on the head. Stout legs. 3 species, 1 genus. New Guinea and Australia (the tropical northeast).
Dinornithidae. Moa. Extinct. Very large (to 3 m high), stout-legged, wingless birds, known from Tertiary to earliest European contact. Herbivorous counterparts of the large mammals of temperate climates. 11 species, 6 genera. New Zealand.
Apterygidae. Kiwi. Large, short-legged, nocturnal birds with shaggy hairlike brown or gray plumage. Young resembles adult in plumage, unlike the other ratites which have a streaked downy plumage. Long slender bill with nostrils near the tip. 3 species, 1 genus. New Zealand.

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Order Tinamiformes, Tinamidae. Tinamou. Medium- to large ground birds, superficially chicken-like in shape and in brown, gray, and sandy plumage color, resemble rheas in skeletal anatomy (especially skull) and biology. In contrast to phasianids, tinamous have slender, pointed bills, and depressed rather than arched culmen. Wings short and rounded, birds can fly short distances. Tail short, soft, often hidden by rump feathers. 3 short front toes, hallux small and elevated or absent. Either sex may have more than one mate. Incubation by male. Eggs are large and brightly colored, gray, green or metallic, with a high gloss. 47 species, 9 genera. Middle and South America.

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Order Procellariiformes. Tube-nosed birds, with an external tube on the horny covering of the bill, and a hook at end of bill. Conspicuous supraorbital groove for nasal gland. Oceanic.

Diomedeidae. Albatross. Large soaring pelagic birds, stout, hooked bill with plates and two unfused tubular nostrils separated by culmen. Legs short, hallux reduced or absent, front three toes webbed. Plumage white, grays and browns. Glide on long, narrow wings, spend their lives at sea, seldom seen from mainland. 14 species, 2 genera. Oceanic, breed mainly on islands in the Southern Ocean.
Procellariidae. Shearwaters and petrels. Medium to large soaring pelagic birds with tubular nostrils joined on top of bill and separated only by a septum (recessed in fulmars). Plumage white, grays, and browns, some nearly black. Bill variable, hooked, with horny plates; lamellae in prions Pachyptila used in filter-feeding. Legs short, hallux reduced, front three toes webbed. Wings broader than albatross but (most species) narrower than gulls, alternate rapid, shallow wingbeats with stiff-winged glides. 76 species, 14 genera. Oceanic, worldwide.
Hydrobatidae. Storm-petrels. Small to medium-sized pelagic birds with a single tube joining the nostrils. Bill slender, grooved, hooked. Toes webbed, hallux minute. Plumage blackish with white on rump or underparts in many species. Fluttery wingbeat, patter on the ocean surface. 21 species (1 extinct), 7 genera. Oceanic, worldwide.
Pelecanoididae. Diving petrels. Small marine birds, dive from the air or from surface into water where they swim under water with their wings in pursuit of prey, like small alcids. Tubular nostrils point upward, no hallux, plumage black above and white below, short bill, wing, and tail. 4 species, 1 genus. Southern Ocean.

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Order Sphenisciformes. Spheniscidae. Penguins. Flightless sea birds of the southern hemisphere. Wings are modified into flippers which the birds use to swim in pursuit of prey under water. Plumage of wing and body surface is continuous (no feather tracts), feathers are small. Toes webbed, feet and tarsus short. Bones solid, not well pneumatized. Wing skeleton flat; distal foot skeleton less fused than in most modern birds with distinctive flat, short tarsometatarsus. Fossils date as far back as Eocene, when they had a more typical avian skeleton but no flying forms. Plumage gray or black above and white below, some with distinctive patterns and plumes on the head. 17 species, 6 genera. Mostly high latitudes, one species on the equator.

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Order Gaviiformes. Gaviidae. Loons or divers. Diving birds with long pointed bill, feet with front three toes webbed, hallux small but present. Tarsus laterally compressed. Legs inserted far behind middle of body. Loons ride low on the water and can dive and swim under water for several minutes, foot-propelled. 5 species, 1 genus. Holarctic.

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Order Podicipediformes. Podicipedidae. Grebes. Aquatic birds, swim on and below the surface, dive from surface, use the feet. Feet with front three toes individually lobed, nails flat and broad, hallux present in most, absent in some species. Tarsus laterally compressed. Legs insert far behind middle of body. Plumage thick, waterproof, and satiny in texture. Food varies with bill shape. Rarely come to land, nest on floating vegetation. 3 species are flightless (2 of these are extinct). 21 species (2 extinct), 6 genera. Cosmopolitan.

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Order Pelecaniformes. Pelicans and allies. Large aquatic birds with totipalmate foot, many with a bare gular sac, and all but tropicbirds with no exposed external nares (=nostrils obsolete). In contrast to petrels and loons, skull lacks supraorbital groove for a nasal gland. Dorsal vertebrae opisthocoelous. Monophyly of this group is questioned; frigatebirds may be related to petrels.

Phaethontidae. Tropicbirds. Pelagic. Tarsus short, feet small. Bill straight, not hooked, edges serrate. Plumage satiny white and black. Middle rectrices extremely long. Gular region entirely feathered. Plunge-dive from the air. 3 species, 1 genus. Warm tropical and subtropical oceans.
Sulidae. Gannets and boobies. Pelagic and inshore marine birds. Feet totipalmate, bill stout, some serrated, pointed, slightly curved near tip, no external nostrils, a nasal groove runs along the bill. Bare gular skin. Plumage white, gray, brown, and/or black. Tail long and pointed. Plunge-divers, they hover then plunge into water after fish. 9 species, 3 genera. Oceanic, gannets are temperate, boobies tropical and subtropical.
Phalacrocoracidae. Cormorants. Large swimming birds (freshwater and marine inshore). Feet totipalmate, bill slender, cylindrical, hooked, nostrils obsolete. Small gular sac and face unfeathered, often brightly colored in life. Plumage often iridescent blackish. Swim often with only the neck emerging, and dive from the surface to fish. 38 species (1 extinct), 1 genus. Worldwide.
Anhingidae. Darters or anhingas. Large swimming aquatic bird, mainly freshwater. Feet totipalmate, bill slender, straight, sharply pointed, nostrils obsolete. Small bare gular sac. Legs short. Tail long, with a fluted or washboard form. Enlarged ventral keel on cervical vertebrae 5-7 for attachment of muscles that project the bill forward like a spear. Feed by swimming slowly under water and ambushing their prey fish. 4 species, 1 genus. Worldwide at lower latitudes.
Pelecanidae. Pelicans. Large aquatic birds (freshwater and marine, inshore), feet totipalmate, bill very long, straight, and hooked. Large gular sac and face unfeathered. Plumage white, brown, or gray. Draw their heads back in flight. One species feeds by plunge-diving, others dip the bill while swimming on the surface or pursue prey under the surface, sometimes in cooperative groups. Clavicles fused to sternum. 8 species, 1 genus. Cosmopolitan.
Fregatidae. Frigatebirds. Large aerial birds of tropical seas. Plumage brownish black, iridescent, some with white below. Feet small, totipalmate at the base of the toes. Throat bare, gular sac brightly colored and greatly enlarged when inflated in breeding males. Bill long, cylindrical, strongly hooked at tip. Wings long and pointed, tail long and forked. Coracoid and furcula are fused to the sternum, unique in birds. Skim the surface of the sea, also pirate food from other birds in flight. 5 species, 1 genus. Tropical and subtropical oceans, especially where flying fish occur.

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Order Ciconiiformes. Storks and related birds--long-legged wading birds. Middle toenail is laterally expanded in all, and comblike or pectinate in some families.

Ardeidae. Herons. Long-legged wading birds, long neck, pectinate middle toenail, powderdown patches, bill spearlike in most forms. Plumage varied, uniformly colored in most egrets, broadly barred in certain plumages in tiger herons, streaked in most bitterns, plumes in breeding season in many forms. 61 species, 17 genera. Worldwide.
Scopidae. Hammer-headed stork or hamerkop. Crested, brown wading bird with laterally compressed bill and short legs, pectinate middle toenail, no powderdown. 1 species. Africa.
Ciconiidae. Storks. Large wading birds with long legs and long, stout bill, curved near tip in some species, head sparsely feathered or bare in some species. Middle toenail entire. 19 species, 6 genera. Cosmopolitan, mainly tropical and subtropical.
Balaenicipitidae. Shoebill or whale-headed stork. Huge head and bill shaped like a wooden shoe. Like pelican, it has broad palate, groove in bill, clavicles fused to sternum. 1 species. Equatorial swamps in east Africa.
Threskiornithidae. Ibises and spoonbills. Medium to large wading birds with long legs, either (ibis) with a long, slender, grooved, and decurved bill, or (spoonbills) with a flattened spatulate bill. Middle toenail entire, not pectinate. Plumage variable--white, brown, black (pink or red in two tropical species). 34 species, 14 genera. Cosmopolitan.

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Order Phoenicopteriformes. Phoenicopteridae. Flamingos. Large wading birds with thick bill bent down near midpoint and lamellate filters. Middle toenail entire. Plumage pinkish, flight feathers black. Filter feeders, straining tiny plants or animals from the water. Young with two sets of natal down plumage like penguins and procellariiforms; the feathers and tongue are like waterfowl and in behavior they flock and call like geese; and the skeleton is more like storks. Colonial breeders. Tropical and subtropical (to temperate region in Asia and South America), all continents. 5 species, 1 genus.

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Order Anseriformes. Waterfowl.

Anhimidae. Screamers. Large goose-like birds, heavy body, small head, short arched bill, spurred wing, large thick legs, front toes connected by a slight web, hind toe is long and on the same level as the front three toes, ribs lack uncinate process, feather tracts indistinct, pneumatic dermal layer (as in storks with transverse connective tissue), both parents feed the young. Plumage gray or greenish-black. 3 species, 2 genera. South America.
Anatidae. Ducks, geese, and swans. Medium to large birds, typically water birds with webbed feet, male copulatory organ, hallux either absent or small and elevated. Bill lamellate in many species. Palate desmognathous. Magpie goose (Australia) sometimes recognized as a separate family may be more closely related to screamers than to ducks and geese. Subfamilies (after Johnsgard 1978): Anseranatinae (magpie goose), Anserinae, and Anatinae. Anserinae: biparental care, reticulate tarsus (tribes Dendrogcygnini, whistling ducks, long legs; Anserini, geese, short deep bill; Cereopsini, Cape Barren goose (gray plumage, short bill); Stictonettini, freckled duck (looks like dabbling duck with reticulate tarsus and a smile); Anatinae: usually one-parental care, tarsus partly scutellate (Tadornini, shelducks, plumage in green, rufous, white or black or combination, bill often brightly colored, shield at base); Tachyerini, steamer ducks (plumage gray, wings short, heavy bill); Cairinini, perching ducks (long legs for a duck, long hallux, some are cavity nesters); Merganettini, torrent ducks (small, long stiff tail); Anatini (dabbling ducks, often with metallic speculum in wing, foot well webbed with hallux unlobed); Aythyini (diving ducks, lack metallic speculum, foot well webbed with hallux lobed); Mergini (sea ducks and mergansers, diving ducks that take fish and have serrated bills, or thick-billed ducks that take bottom-living invertebrates such as mollusks); Oxyurini (stiff-tails, small hallux, rufous and black in plumage, includes obligate brood-parasitic black-headed duck). 158 species (3 extinct), 46 genera, subfamilies and tribes defined in part on behavior. Cosmopolitan.

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Order Galliformes. Chicken-like birds.

Megapodiidae. Mound-builders. Large brownish to black chicken-like birds with very large feet and claws. Eggs are buried, not incubated by the heat of the bird, and develop by environmental heat-- in mound-builders by decaying vegetation, with temperature regulated by the male, and in burrow nesters by geothermal volcanic heat or by solar heat on sand. A species may use more than one kind of incubation site depending on local habitat, and individual malleefowl change their behavior with the season. A mound-building species in New Guinea may be a brood parasite on other species. Mating behavior and social organization are variable, monogamous in malleefowl where male guards a mound, and in many Megapodius where male guards a female and remains in a pair; or promiscuous in brush turkeys where male guards a mound and allows females that copulate with him to lay there. Some species are highly colonial (> 50,000 birds nest in a common area in one species). Young are the most precocial of birds, have contour feathers when they hatch (feet first), leave the natal mound (scratch their way out while lying on their back), and feed on their own with no social behavior with other young and no other parental care. 19 species, 6 genera. Australia, New Guinea, and eastern Indonesia to Philippines, Polynesia, and Melanesia in Western Pacific (all east of Wallace's line), also Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Bay of Bengal) = Indo-Australian.
Cracidae. Curassows, guans, and chachalaca. Large birds, mainly arboreal and forest living, with long legs, large incumbent hallux, and long tail, short wings, base of bill often enlarged, and bird often ornamented on bill or head. 69 species, 17 genera. Neotropical.
Phasianidae. Pheasants, partridges and francolins, Old World quail, New World quail, turkey, grouse, and guinea fowl. As other galliforms, palate schizognathous. Ground birds, short-winged, short-billed, typically with an arched culmen. 214 species (1 extinct), 58 genera in 3 subfamilies (pheasants, guinea fowl, New World quail), see also tribes of Phasianinae. Cosmopolitan.

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Order Falconiformes. Diurnal birds of prey.

Cathartidae. New-World vultures or condors. Large soaring birds with black or dark brown plumage, unfeathered usually brightly colored heads (adults), bill hook-like, nostrils externally perforate, legs stout, toes thin, claws short, hallux small and elevated, basal web between toes 2 and 3. Skull holorhinal, palate indirectly desmognathous, maxillopalatines widely separated but co-ossify with medial nasal septum, maxillopalatines in form of scroll-like plates, vomer absent, pterygoids twisted, basipterygoid process present, sternum entire (not notched on posterior surface), some of these features as in storks. 7 species, 5 genera. New World. May be related to storks rather than to birds of prey.
Accipitridae. Hawks, eagles, and Old World vultures. Medium to large diurnal hunting birds with powerful gripping feet, strong claws, decurved and pointed bill, base of bill a cere, large nostril. Tarsus slender, covered with smooth scales, claws grade in size from hallux (largest) to outer (smallest). Nasal bones incompletely ossified (in contrast to falcons). Lacrimal with a superciliary plate (absent in Perninae kites and Aegypiinae Old World vultures). Palate indirectly desmognathous (schizognathous in Elaninae kites). Subfamilies: Elaninae (white-tailed kite, pearl kite, snail kite; bat hawk -- is sometimes in its own subfamily Machaeramphinae), palate schizognathous; Perninae (honey buzzard, swallow-tailed kite, hook-billed kite, cuckoo-falcon), small superciliary process of lacrimal, no superciliary plate; Milvinae ("true" kites, double-toothed kite, Brahminy kite, fish eagle, bald eagle), short basal joint of second toe fused with the next joint; Accipitrinae (goshawks, bird hawks), wings relatively rounded (wing length to tip of longest primary not more than 40% longer than the length to outermost secondary), tarsus longer than middle toe, usually scutellate (or booted), bill without tooth or notch; Buteoninae (Buteo hawks and eagles), tarsus shorter than tibia, usually scutellate fore and aft, sometimes feathered to toes, heavier-bodied than accipitrine hawks; Circinae (harriers), feathers soft, sides of head with an incomplete ruff, large opening of ear, long bristles of lores, legs long, tarsus equal to tibia (as in Accipitrinae), wings and tail long; Polyboroidinae, harrier-hawks (New World crane-hawk here or in harriers), legs double-jointed, reach into holes, tear apart nests; Circaetinae (Old World snake eagles, harrier eagles, bateleur), tarsus with heavy-duty scales, short rough toes for grasping snakes; Aegypiinae (Old World vultures, palm-nut vulture = vulturine sea eagle, lammergeier), large, heavy bodied, many scavenge on ungulates, adults usually with bare heads, often with neck ruff, superciliary plate absent. 220 species (1 extinct), 59 genera, the subfamilies are characterized mainly by skeletal features, also by molt patterns. Cosmopolitan.
Pandionidae. Osprey. Large, diurnal fish-eating hawk with stout tarsus and spiny feet, long curved claws, the outer toe is reversible in life. Other skeletal features: hypotarsus (upper part) of the tarsometatarsus with a bony ring for foot tendons, and coracoids overlap at the sternum. 1 species. Cosmopolitan.
Sagittariidae. Secretary-bird. Long-legged, cursorial raptor, crown of spatulate feathers, long central tail feathers, legs feathered to intertarsal joint, toes webbed at base. Skeletal features unusual or unique to this family in the order include basipterygoid process present, clavicles broadly attached to sternum, uncinate processes reduced, and tarsometatarsus laterally compressed. 1 species. Africa.
Falconidae. Falcons and caracaras. Diurnal raptors with sharp talons and hooked bill, toothed in falcons, nostril small and circular (falcons) or slit-like (caracaras), with a small tubercle (nostril large and broadly oval in forest falcons Micrastur), skull differing from hawks including ossified nasal region and fused thoracic vertebrae (except laughing falcon Herpetotheres). Other skeletal features are desmognathous palate, vomer expanded anteriorly, a prefrontal plate over the orbit, and the first and second bronchial semirings with a large oval gap between them. Molt sequence differs from accipitrids in starting from three loci: primary 4 (proceeding inward and outward), secondary 5 (proceeding inward and outward) and the innermost secondary (in accipitrids, molt as in most birds begins with innermost primary and proceeds outward, in "descending mode"), and with 2 or 3 foci in the secondaries. Typical falcons have long, pointed wings, caracaras have bare area on the head and are both predators and scavengers. Falcons use holes, caracaras build their own nest. 63 species, 10 genera, 4 subfamilies. Cosmopolitan (laughing falcons, forest falcons, and caracaras Neotropical).

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Order Turniciformes. Turnicidae. Buttonquail. Small, quail-like ground birds with small slender bill, short, rounded wings, short tails, plumage streaked above, feathers with aftershaft, and only 3 toes. Palate aegithognathous or nearly so, vomer broad and paired posteriorly. Basipterygoid process large, originate from basisphenoid rostrum. Wing eutaxic. Mating often polyandrous, female larger than male and more brightly colored, female with large trachea and esophageal bulb, loud and low hooting calls in courtship behavior, incubation period 12-13 days, precocial, young fly in a week, continue to grow, breed a few weeks later when conditions permit. 17 species, 2 genera. Old World.

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Order Mesitornithiformes. Mesitornithidae. Mesites. Ground birds of uncertain relationships. Soft brown plumage, 5 pairs of powderdown patches, full tails, short wings, sternum with 1 pair of notches, nostrils perforate, reduced flight but able to fly, long incumbent to elevated hallux, schizorhinal palate, eutaxic, 16 rectrices. Nest in trees, downy precocial young, both sexes incubate and feed the young. Walk around woodland on the ground, forage in and under dead leaves, live in groups, cooperative breeder? 3 species, 2 genera. Madagascar.

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Order Gruiformes. Cranes, rails, and allies. Palate schizognathous (indirectly desmognathous in seriemas and kagu), skull schizorhinal (sunbittern, cranes, limpkin) or holorhinal (most rails, finfoot, trumpeters, seriemas, bustard), nostrils pervious (most) or not (kagu), lacrymals distinct from ectethmoid, ramphotheca simple, basipterygoid process absent (except in some cranes (crowned cranes) and a bustard) (vs present in Charadriiformes), quadrate with a double head (as in Galliformes and Charadriiformes), cervical vertebrae 14-20, dorsal vertebrae heterocoelous (vs opisthocoelous in Charadriiformes), sternum 2-notched (1 on each side) (rails, seriemas, finfoot, sungrebe), 4-notched (bustards) or entire (cranes, limpkin, trumpeters, kagu), hallux present, elevated (incumbent in sunbitterns, limpkin) or absent (bustards), sternum with spina interna absent (present in mesites), distal ends of ilium and ischium united (as in Charadriiformes and Galliformes), hypotarsus with high ridges (kagu, rails), complex (cranes, bustards) or simple (sunbittern), wing with 10 or 11 primaries (rarely 8 or 9 in some rails), wing diastataxic in most (eutaxic in some rails and in trumpeters, seriemas, and kagu), rectrices 12 (larger number in bustards), toes not webbed or (finfoot) with a basal web. Fossil gruiforms include Phorusrhacidae (large flightless predators of South America, also Florida) and Aptornithidae (New Zealand).

Rallidae. Rails. Small to medium-large birds with the body laterally compressed, moderate to long legs and toes, short wings, short and soft tail, sexes alike (except Sarothrura). Plumage black to browns, often streaked. Toes unwebbed; lobed in coots. Bill shape variable, skull holorhinal (except Nesolimnas), nostrils perforate (impervious in some, e.g. Rallicula). Small species are nocturnal. Includes cooperative breeders (Tasmanian native hen is best known), moorhen is sometimes polyandrous. Nostrils holorhinal. Mainly aquatic or marshy habitats, some are grassland or forest birds. Wing with 10-11 primaries (8-9 in some), secondaries diastataxic in most, eutaxic in Himantornis and Amaurolimnas. Several island species are flightless; flightlessness has evolved many times in this family. 142 species (9 extinct, island forms), 34 genera. Cosmopolitan, including many oceanic islands.
Aramidae. Limpkin. Large rail-like bird, bill long, decurved and laterally compressed; streaked brown plumage, with skeletal and plumage characters that are like cranes. 1 species. Neotropical.
Psophiidae. Trumpeters. Large terrestrial vegetarian birds of tropical rain-forest, short chicken-like bill, long legs, short tail, plumage mainly velvety black, tarsus scutellate. Vertebrae with hypapophyses on 3 dorsals. Behavior noisy, gregarious, social, group-living, pets of Amazon people. 3 species, 1 genus. Neotropical.
Gruidae. Cranes. Large, long-legged, long-necked wading or ground birds with slender bills (shorter than tarsus), short toes. Ornamental secondaries hang over the tail in all but one species, also ornaments of crests, hackles, and lappets. Trachea large, coiled into sternum in Grus, sternum unnotched, paired supraoccipital foramina, basipterygoid present in crowned cranes (small). 15 species, 2 genera. Cosmopolitan except South America.
Heliornithidae. Finfoot. Aquatic birds with toes lobed (banded black and yellow in New World species), web at base, hallux incumbent, a pectinate middle toenail (African finfoot); head small, bill slender straight rail-like, tail long stiff 18 or more feathers. New World finfoot ("sungrebe") male has pockets of skin on flanks under his wing, carries an altricial hatchling (naked, blind) in each. African and Asian finfoot chick is downy, brooded by female (African, ?Asian), precocial, can swim at 2 days. Plumage close-set, neck completely feathered, aftershaft absent. 3 species, 3 genera. Neotropical, Africa, and India to Malaysia.
Eurypygidae. Sunbittern. Graceful, long-legged, long- and slender-necked bird with long, slender bill, slender unlobed toes, and a distinctive banded and variegated plumage of orange-chestnut and buff. Tail round, feathers not stiff, aftershaft present but small. Semi-arboreal, live along watercourses in lowland forests. Young downy, stay in nest for 3-4 weeks, tended by both parents. 1 species. Neotropical.
Rhynochetidae. Kagu. Medium-large flightless ground bird with light gray plumage, short tail, and long loose crest. Bill slender, slightly decurved, not perforate, with nasal operculum, plumage shaggy with large aftershafts, bill and feet reddish-orange. Skull lacks occipital foramina above the foramen magnum (vs cranes), powderdown occurs in scattered patches. 1 species. New Caledonia.
Cariamidae. Seriema. Medium-large cursorial birds of drier areas. Long neck and legs, long tail, loosely-webbed plumage. Omnivorous and predatory. Aftershaft present, nail of second toe talon-like. Skull lacks occipital foramina. Numerous fossils are known in North and South America. 2 species, 2 genera. South America.
Otididae. Bustards. Medium to large terrestrial birds of dry open country, with a cautious, attentive walk. Stout body, flat head, and short, straight bill. Tarsus with hexagonal scales, no hallux, feet with 3 short, broad toes with flattened nails. Ornamental plumage in some species. Penis present in males. Large aftershaft. 16-20 tail feathers. No oil gland, pink powderdown or underdown present in apteria. Sternum 4-notched. Basipterygoid absent (present in houbara Chlamydotis undulata). Several species lek in display. 25 species, 6 genera. Old World.

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Order Charadriiformes. Shorebirds and allies. Birds vary in morphology and ecology, birds of dry country, shorebirds, aerial birds like swallows that feed on the wing, birds that dive like penguins. Wing diastataxic, aftershaft present, number of rectrices varies (10 jacana, 14 painted snipe, 14-18 sandgrouse). Downy young, nidifugous (chicks quick to leave the nest, less quick in some alcids). Skeleton: palate schizognathous (seedsnipe aegithognathous), basipterygoid present (except seedsnipe, sheathbill, crab-plover, alcids), supraorbital groove present in marine groups, vertebrae somewhat opisthocoelous (concave behind) though in much less degree than in penguins (vertebrae also somewhat opisthocoelous in Pelecaniformes, parrots, and oilbird), number of cervical vertebrae varies.

Pedionomidae. Plains-wanderer. Small terrestrial button-quail-like bird with slender bill, short tail, long neck, long legs, wing diastataxic, palate schizognathous, scutellate tarsus, and a hallux (vs button-quail). Nocturnal in behavior, solitary. Downy young with blackish spots above. Polyandrous, male parental care in captivity. 1 species, Australia.
Jacanidae. Jacanas. Aquatic birds with long legs and extremely long toes and long straight claws, walk on floating aquatic vegetation. Sexes alike in plumage, females larger than males in the larger species, in which males incubate and care for the young and females are polygamous. Some with carpal spur. In some jacanas, radius is flat and curved, knobbed or thickened, used to carry the young under the wing. 8 species, 6 genera. Cosmopolitan, tropical.
Rostratulidae. Painted snipe. Snipe-like birds with long, slightly decurved bills, swollen at tip, bold color patterns, females more colorful and larger than males and with enlarged trachea. Males incubate and care for the young. 2 species, 1 genus. South America, Africa, southern Asia, Australia.
Scolopacidae. Sandpipers and phalaropes. Small to medium-large "waders" of tundra, marshlands, grasslands, and forests. Plumage typically streaked above, bill slender and straight in snipe Gallinago and woodcock (Scolopax), in dowitchers (Limnodromas), in calidrine sandpipers (Calidris and others), and the more slender-billed tringine sandpipers (Tringa and others), bill decurved in Numenius and other curlews (including upland sandpiper), recurved in godwits (Limosa), spatulate in spoonbill sandpiper, short in surfbird (Aphriza); bill with sensory pits near the tip, not swollen distally (vs plovers). Tarsus usually transversely scutellate front and back (except in curlews), 4 toes (3 in sanderling), toes lobed in phalaropes (Phalaropus, Steganopus). Mating system and parental care vary among species (monogamous, polygynous, polyandrous). 88 species (1 extinct), 21 genera. Cosmopolitan, many breed at high latitudes in Holarctic.
Thinocoridae. Seedsnipe. Short-billed, cryptically-plumaged above, with small heads, shield-like covering (operculum) of the long slit nostril, bill short, pointed, sparrow-to partridge-like, wings long and pointed, short legs, long middle toe, vestigial hallux. Skeleton: palate aegithognathous, no basipterygoid process or occipital fontanelles, the basisphenoid rostrum thick and long, vomer broad and forked posteriorly, hallux present. Apteria with thick black down. 4 species, 2 genera. South America.
Charadriidae. Plovers and lapwings. Small- to medium-sized ground birds, often along shores in migration (shorebirds or waders). Most species unstreaked plumage (spangled in Pluvialis golden plovers), gray or brown above, white below, often with bold bar(s) on breast. Bill slender, straight, shorter than tarsus and shorter than head, swollen at tip in plovers, turned to right in Anarhynchus wrybill. Wings spurred or knobbed in many lapwings Vanellus, which have pied plumage and may have long crest or wattles. 3 toes (vestigial hallux in black-bellied plover). Includes the beach-scavenging Magellanic plover Pluvianellus ("Pluvianellidae" of Dictionary of Birds). Head large, eye large. Toes moderately long, hallux vestigial or (most species) lacking. 67 species, 11 genera. Cosmopolitan.
Haematopodidae. Oystercatchers. Large waders with bill long, chisel-like, laterally compressed. Legs orange, feet with 3 short toes, no hallux, toe webs reduced, tarsus covered with small hexagonal scales Plumage black or pied black and white. 11 species (1 extinct), 1 genus. Worldwide coastal distribution at temperate latitudes.
Recurvirostridae. Avocets and stilts. Medium to large long-legged waders, plumage unstreaked, pied black and white (brown, gray, black and white in ibisbill). Bill slender, recurved in avocets, straight in stilts, decurved in ibisbill. Tarsus reticulate, hallux small or absent. 11 species, 4 genera, including Australian banded stilt Cladorhynchus and montane central Asian ibisbill Ibidorhyncha ("Ibidorhynchidae" of Dictionary). Cosmopolitan.
Dromadidae. Crab-plover. Large shorebird, adult plumage white with black mantle and primaries, bill large and laterally compressed, no groove, longer than head, nostrils perforate, legs long, 4 toes, middle toenail dilated, notched or pectinate. Skeleton: schizorhinal, no basipterygoid processes or occipital fontanelles. 1 species. Indian Ocean islands and continental coasts from Africa and Arabia to Bay of Bengal.
Burhinidae. Thickknees or stone curlews. Large cursorial birds with streaky earth-colored plumage, laterally compressed bill, holorhinal, nostrils pervious, large head, large eyes, long legs with enlarged tibiotarsal joint, 3 short toes, no hallux, middle toenail with inner side of nail dilated, sometimes notched. Dry, open, sandy or stony habitats. Mainly crepuscular and nocturnal. 9 species, 1 genus. Temperate to tropical in Old World, subtropical and tropical in New World.
Glareolidae. Coursers and pratincoles. Coursers are medium-sized plover-like birds with slender, decurved bills, broad wings, long legs, and 3 short toes, middle toenail pectinate in some species. Plumage often with bold patterns on the head or breast. Pratincoles have a swallow-like body form, short wide bill, long pointed wings, short legs, longer front toes than in coursers, middle toenail pectinate, and a short hallux present in most species, sociable and flock all year, feed like swallows on flying insects. Some species are intermediate in form between coursers and pratincoles-- rock pratincoles have longer legs than most pratincoles, cream-colored coursers have shorter legs than two-banded coursers, and Egyptian "plovers" Pluvialis and Australian "dotterel" Peltohyas are even shorter-legged. Schizorhinal (or holorhinal, Egyptian plover), impervious nostrils, culmen curved, tarsus transversely scutellate fore and aft. Open country, often arid lands, some coursers are nocturnal. 17 species, 5 genera. Old World.
Chionidae. Sheathbill. Pigeon-like shorebirds with thick white plumage, saddle-shaped horny sheath covering the base of the short, stout bill. Nostrils holorhinal and pervious, no basipterygoid process or occipital fontanelles, large supraorbital glands, carpal spur present, tarsus reticulate. Intertidal and near-shore scavengers on penguin colonies, beachwrecks, shore animals, also feed on marine algae. 2 species, 1 genus. Antarctic and subantarctic.
Pteroclididae. Sandgrouse. Terrestrial birds of dove-like form with long wings, short bills, plumage in pastel shades of gray, red, yellow, brown, and buff, often marked with black and white, no nasal operculum, tarsus short and partly or completely feathered, hallux small or (Syrrhaptes) absent. Belly feathers of several species are specialized to transport water to the young. Young are downy, remain in nest where fed and watered by the parents. 16 species, 2 genera. Old World: Africa, Madagascar, southern Europe, southern Asia.
Stercorariidae. Skuas. Jaegers are medium-sized and skuas (restricted sense) large coastal marine pirates, gull-like with a hooked bill and a cere, rhamphotheca complex with plates, toes incompletely webbed and with strong curved claws. Sternum with 1 notch on each side (2 in gulls, terns, and skimmers). 8 species, 2 genera. Circumpolar at high latitudes in both hemispheres.
Laridae. Gulls. Medium to large birds of the coasts (some are pelagic when not breeding) with long narrow wings, bill stout in most species, no cere, culmen decurved at tip, plumage typically gray above and white below, the "hooded gulls" with blackish head in breeding season and the white-headed gulls may not be monophyletic groups. Legs short, toes webbed, hallux small (vestigial or lacking in some). 50 species, 6 genera. Cosmopolitan.
Sternidae. Terns. Long slender wings, typically slender, straight bill, plumage in most species gray above and white below, often with black cap in breeding plumage, tail usually forked. Legs short, toes webbed, hallux vestigial. Sternum 2 notches each side. 45 species, 7 genera. Cosmopolitan.
Rynchopidae. Skimmers. Large tern-like bird, plumage blackish above and white below, bill laterally compressed to thin blades, lower mandible longer than upper, the knifelike blade used in plowing the surface of the water. Pupil of eye slit-like. 3 species, 1 genus. Africa, India, southeast Asia, and South America on tropical and subtropical lakes and large rivers, coastal in North America.
Alcidae. Auks. Medium-sized coastal marine diving birds with stocky body build, short wings used together with feet in swimming under water, dense plumage, plumage mainly black, white, and gray, variable bill shape (laterally compressed), rhamphotheca complex and seasonally shed in many species, short legs, 3 webbed toes, no hallux. Skeleton: basipterygoid processes absent; occipital fontanelles present; sternum long and narrow, extends beyond postero-lateral processes. 23 species (1 extinct), 12 genera. Holarctic.

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Order Cuculiformes. Cuculidae. Cuckoos. Zygodactyl birds usually with long tail and short legs, legs long in ground cuckoos. Nearly half the species are brood parasites (50 in Old World, 3 in New World), and brood parasitism evolved independently in Old World (some species of Cuculinae) and New World (Neomorphinae) cuckoos. Other cuckoos rear their own young, and the anis and guira cuckoo (Crotophaginae), are group-living cooperative breeders. Includes nesting cuckoos of Old and New World (Phaenicophaeinae), coucals (ground cuckoos of Old World Centropodinae), couas (ground and arboreal cuckoos of Madagascar Couinae), anis (Crotophaginae), and New World ground cuckoos such as roadrunner (Neomorphinae). Plumage with eye-lashes, wing eutaxic, 10 primaries, 9-13 secondaries (10 in Clamator except 11 in Clamator glandarius), tail with 10 rectrices (8 in anis). Wing molt transilient, a wave of molt jumps over the neighboring old feathers. In the simple form of transilient molt, the odd-numbered feathers are replaced first, then the even-numbered feathers, with primary sequence 9-7-5-3-10-8-6-4, variations occur on this theme with outer P in transilient ascending molt (9-7-5-10-8-6) and inner P in stepwise descending molt (1-2-3-4). Non-parasitic cuckoos have a variant transilient ascending molt. Tail feathers are replaced with one of the three long feathers T1-2-3 retained until another long T feather on each side is completely replaced, so the bird always has a long tail. Skeleton: palate desmognathous, vomer small; no unique features are known. 135 species (1 extinct), 28 genera. Cosmopolitan, mainly tropical.

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Order Musophagiformes. Musophagidae. Turacos or "plantain eaters". Short-billed, long-tailed birds, semi-zygodactyl foot (outer toe can go forward, usually is directed outward, can rotate back within 70o of the hallux) with short toes and claws. Plumage of most species includes greens and reds due to porphyrin (pigments unique to turacos), plumage gray in other species. Wing eutaxic, molt is descending (sometimes with a second late center for the outer primaries), aftershaft present (vs cuckoos), oil gland tufted (nude in cuckoos), eye-lashes absent (present in cuckoos). Young covered with blackish down, a few have a short wing claw (Moreau 1938). Palate desmognathous. Skeletal traits, where different from cuckoos: basipterygoid present, vomer absent, uncinate bone in skull (present in a few cuckoos, as koels), 15 cervical vertebrae (14 in cuckoos), clavicles unfused (no furcula), coracoids overlap (separate in cuckoos), distinct configuration of lacrimal bone, coracoid with bony canal formed by dorsal processes of coracoid, atlas notched (not perforated), 19 presacral vertebrae + 5 dorsal vertebrae (17-18 + 4 in cuckoos), hypotarsus with 1 bony canal (2 in cuckoos), foot semi-zygodactyl; leg muscles also differ from cuckoos'. Turacos eat fruit, mainly figs; bananas (= Musa) are not native to Africa. 23 species, 5 genera. Africa.

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Order Opisthocomiformes. Opisthocomidae. Hoatzin. Large arboreal bird of river thickets, with bare face and scraggy crest, long tail, a sternal callosity, tarsus with large hexagonal scales aft and small reticulate scales post, large feet. Relationships uncertain -- a galliform, a gruiform, a cuckoo, a tauraco, a pigeon, or an order of its own. Hoatzin is not zygodactyl, has large incumbent hallux, fused thoracic vertebrae (as in galliforms, doves, and some gruiforms). Young precocial, covered with down, down on both pterylae and apteria (as in gruiforms), two sets of down (as in gruiforms), and hooks on wings (digits 1 and 2) used (with hooked bill and claws, as in parrot) in climbing when leave the nest (nidifugous). Young has 7 or 8 primaries (the outer ones retarded in development, leaving space for the claw), older young and adult have 10. Adult has a large crop, it ferments green leaves with microbes in proventricular foregut using a unique lysozyme, and the large crop displaces the keel of sternum, keel prominent at posterior (not anterior) end of sternum, underlying the sternal callosity; coracoids long, extend to the displaced sternum. Plumage with eye-lashes, neck lacks lateral apteryae (as also in Heliornis and seriemas), wing eutaxic, 10 primaries, 11 secondaries, tail with 10 rectrices, wing molt regular stepwise descending, postjuvenal tail molt from outer and inner towards T3, adult tail molt irregular. Leg muscles as in some cuckoos. Skeleton: palate schizognathous, basipterygoid absent, coracoids with large subclavicular process (as in trumpeters and finfoot; rudimentary in seriema), hypotarsus with 1 bony canal. Differs from Galliformes: lacks basipterygoid process, coracoid subclavicular process present, lacks deep sternal notches, has few ventral processes on dorsal vertebrae, as angle of mandible simple (not prolonged and recurved), episternum is not pierced to allow coracoids to meet at their bases (in these six features, resembles some gruiforms, as bustards). Hoatzin is a cooperative breeder. 1 species, 1 genus. South America.

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Order Columbiformes. Columbidae. Pigeons. Small to large birds with plumage dense and soft, small heads, bill small, hard and slightly swollen at tip, soft at base and with a naked cere, operculum over the nostril, plumage colors usually soft shades of brown, gray, or vinaceous; bright yellows and greens in many fruit doves, size large in New Guinea crested Goura. Palate schizognathous, basipterygoid present; wing diastataxic, molt descending. Young have sparse down, remain in the nest and are fed regurgitated crop "milk". 310 species (4 extinct), 40 genera. Cosmopolitan, including oceanic islands. Family includes "Raphidae" dodo and solitaires, large flightless pigeons of islands in the western Indian Ocean, 3 species (all extinct), 2 genera (not included in above numbers for other Columbidae).

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Order Psittaciformes. Psittacidae. Parrots. Medium to large birds with strongly curved upper mandible overlapping the short lower mandible, usually an unfeathered cere at base of bill, tarsometatarsus short, foot zygodactyl and covered with granular scales. Three pairs of syringeal muscles. Skeleton: palatines enlarged and rotated ventrad, adapted for forceful movement of upper mandible on nasofrontal hinge; dorsal vertebrae somewhat opisthocoelous. Wing molt begins with P6 and progresses inward and outward. Flightless parrots occur in Australia and New Zealand, others in Mascarene islands are now extinct. Cockatoos (crested, lack greens and blues in plumage), lories (brush tongues), and certain other groups are sometimes given family status. Conures are small, relatively short-tailed, New World; "parakeets" are usually small in body and long in tail. Arinae (New World) parrotlets, conures, parakeets, Amazons, macaws and others, defecate in the roosting cavity and copulate side-by-side; Cacatuinae (Wallacea, New Guinea and Australia), crested, lack greens and blues in plumage, have powderdown; Psittacinae, Africa, Psittacus African grey parrot, Poicephalus Cape and Senegal parrots, Madagascar black parrots Coracopsis; Platycercinae, Australia and New Zealand (Platycercus rosellas, Neophema grass parrots and Bourke's parrot, budgerigar "Australian parakeet," Pezoporus ground parrots, also Strigops and Nestor) typically with broad tail feathers (compared with Asian parakeets); Psittaculinae (Africa to Fiji including Asian parakeets, perhaps African lovebirds, perhaps eclectus parrots Eclectus); and Lorinae (lories with a tongue with brush-tip - for feeding on nectar, fig-parrots with deep bill and a notch on upper mandible, fungus-eating pygmy-parrots Micropsitta with deep lower mandible, also vulturine parrot Psittrichas of New Guinea), a laterally compressed bill which typically lacks honing serrations (the latter groups are not typical), from New Guinea and Philippines to islands of South Pacific. 358 species (14 extinct), 80 genera. Cosmopolitan, mainly Neotropical and Australasia.

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Podargidae. Frogmouths. Medium to large, soft-plumaged, thick-billed nocturnal birds that capture prey by flying to the ground from an arboreal or ground perch. 14 species, 2 genera. Indomalayan and Australasian.

Caprimulgidae. Nightjars, including nighthawks and goatsuckers. Medium-sized nocturnal insect eaters with soft plumage, weak bill, extremely wide gape, usually with bristles, large eyes. Genus Eurostopodus may be a distinct family. Toes small, middle toe with pectinate claw. 77 species (1 extinct), 15 genera. Temperate and tropical continents.

Nyctibiidae. Potoos. Medium-sized nocturnal birds with soft, cryptically marked plumage, a small bill, terminally decurved with a projecting "tooth" on edge of upper mandible, and a huge gape, feed by capturing insects in flight. 7 species, 1 genus. Neotropical.

Aegothelidae. Owlet-frogmouths. Small to medium soft-plumaged, cryptic bird with tiny bill, wide gape, filoplumes, and barbed rictal bristles, tarsus longer than in other caprimulgiforms. 8 species, 1 genus. Australasia.

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Order Coliiformes. Coliidae. Mousebirds. Medium-sized drab gray birds, feathers with hair-like form and long aftershafts, poorly waterproofed, head with crest, wings short and round, tail long and graduated, crest, 4 toes directed forward in pamprodactyl arrangement (outer toe is reversible). Cranium with tight fit of mandible, quadrate, and lateral occipital process of basicranium with unique horizontal orientation of articular surface. Pygostyle unique, elongate, two sets of lateral processes. Often hang upside down. Torpid when food is in short supply. Eocene fossils. 6 species, 2 genera. Africa.

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Order Apodiformes. Small birds with small feet, short humerus and long manus, 10 primaries the outer the longest, holorhinal, furcula U-shaped, left carotid (except Cypseloides which has two), simple pelvic muscle formula A.

Apodidae. Swifts. Small to medium birds with long pointed stiff wings, short humerus, short ulna, long carpus, small bill with wide gape. Tarsus short, toe arrangement variable: Cypselurini toes 1-3 (anisodactyl), weak, palatines elongate (more broad in other swifts), 2 carotid arteries (others have 1), do not use saliva in nest (others do); Apodini, e.g. Apus, toes 1-2 oppose 3-4 (heterodactyl) in life, all pointing forward to grasp either side of a narrow perch, like a chameleon (often pamprodactyl with all 4 forward together in museum specimens) (Schoutedenapus is anisodactyl, otherwise looks like Apus); and Chaeturini, e.g. Chaetura, 1-3, strong (no hallux in Collocalia papuensis), stiff tail (spinetails) (except Collocalia, which are sometimes recognized as a distinct tribe). 99 species, 18 genera. Cosmopolitan.
Hemiprocnidae. Crested swifts. Swifts with crest and metallic colors in the plumage. Toes long, slender, anisodactyl, hallux not reversible. 4 species, 1 genus. India and southern Asia to northern Australasia (Solomon Islands).
Trochilidae. Hummingbirds. Tiny to small birds with usually elongated, slender, straight bills, feed on nectar; wings short, pointed, stiff, short humerus; very small legs and feet. In nearly all species, only the female cares for the young. Plumage has brilliances or iridescences in most species, either the male or both sexes. The young are fed insects as well as nectar. Nest in open cups, the young beg in response to the breeze of female's wings on their natal down, and do not give begging calls. High metabolic rates for their size, with high concentrations of muscle mitochondria allow rapid energy output for hovering flight; metabolic rate higher than other birds when perched. Torpid (low body temperature, behaviorally inactive) at night under a wide range of environmental temperatures. Relationships within the family are not well known, basal group are the hermits, others (from basal to derived) are the mangoes, the brilliants, the coquettes, the emeralds, and the Mountain gems and bees. 319 species, 109 genera. New World, mainly South America.

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Order Coraciiformes. Rollers and allies, typically with a syndactyl foot, toes 2-3-4 united at base, 3-4 united through much of the length. Number and arrangement of toes variable within the order.

Coraciidae. Rollers. Medium-sized syndactyl birds with bill crow-like or broad and short, hooked; legs stout, toes syndactyl, plumage often with blues and purples. 12 species, 2 genera. Old World.
Brachypteracidae. Ground-rollers. Medium sized, terrestrial, syndactyl, long-legged birds, large stout bill, long tail, male plumage with blues and rufous. 5 species, 3 genera. Madagascar.
Leptosomidae. Cuckoo-roller. Medium-large pigeon-sized, plumage gray, with metallic green and copper tones above in male, females brown and black, powderdown well developed on flanks, bill stout and slightly decurved, legs short, toes zygodactyl in life. 1 species. Madagascar and Comoro Islands.
Trogonidae. Trogons. Medium-sized, brightly colored (green, red, or blue and yellow), soft-plumaged birds with long tail, often patterned. Bill short, broad at base, curved culmen, tarsus short, heterodactyl, toes 1-2 directed back, 3-4 directed forward. 39 species, 6 genera. Tropical (Neotropical, Africa, Asia).
Momotidae. Motmots. Medium-sized birds with long tail, long, broad, slightly decurved bill, usually serrate. Plumage soft-textured, colors noniridescent greens, blues, and browns. 9 species, 6 genera. Neotropical.
Todidae. Todies. Small syndactyl birds with long, flat, pointed bill, short rounded tail, plumage green above, pink and white below. 5 species, 1 genus. Greater Antilles.
Meropidae. Bee-eaters. Small to medium-sized syndactyl birds with bill long, slender, laterally compressed, pointed, and slightly decurved, feet small. Plumage colorful, often with greens, blues, and yellows. 24 species, 3 genera. Temperate and tropical areas, Old World.
Alcedinidae. Kingfishers. Small to medium-sized birds with long, sometimes laterally compressed beaks, maxilla straight and pointed, mandible wide and gonys angled. Head large, neck short, tarsus short, toes typically syndactyl, including 3-toed species with toe 2 vestigial or absent. 84 species, 16 genera. Cosmopolitan.
Phoeniculidae. Wood-hoopoes. Medium-sized birds, weakly syndactyl foot, short tarsus, plumage partly or entirely uniform (usually glossy) black, tail long, bill long and slender, decurved in most species. 8 species, 2 genera. Africa.
Upupidae. Hoopoe. Medium-sized, weakly syndactyl birds with long, slender bill. Plumage buff, white, and black, and a long crest. 1 species. Palearctic, Indomalayan, and African regions.
Bucerotidae. Hornbills. Large birds, long and massive bills, often with a casque. Plumage black and white in most species. Bare skin around eye, sometimes on throat; prominent eyelashes. Fused axis and atlas vertebrae. Feet short, stout, broad-soled, syndactyl toes. 56 species, 9 genera. Old World Tropics, except Madagascar and Australia, mainly in forests.

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Order Piciformes. Woodpeckers and allies. Zygodactyl birds, nestlings with a heelpad, smooth in jacamars and puffbirds, papillate in the other groups. Skeleton with trochlea IV enlarged (and rotated in suborder Picae).

Galbulidae. Jacamars. Small- or middle-sized birds with long, pointed, slender bills, and plumage soft texture with metallic green, gold or bronze reflections, and aftershaft; tarsus smooth behind; no vomer. Zygodactyl, one species lacks a hallux. 18 species, 5 genera. Neotropical.
Bucconidae. Puffbirds. Small to medium-sized, lax-plumaged birds, dull-colored in black, gray, brown, and white, and aftershaft, bill often decurved or hooked at tip, feet zygodactyl, tarsus scutellate behind. 33 species, 10 genera. Neotropical.
Capitonidae. Barbets. Small to middle-sized zygodactyl birds with conspicuous bristles at base of bill (less conspicuous in ground barbets). Bill stout in typical fruit-eating barbets, slender in the insectivorous ground barbets (Africa). Clavicles separate in most forms. Plumage colors often bright with red, yellow, and (Asia and some South American) nonmetallic green. 82 species, 13 genera. Neotropical, African, and Indomalayan.
Ramphastidae. Toucans. Middle-sized or large birds with enormous, brightly colored and marked bill, no casque, interior of bone is a network of bony fibers, clavicles separate. 41 species, 6 genera. Neotropical.
Picidae. Woodpeckers. Small to medium-large arboreal birds with a stout, chisel-like bill and stiff rectrices in typical woodpeckers, tail soft in piculets, tail soft and bill slender in wrynecks. Toes zygodactyl 2-2, a few species lack a hallux. The backwards-directed toes #4 may be used in lateral or forward position when climbing a vertical treetrunk. 215 species, 28 genera. Cosmopolitan, except Australian region and Madagascar.
Indicatoridae. Honeyguides. Small, brown, zygodactyl birds typically with 9 primaries, 10 rectrices, outer tail feathers white. Brood parasites. Skin thick; nostrils dorsal in a large nasal fossa. 17 species, 4 genera. Africa, India to Malaysian archipelago.

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Order Passeriformes. Perching birds. The largest order, it includes more than half of all species of birds. Characterized by palate aegithognathous, a tensor propatagialis brevis tendon running from pectoral to patagium to humerus, sperm bundles with coiled heads, hallux large, deep plantar tendons type VII (Garrod), and M. pubo-ishio-femoralis which divides into pars cranialis and pars caudalis. Also has features in common with other orders, not uniquely derived in this group: foot anisodactyl, hallux incumbent, and wing eutaxic.

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Old World Suboscines - stapes expanded, much as in kingfishers.

Eurylaimidae. Broadbills. Short, broad, inflated bill; see also "Philepittidae." Plumage with gaudy purples, blues, and greens. Deep plantar tendons are linked by a vinculum band between tendon flexors of toes 1 and 2. Includes "Philepittidae," the asity and false sunbirds of Madagascar, small and long slender decurved bill (false sunbird), or medium-sized with short straight bill wide at base and velvety plumage (asity), and facial wattles. Certain broadbills and the philepittas are similar in structure of the syrinx, sternum, and pterylosis. 18 species, 10 genera, Old World Tropics.
Pittidae. Pittas. Brightly colored, thrush-like birds with long legs, short tail. 29 species, 1 genus. Old World Tropics, mainly Indomalayan.

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New World Suboscines

Furnari: ovenbirds and antbirds, etc. -- stapes expanded, much as in kingfishers

Furnariidae. Ovenbirds. Includes Furnarius, miners Geositta, earthscrapers Upucerthia, spinetails Synallaxis, foliage-gleaners Philydior, nuthatch-like Xenops, leaftossers Sclerurus, thornbirds Phacellodromus, and firewood-gatherer Anumbius. Morphologically diverse group of birds with brown plumage, often rufous or chestnut. Syrinx with 2 pairs of intrinsic muscles. 231 species, 53 genera. Neotropical.
Dendrocolaptidae. Woodcreepers, woodhewers. Plumage brown, often streaked, bill straight or decurved, stiff rectrices, feet strong, tarsus typically endaspidean. Syrinx with 2 pairs of intrinsic muscles. 49 species, 13 genera. Neotropical.
Formicariidae. Antbirds including forms with sternum 2-notched (ant-thrush, Formicarius) or 4-notched, in the ground dwelling forms (including antpittas Pittasoma, Grallaria, Grallaricula). Loose-plumaged, tail usually short, bill often hooked and swollen. 56 species, 7 genera, excluding Conopophagidae and Thamnophilidae. Neotropical.
Conopophagidae. Gnateaters. Small, long-legged birds with short rounded wings, brown and gray plumage, white ear patch; palate schizognathous, 4-notched sternum. 8 species, 1 genus Conopophaga. Neotropics.
Rhinocryptidae. Tapaculos. Brown ground-living birds with large nostril and operculum, sternum 4-notched, syrinx with 1 intrinsic muscle (lacking in Teledromas gallito). 28 species, 12 genera. Neotropical.
Thamnophilidae. "Typical" antbirds, syrinx with 1 pair of intrinsic muscles, sternum 2-notched, including many antbirds, antshrike, antvireo, antwren (Myrmotherula ant-wrens, Dysithamnus antvireo, Thamnophilus antshrike). 188 species, 45 genera. Neotropical.

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Tyranni: New World flycatchers, cotingas and manakins

Cotingidae. Cotingas. Typically medium-sized to large fruit-eating birds, bill broad with a hook, plumage often bright, some with crests or wattles, some with powderdown (unique among suboscines). Tarsus typically with fine scutes posteriorly, scutellation variable; not exaspidean. Toes syndactyl. Lek behavior in several species, sexually dimorphic in size and plumage in most. 65 species, 26 genera. Neotropical.
Pipridae. Manakins. Small, stocky birds with short bills, broad at base and slightly hooked. Tarsus exaspidean, toes syndactyl. Short tail. Lek behavior with notable displays, males take no part in parental care. Males use the short, curved outer primaries (found in both sexes in lekking display. Machaeropterus has outer primaries thick and twisted for sound production. 52 species, 16 genera. Neotropical.
Tyrannidae. Tyrant or New World flycatchers, in the broad sense including Tityra "tityra," Pachyramphus becards, and Schiffornis "thrush-like mannikin," Todirostrum tody-flycatchers, and Corythopis antpipt. Typically with bill broad at base and rictal bristles, but form varies. Tarsus exaspidean, toes not syndactyl. Uncertain whether the family is monophyletic; some species groups are recognized as families "Mionectidae" and "Tityridae." Further work may resolve alternative groupings of result in text and tapestry which grouped New Zealand wrens with suboscines. One species recently extinct perhaps was flightless. 4 species (1 extinct), 2 genera. New Zealand.

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Oscines: songbirds - characterized by an oscine syrinx (enlarged, with 3+ pairs of intrinsic muscles), also a unique hallux flexor form (the latter also in New Zealand wrens), also a non-unique simple stapes (stem and footplate).

Corvida, Menuroidea: Old Australian Endemics - 1

Menuridae. Lyrebird. Large songbirds, huge feet, the songbird most like a pheasant, elaborate tail feathers in the male. Syrinx with few (3 vs. 4) intrinsic muscles. Elaborate loud song with mimicry of many bird species, also dogs, trains, etc. shared among neighbors. 2 species, 1 genus. Australia.
Atrichornithidae. Scrub-bird. Terrestrial birds with brown plumage, finely barred. Syrinx with few intrinsic muscles (3). Songs loud, shared among neighbors and may change year to year (A. clamosus). Clavicles minute, unfused, pectoral muscle reduced, flies weakly. 2 species, 1 genus. Australia.
Ptilonorhynchidae. Bowerbirds. Thrush- to crow-sized birds, stout legs, plumage often brilliant or ruffed. Males build display bowers and mate in the bower, and females alone rear the young, except in Australasian catbirds Ailuroedus. Includes extinct New Zealand "thrush" Turnagra. 20 living species, 7 genera. Australia and New Guinea.
Climacteridae. Australian treecreepers. Feet large, especially the hallux, claws strongly curved. Bill long, slightly decurved. Tail rounded, rectrices not stiff. Plumage brownish, flight feathers with a paler bar. 7-8 species, 1 genus. Australian Region.

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Corvida, Meliphagoidea: Old Australian Endemics - 2

Maluridae. Australian wrens: fairy-wrens, emu-wrens, grasswrens. Small songbirds with long tail sometimes cocked over back, 10 tail feathers in grasswrens, 8 (+2 very short) in fairy-wrens, 6 in emu-wrens. Pendant pseudogenitalia in adult males. Social organization variable, cooperative parental care and extra-group matings (perhaps as much as 100% of fertilizations are by a male in another social group) in species where social behavior has been observed. 26 species, 5 genera. Australia and New Guinea.
Acanthizidae. Australian warblers, including bristlebirds, pardalotes, scrub-wrens, thornbill, whiteface. Small songbirds of no known distinctive morphological features, but distinct from northern songbirds in their DNA. Pardalotus has priority over Acanthiza, so the family name may be Pardalotidae (or Pardalotus could be recognized as a separate family Pardalotidae, as pardalotes are basal to the other Australian warblers in DNA-DNA pattern). 68 species, 16 genera. Australian Region including New Guinea and New Zealand, Gerygone to Malaya and the Philippines.
Meliphagidae. Honeyeaters. Brush-tongued nectar-feeding birds typically; some are mainly fruit eaters or insect eaters. Size and form quite variable; nostrils perforate, face often with bare areas (some with wattles), bill often decurved, plumage brown and yellow. Includes "Ephthianuridae" Australian chats, bill short and slightly decurved, tail short, ground birds with a brush-tipped tongue. Apalopteron and Cryptornis are now regarded as white-eyes, not honeyeaters. 181 species (3 extinct), 41 genera. Australasian region including Pacific islands; 2 genera [1 extinct, other rare] in Hawaii).

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Corvida, Corvoidea, part 1: Australian endemics

Eopsaltriidae. Australo-Papuan robins and scrub-robins (Eopsaltria, Petroica, Drymodes). Small birds, chat-like, long-legged, plumage yellow or red below, the group is characterized by its DNA, formerly regarded as Old World flycatchers or thrushes. 46 species, 14 genera. Australia and New Guinea.
Orthonychidae. Log-runners or chowchillas Orthonychus. Terrestrial forest birds with spine-tails, and plumage streaked or scaly-patterned brown above. 2 species, 1 genus. Australia and New Guinea.
Pomatostomidae. Australian babblers Pomatostoma. Group-living birds with decurved bills and long legs. 5 species, 1 genus. Morphologically similar to Asian and African babblers, but distinct in DNA. Australia and New Guinea.
Cinclosomatidae. Quail-thrush Cinclosoma, whipbird, and rail-babblers. Medium-sized, long-tailed, mainly terrestrial birds with cup-shaped nests. A DNA family not previously recognized on morphological characters. 15 species, 6 genera. Australian region; Eupetes Indomalayan (Borneo to Malaya).
Pachycephalidae. Sittellas Daphoenositta, shrike-tits Falculculus, shrike-thrushes Colluricincla, thickhead whistlers Pachycephala, pitohuis Pitohui, and New Zealand Mohoua and Finschia. Large-headed birds, some with large or deep bills, and loud calls and songs, and with similar DNA. Many were formerly considered Old World flycatchers. 46 species, 9 genera. Australasian.

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Corvida, Corvoidea, part 2: Crows, birds of paradise, and related families

Corvidae. Crows and jays. Middle-sized to large songbirds with strong, straight bills and stiff feathers over the nostril (lacking in piñon jay and adult rook). Plumage black in typical crows, blues and greens in some jays, some with crest. 113 species, 23 genera. Cosmopolitan.
Paradisaeidae. Birds-of-paradise, and Melampitta (2 species). Large, arboreal fruit-eating birds, including the monogamous and monomorphic manucodes, also dispersed-arena species with males with loud calls, and lekking species with males of large body size, bright plumage colors, and ornate plumes. 45 species, 21 genera. Australian Region.
Cracticidae. Australian butcherbirds Cracticus, Australian magpie Gymnorhina, currawong Strepera, peltops flycatcher Peltops, and Bornean bristlehead Pityriasis. Thick bill often hooked on end, blackish plumage, and similar DNA. 13 species, 5 genera. Australia and New Guinea, Pityriasis in Borneo.
Artamidae. Wood-swallows. Stout bill, wide gape, wings long and pointed, plumage with powderdown, unique among oscines. Migratory, cooperative breeding, colonial, and social behavior with allopreening and clumping. 10 species, 1 genus. Australian region, Indo-Pacific to southern Asia.
Callaeidae. Wattlebirds. Kokako Callaeas, saddleback Creadion, huia Heterolocha. Medium to large brown and gray birds with large fleshy wattles at base of bill, short wings with long outer primaries. Relationship to other songbird families is uncertain. 3 species (1 extinct, huia), 3 genera. New Zealand.
Corcoracidae. Australian chough Corcorax and Apostlebird Struthidea. Large, terrestrial group-living songbirds building nests of mud. 2 species, 2 genera. Australia.
Grallinidae. Magpie larks. Black and white ground-feeding birds with broad wings, with nests of mud. 2 species, 2 genera. Australia and New Guinea.
Oriolidae. Orioles. Arboreal birds with long, slightly decurved bill, the plumage often with yellow and green. 28 species, 2 genera. Old World.
Dicruridae. Drongos. Plumage black (gray in one species), usually glossy, with spangles, hackles, or curled form, bill broad at base, tail typically long and forked, 10 tail feathers (12 in one species), jay-like bill. 20 species, 2 genera. Old World.
Campephagidae. Cuckoo-shrikes. Lax-plumaged birds with thick-shafted back feathers that are loosely attached to the skin. Plumage often gray, often barred, sometimes glossy black, bill notched in some species, broad at base and curved along culmen, in minivets the bill small and plumage with reds or yellows. 70 species, 9 genera. Old World.
Irenidae. Fairy-bluebirds. Fruit-eating forest birds, plumage blue. 2 species, 1 genus. Indomalayan Region.
Aegithinidae ("Chloropseidae"). Leafbirds Chloropsis and Ioras Aegithina. Insectivorous, bill straight or decurved, tarsus slender, plumage green, yellow, black. 12 species, 2 genera. Indomalayan Region.
Rhipiduridae. Fantails (part of former "Muscicapidae"). Flycatchers with flattened short bills, rictal bristles, long tails, and small heads. 42 species, 3 genera. See Sibley and the Dictionary for African genera perhaps in this group. Old World, mainly Indo-Pacific.
Monarchidae. Monarch flycatchers (part of former "Muscicapidae". Arboreal birds with laminiplantar tarsus, flat bills, rictal bristles, large heads, some with long tails, plumage often with glossy black. 92 species, 14 genera (including Philentoma, 2 species). Old World, mainly South-east Asia.
Platysteiridae. Puffback and wattle-eye flycatchers (part of former "Muscicapidae"). Small flycatchers with bold patterns resembling Madagascar vangas. 32 species, 4 genera. Africa.
Laniidae. Shrikes. Bill sharp and hooked, a tooth in the upper bill and a notch in the lower. 30 species, 3 genera (Lanius, Corvinella; Eurocephalus lacks tooth and notch in bill). Holarctic and Africa, one extends into New Guinea.
Malaconotidae. Bush-shrikes. Bill hooked tip, typically with tooth on upper and notch on lower mandible. Plumage often brightly colored. 48 species, 8 genera. Africa.
Prionopidae. Helmet-shrikes (bill hooked and notched near tip, eye wattles, most species with crest, plumage boldly patterned, tarsus scutellate in front and behind) with 8 species, 1 genus.
Vangidae. Vangas. Morphologically variable group of small and mid-size songbirds, some with helmet-shrike-like tarsal scutellation, and forming a radiation with 16 species (2 described in 1990s), 12 genera, including nuthatch vanga Hypositta and bulbul vanga Tylas. Madagascar.
Vireonidae. Vireo, pepper-shrike, shrike-vireo. Plumage green, gray, or brown, bill slightly notched, large and hooked in pepper-shrikes and strongly notched in shrike-vireos. Formerly regarded as in the "New World nine-primaried" assemblage, the presence and size of the outer (tenth) primary variable among species of Vireo. 51 species, 4 genera. New World.

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Passerida, Muscicapoidea: waxwings and Old World insect eaters

Bombycillidae. Waxwings, ? Hypocolius. Brown plumage, crested, broad short bill, fruit-eaters. 8 species, 4 genera. Holarctic. Includes subfamilies Ptilogonatinae, silky flycatchers, with silky plumage, black, gray, and yellow colors, crested. 4 species, 3 genera, Neotropical; and Dulinae, palmchat, plumage similar to juvenile waxwing, colonial nesting in a compound nest, 1 species, Hispaniola (West Indies).
Cinclidae. Dippers. Stocky birds with a short tail, undercoat of down, operculum over nostril. Walks, swims, and feeds under running water. 5 species, 1 genus. Montane areas of New World, Palearctic, and Indomalayan.
Turdidae. Thrushes (including Chlamydochaera), robins, chats, wheatears. Tarsus booted in most species, bill slender, juvenal plumage typically spotted. The smaller, short-billed chats often have tarsus long, slender, and scutellate, juvenal plumage unspotted, and conspicuous rictal bristles. Turdidae and Muscicapidae have a unique arrangement of internal muscles of the syrinx (except in African ant-thrushes and North American solitaires). 300 species (1 extinct), 46 genera. Cosmopolitan.
Muscicapidae. Old World flycatchers. Bill broad and flattened, rictal bristles present, legs short. As presently conceived the family is much reduced from Mayr's version which had over 1000 species; certain birds formerly included are now recognized in Pachycephalidae, Rhipiduridae, Monarchidae, Platysteiridae, Cracticidae, and Acanthizidae. 117 species, 19 genera. Old World.
Mimidae. "Mocking-thrush" group includes mockingbirds, thrashers, and tremblers. Thrush-like birds with scutellate tarsus, often with decurved bill. 34 species, 10 genera. New World.
Sturnidae. Starlings, mynahs, oxpeckers. Strong legs and bill, the bill slightly curved (unlike icterids), plumage iridescent in many species, tenth primary developed. 114 species (2 extinct), 27 genera. Old World.

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Passerida, Sylvioidea: Old World warblers and allies

Hirundinidae. Swallows. Aerial specialists feeding on insects on the wing. Bill short and flattened, gape wide, wings long and pointed, bronchial rings complete--in contrast to all other oscines (semi-rings in Old World river martins Pseudochelidon). 89 species, 14 genera. Cosmopolitan.
Timaliidae. Babblers. Lax dorsal plumage, often uniformly colored; body form variable, tend to be heavy-bodied, the tarsus fairly large and stout and not booted and the bill not flat, the wings usually rounded, and the juvenile plumage unspotted. Most live in social groups. Pomatorhinus and Xiphirhynchus scimitar-babblers have long decurved bills. Stachyris tit-babblers have an operculum over the nostril, Rhopocichla has partly-perforate nostrils (seen in skull), Myzornis is a nectar feeder with a brush-tipped tongue. Pnoepyga wren-babblers have 6 rectrices, Spelaeornis wren-babblers have 10 rectrices. Turdoides of Asia and Africa (26 species) are large jay-like birds with cooperative breeding, Garrulax laughing thrushes (48 species) are Asian. Pteruthius are shrike-babblers (hooked bill). Yuhinia range well north into Asia and have a crest. Trichastoma are terrestrial, long-legged, bristle-faced forest birds in India and Africa, Pellorneum (Asia) is similar but lacks bristles, Alcippe tit-babblers have nostrils covered by a membrane: all these groups have short round wings. Panurus bearded reedling (bearded "tit") of Palearctic extends into Europe and is related to the Asian Conostoma and Paradoxornis parrot-bill, some in montane bamboo zone, some have thick bill that crushes reeds and bamboo for insects inside, others feed on buds. Family includes Rhabdornis Philippine "creepers" and may include Picathartes African rock-babblers. Chamaea wrentit is the only babbler in the New World. 275 species, 52 genera. Old World (except Chamaea, Nearctic).
Sylviidae. Old World warblers. Small insectivorous birds with thin bills, thin tarsus, and juvenile plumage unspotted. Palearctic warblers include the Sylvia species with the bill not compressed, culmen more or less curved and rictal bristles little-developed, Phylloscopus warblers with the bill slim, pointed, shorter than head (largest genus with about 41 species), bill slender in marsh-living Acrocephalus, and bill flat and wide in Hippolais. Genera vary in degree and number of rictal bristles (2 in Cisticola and Schoenicola, 3 in Acrocephalus, 5 on a flap of skin to cover the eyes in bristled grass warbler Chaetornis), in relative length of tail feathers and primaries, in form of toes (inner and middle deeply cleft in Megalurus, with inner toe partly reversible), in shape of bill (long and flat in Asian tailorbirds Orthotomus and African longbills Macrosphenus, short and flattened in flycatcher-warblers (Seicercus 12 rectrices and Abroscopus 10 rectrices in India and Hyliota in Africa), and in form of tail (long and graduated in Megalurus with 12 rectrices, soft-plumaged and 10 broad rectrices in Cettia (12 or 10 in Nesillas, loose-webbed in Madagascar emu-tails Dromaeocercus with 8 rectrices, and New Zealand fernbird Megalurus (Bowdleria) punctatus), short in African nuthatch-warblers Sylvietta and Asian ground warblers Tesia). 368 species, 61 genera. Old World, mainly Palearctic and African; 2 genera Phylloscopus, Regulus also in New World. DNA suggests separate family status for Cisticolidae (Cisticola with 50 species, also Prinia and perhaps other genera, Old World), and Regulidae kinglets (Regulus) with short straight bill and dense plumage, with 6 species, 1 genus (Holarctic).
Pycnonotidae. Bulbul. Plumage soft and fluffy, with long bare hair-like feather shafts on nape (including Neolestes), rictal bristles, plumage colors often greenish or yellowish, bill usually slender. 137 species, 21 genera. Old World (Africa, Asia).
Zosteropidae. White-eyes. Bill slender and slightly decurved, tongue brush-tipped, plumage usually yellowish, 9 primaries (or 10th primary small), typically with whitish feathered ring or bare skin around eye, and operculum over the nostril. Loss of yellows (carotenoids) in color phases in some species and in several island species. Cleptornis on Saipan and Apalopteron on Bonin / Ogasawara Islands were formerly regarded as honeyeaters, but now are white-eyes based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies. Island species are often large in body size (Speirops, Cleptornis, Apalopteron, Woodfordia, Heleia, Rukia). 97 species (1 extinct), 14 genera. Old World, prominent on Indo-Pacific islands.
Troglodytidae. Wren. Small insectivorous birds, typical wrens with barred brown feathers. Includes Donacobius, also includes the gnatcatchers Polioptila, gnatwrens Microbates, and verdin Auriparus as a subfamily Polioptilinae. 90 species, 20 genera. New World, 1 species into Palearctic.
Sittidae. Nuthatches Sitta, wallcreeper Tichodroma. Treetrunk and rock-foraging birds with unstreaked plumage, stout feet, large toes, and a chisel-like bill with angled gonys. 25 species, 2 genera. Holarctic, also 4 species to South-east Asia.
Certhiidae. Treecreepers Certhia, spotted creeper Salpornis. Treetrunk foraging, small brownish birds, streaked above, bill slender and decurved, long curved claws, and stiff pointed tails. 7 species, 2 genera. Holarctic, Africa, southern and southeastern Asia.
Paridae. Tits. Small birds with slender bills, nostrils covered with bristles, plumage unstreaked, often with black and white head pattern. 54 species, 3 genera. Holarctic (one to southern Mexico), Indo-Malayan, and Africa.
Remizidae. Penduline tits Remiz, Anthoscopus, Cephalopyrus. Small, slender bill, build a domed nest. 11 species, 3 genera. Old World.
Aegithalidae. Long-tailed Tits. Small, tiny bill, long tail, build a domed nest, group-living and cooperative breeding. 8 species, 3 genera. Palearctic Aegithalos and New World (mainly Nearctic) Psaltriparus; Indonesia Psaltria relationships obscure.

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Passerida, Passeroidea: Old World nectar feeders, sparrows, weaver-finches, estrildid finches

Alaudidae. Larks. Ground birds with long, straight claws especially on hallux, lack an ossified pessulus in the syrinx, tarsus holaspidean, posterior surface of tarsus rounded, covered by scutes, plumage usually brown. 91 species, 17 genera. Cosmopolitan, most species in Africa, 1 (+1 introduced) also in New World, 1 in Australia.
Motacillidae. Wagtails, pipits, and longclaws. Ground birds with long hallux and long claw, bill slender, nostrils perforate. 65 species, 5 genera. Cosmopolitan.
Prunellidae. Accentors. Small terrestrial gray and brown birds with slender, pointed bill, nostril operculate. Mating system variable within a population. 13 species, 1 genus. Palearctic.
Nectariniidae. Sunbirds. Nectar-feeding birds, bill slender, usually decurved, slightly serrated edges, plumage often brightly colored and sexually dimorphic, tongue with tube-like longitudinal trough and tip bifid or trifid. Short-billed Anthreptes are often cheats on pollenation, take nectar by piercing flower corolla at the base. Long-billed spiderhunters Arachnothera are eaters of insects and spiders. 117 species, 4 genera. Old World, mainly Africa.
Promeropidae. Sugarbird. Nectar-feeding, long decurved bill, long tail, streaked brown and yellow plumage, tongue laterally rolled into an open tube, fringed at tip and along sides. 2 species, 1 genus. Southern Africa.
Dicaeidae. Flowerpeckers and berrypeckers. Small nectar-feeding and berry-eating birds with short bills, short tails, brown, red, and yellow plumage, and tube-like tongues. Nest a hanging covered structure. Also includes New Guinea "Melanocharitidae" and "Paramytheidae" berrypeckers with nest structure (an open cup, where known) and lack of specialized structure of the tongue, differing in these traits and in DNA-DNA hybridization from other dicaeids (Rhamphocaris & Melanocharis, the "honeyeaters" Toxorhamphus & Oedistoma, and Paramythia & Oreocharis). Bill slightly serrate in Melanocharis and Toxorhamphus. 54 species, 8 genera (excluding pardalotes, now associated with Acanthizidae). Southern Asia, Malaysia, New Guinea, Australian region.
Passeridae. Sparrows. Sparrow-billed birds (Passer, Montifringilla, Carpospiza, Petronia) with outer primary slender, minute, and dorsal, and with a neomorph bone in the tongue. 36 species, 4 genera. Africa, Palearctic, and Indomalayan.
Ploceidae. Weaver finches. Thick-billed birds with 10 primaries (the outer one ventral and usually small, but large in buffalo-weavers), with thatched grass or thornbranch nests in buffalo-weavers Bubalornis and Dinemellia, sparrow-weavers Plocepasser, Pseudonigrita, and Histurgops, sociable weaver Philetarius, and scaly-weavers Sporopipes, and with woven nests in the weaver finches Amblyospiza, Ploceus, Malimbus, Fodia, and Quelea, and the bishops and long-tailed widows Euplectes. 116 species, 16 genera. Old World, mainly Africa, also Madagascar and southern Asia.
Estrildidae. Estrildid finches. Small grass-seed eaters of Old World Tropics. The young and sometimes the adults have a barred or spotted pattern inside the mouth, and the outer gape of the young with patterns, shapes and colors often unique to the species. Build a covered nest of thatch, or take over abandoned nests of other birds, and Gouldian finch Chloebia gouldiae nests in holes. Mainly grassland, a few species live in forests. Three phylogenetic groups: Estrildinae waxbills (including Ortygospiza quail-finch and Amadina cut-throat finch in Africa, Amandava is also in Asia), Erythrinae parrot finches (Australasia), and Lonchuinae (grassfinches, munias and mannikins, in Australasia, secondarily in Africa and Madagascar). 126 species, 31 genera, Old World.
Viduidae. Vidua finches, indigobird, whydah(2). Brood parasites on certain African estrildid finches (Estrilda and Granatina waxbills, Lagonosticta firefinches, Clytospiza, Euschistospiza & Hypargos twinspots, Amandava subflava goldbreast, Ortygospiza quail-finch and Pytilia pytilias). Viduidae and Estrildidae finches are similar in DNA-DNA hybridization pattern, mtDNA nucleotide sequences, and feather tracts; whereas viduas and Euplectes finches (Ploceidae) are similar in seasonal and sexual plumage dimorphism. Vidua nestlings share the mouth patterns and colors in most species of their estrildid host species in a unique mimetic pattern, and in most species the adult males mimic songs of their host species. One species, cuckoo-finch or cuckoo-weaver Anomalospiza imberbis, a brood parasite on cisticola and prinia grass-warblers, is associated with Vidua on the basis of DNA sequence data, with morphological support (skull pneumatization, feather tracts). 20 species, 2 genera. Africa.

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Passerida, Passeroidea: finches and New World nine-primaried oscines

Fringillidae. Finches. Thick-billed nine-primaried oscines, typically with a short pointed bill, conical in cross-section. Two groups: Fringillinae (chaffinches and brambling, 3 species, 1 genus, Palearctic; and Carduelinae. Cardueline finches, including canaries, 122 species (1 extinct), 18 genera, mainly Nearctic, Palearctic, and African). Carduelines typically have rosy and yellow plumage pigmentation, and uniformly are characterized by a thick, double-walled interorbital septum (lacking in Fringilla), and behaviorally in nesting, including leaving feces in the nest.
Drepanididae. Hawaiian honeycreepers. Nine-primaried, bill variable in shape, sickle-shaped, small and slender, or thick and swollen. Plumage often with reds and yellows. 30 species (8 extinct, also others known from Recent cave deposits only), 8 genera. Hawaii. Most closely related to the cardueline finches anatomically (including a thick interorbital septum-- thin in the slender-billed genera-- as well as in DNA-DNA hybridization). Perhaps better regarded as a subset of Carduelinae.
Thraupidae. Tanagers, honeycreepers, flowerpiercers, bananaquits, conebills, swallow-tanager, plush-capped finch. Nine-primaried oscines, bill typically thick and somewhat rounded in side and dorsal view, plumage brightly colored, fruit-eating arboreal birds, but not all are typical. Family and group limits are not well known (see Emberizidae and Parulidae), here tanagers include the New World honey-creepers "Coerebidae" on the basis of DNA-DNA hybridization data, and by the pinnate-palmate jaw muscle fibers not indicating family relationships (both occur in New World orioles Icterus). 231 species, 55 genera. New World, mainly tropical.
Emberizidae. Old World buntings and New World sparrows Emberizinae, and the cardinals and New World buntings Cardinalinae. Nine-primaried oscines with bills cone-shaped ("seed-splitters") or thick-billed ("seed-crackers"). Plumage streaked in typical emberizines, plumage often uniform in cardinalines. DNA-DNA hybridization data suggests that Cardinalinae comprises two groups, the cardinal grosbeaks are the sister group of the icterids, and the small tropical finches or "tanager-finches" such as saffron finch Sicalis, seed-eaters Sporophila, and grassquit Volatinia are tanagers. Darwin's finches Geospiza was not tested in the hybridization data, in recent mtDNA sequence data appear to be sister group to Tiaris, also a "tanager-finch". In the traditional scheme, Emberizidae includes 327 species, 70 genera. New World, also Palearctic, southern Asia, Africa.
Parulidae. New World warblers. Nine-primaried oscines, typically small and slender-billed. As usually understood, the warblers include the wren thrush Zeledonia and olive warbler Peucedramus. DNA-DNA hybridization data suggests the olive warbler is a sister group to the other New World nine-primaried oscines. New World warblers include 125 species, 30 genera. New World.
Icteridae. Troupials, meadowlarks, American blackbirds, cowbirds, American orioles Icterus, and oropendolas. Nine-primaried oscines typically with long slender bills, culmen straight not curved. Plumage largely black, brown, or yellow. 97 species, 26 genera. New World.

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Who was that extinct bird?

This extinct list updates observations not in Dictionary or in Sibley & Ahlquist 1990 (including Neospiza concolor rediscovered in São Tomé in ca 1991, and forest owlet Heteroglaux blewitti rediscovered in India in 1997). Extinct: Aepyornithidae (9 species), Dinornithidae (11), Hydrobatidae (1), Podicipedidae (2), Phalacrocoracidae (1), Anatidae (3), Phasianidae (1), Accipitridae (1), Rallidae (9), Haematopodidae (1), Scolopacidae (1), Alcidae (1), Columbidae (2), Raphidae (3), Psittacidae (14), Cuculidae (1), Caprimulgidae (1), Acanthisittidae (1), Ptilonorhynchidae (1), Meliphagidae (3), Callaeidae (1), Turdidae (1), Zosteropidae (1), Sturnidae (1), Fringillidae (1), Drepanididae (8). Total this list, 82 species, includes extinct families Aepyornithodae, Dinornithidae, and Raphidae, but excludes recently discovered birds known only from cave deposits in Hawaii and Amsterdam Island.

A slightly different list of 90 species is in "extinct birds," in A Dictionary of Birds 1985. This includes subfossils and some "possibly extant." In addition, see list of endangered and threatened bird species in Collar et al. 1994, and last two chapters in:

Bird Population Studies, ed. by C. M. Perrins, J.-D. Lebreton & G. J. M. Hirons. 1991. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Collar, N.J., M.J. Crosby & A.J. Stattersfield. 1994. Birds to Watch 2, the World List of Threatened Birds. BirdLife Conservation Series no. 4.

Heywood, V. H., Mace, G. M., May, R. M. & Stuart, S. N. 1994. Uncertainties in extinction rates. Nature 368:105. order of magnitude differences involved: historically ca one species of bird + mammal have gone extinct / year this century. If this rate were maintained, it would correspond to an average 'species lifetime' of ca 104 years. This is 2 to 3 orders of magnitude shorter than the average species lifetime of 106 to 106 years as seen over the sweep of the fossil record (Rapp, C. M., Paleobiology 4:1-5 (1978)), but it is almost two orders of magnitude longer than the impending extinction times which conservationists have proposed, (1) from observed rates of habitat loss plus island-based species-area relations; (2) extrapolating rates at which species are "climbing the ladder" of IUCN categories of threat from "vulnerable" to"endangered" to "extinct," and (3) using assessments of species-by-species extinction probability distributions as functions of time (IUCN), estimated that half the species in each of 4 families or orders of birds will go extinct, ca 300-400 years. Empirical bases of these are shaky. Suggest that destroying 90% of a habitat will eventually lead to loss of 50% of the species in it, but time is not specified, just that once a species' demographic and genetic base has been sufficiently eroded it is "committed" to extinction.

Pimm, S. L., H. L. Jones & J. Diamond. 1988. On the risk of extinction. Am. Nat. 132:757-785.

Furness, R. W. & J. J. D. Greenwood. 1993. Birds as Monitors of Environmental Change. London: Chapman & Hall. QL 698.95 B5851 1993

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Glossary of morphological terms. Arranged topically. To selected bibliography

GLOSSARY CONTENTS

wings, palate, feet and toes, nostrils, nares, tarsal envelope or podotheca, syrinx, thoracic vertebrae, basipterygoid process

Wings, fifth secondary

Eutaxic condition: 5th secondary present

Diastataxic condition: 5th secondary absent but its greater covert present

cf. H. Steiner, 1918, Das Problem der Diastataxie des Vogelflugels. Jenaische Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaft, Band 55, discovered the embryological origin by which diastataxy develops. During ontogeny the first 4 secondary feather germs migrate forward and develop as coverts. The equivalent under wing coverts move up and develop as "secondaries." At the location of the 5th secondary the true secondary feather germ moves forward but the under wing covert fails to move up -- thus the gap at the 5th secondary position results. The resulting secondaries, from S6 on, develop in their original positions.

In general the diastataxic condition is found in long-winged birds, namely: Gaviiformes, Podicipediformes, Procellariiformes, Pelecaniformes, Ciconiiformes, Anseriformes, Falconiformes, Charadriiformes (except American woodcock), Psittaciformes, Strigiformes, Caprimulgiformes, some Gruiformes, rollers.

Eutaxic groups are ratites, tinamous, Galliformes (except some megapodes), mesites, some Gruiformes, cuckoos, tauracos, Coraciiformes (except rollers), trogons, Piciformes, Passeriformes.

In the following families some species are eutaxic, others diastataxic: megapodes, doves, rails, button-quail, sandpipers (one eutaxic), kingfishers, swifts, hummingbirds.

Palate

In 1867 (Proc. Zool. Soc. London), T.H. Huxley proposed a classification based upon the relationships of the bones of the palate. Five palate types were proposed:

1. Dromaeognathous. Vomer broad posteriorly and interposed so as to prevent the basisphenoidal rostrum from articulating with the pterygoids and palatines. This type of palate is found, with variations, in the ratites and tinamous. Also called "paleognathous" though this term assumes an evolutionarily primitive condition which has not been established.

2. Desmognathous. Vomer small or absent, maxillopalatines in contact in midline. Pterygoids and palatines articulate with basisphenoidal rostrum. e.g. Anseriformes, Falconiformes, Pelecaniformes.

3. Schizognathous. Vomer sometimes small, but present, and usually terminating anteriorly in a point. Maxillopalatines variable in size and shape and not meeting in mid-line with each other or with the vomer. e.g., Charadriiiformes, Columbiformes.

4. Aegithognathous. Vomer broad and truncate anteriorly. Maxillopalatines do not join but do touch bsisphenoidal rostrum. e.g., Passeriformes.

5. Saurognathous. Maxillopalatines small, hardly extend inwards from the maxilla, hence skull is widely schizognathous. Vomers are delicate paired rods. Woodpeckers.

See Beddard (Structure and Classification of Birds) pp. 138-142, and McDowell (Auk 65:520-549) for critiques on the value of palate types in classification.

Feet and toes

Anisodactyl: #1 back, #2, 3, 4 forward. e.g. Passeriformes.

Zygodactyl. #1 and 4 back, #2 and 3 forward. e.g. Cuculiformes.

Syndactyl. #2-4 united at base, #3-4 united through second digit. e.g. Kingfishers.

Heterodactyl. #1 and 2 back, #3 and 4 forward.

Pamprodactyl. all toes directed forward.

Digit formula, numbers of phalanges per toe in order #1, 2, 3, 4: 2-3-4-5. Other patterns occur, as in 2- and 3-toed birds, in Caprimulgus and Pterocles where 2-3-4-4, in some Procellariiformes where 1-3-4-5, in some swifts where adults 2-3-3-3 but with 4 discernible in digits 3 and 4 in ontogeny.

Nostrils

Schizorhinal: posterior edge of the bony nostril cleft to or beyond the premaxillaires; e.g. Columbidae, Laridae, Charadriidae, Gruidae, Alcidae.

Holorhinal: nostrils entire, not deeply cleft; e.g. Struthioniformes, Anseriformes, Falconiformes, Apodiformes, and most others except those under schizorhinal.

Nares

Pervious: an incomplete nasal septum, hence the opening extends through from side to side, as in loons, grebes, tropicbirds, herons (except Cochlearius), storks, flamingos, Anseriformes, Cathartidae, Rallidae, and Gruidae.

Impervious: nasal septum present, either cartilaginous or ossified, as in Charadriiformes, Balaeniceps, owls, and nearly all Passeriformes.

Tarsal envelope or podotheca

Pycnaspidean: anterior side covered with large scutes, posterior with small scales.

Exaspidean: anterior and external sides covered with large scutes, internal sides bare or with small scutes.

Endaspidean: anterior and internal sides with large scutes, external bare or with small scutes.

Taxaspidean: large anterior scales, small posterior scales.

Ocreate: anterior scutes, long solid "boot" behind.

Holaspidean: the broad plantar space occupied by a single series of broad, more or less rectangular, scutes.

Syrinx

"Syrinx" is the name of a mythical Greek water nymph who metamorphosed into a reed to escape the amorous attentions of Pan. The transformation was to no avail, since Pan plucked the reed to make his pipe. Like Pan's, the syrinx in birds is the song-producer. Three basic types based on location.

1. Tracheophone or Tracheal = in trachea (most New World suboscine Furnari Passeriformes)

2. Haploophone or Bronchial = in bronchi (cuckoos, nightjars)

3. Tracheobronchial = at junction of trachea and bronchi (oscine Passeriformes).

In the Passeriformes the syringeal structure is utilized in the morphological diagnosis of suborders. The number of pairs of intrinsic muscles (intrinsic = muscle both originates and inserts on syrinx) and their insertion upon the bronchial half-rings are important. Some terms:

Mesomyodian syringeal muscles attach to the middle of the bronchial half-rings.

Anisomyodian = syringeal muscles unequally inserted, either in the middle or on one end of bronchial half-rings, with two subtypes,

1. catacromyodian = intrinsic muscles insert on ventral end of half-rings.

2. acromyodian = intrinsic muscles insert on dorsal end of half-rings.

The above types occur in the passeriform suborders Eurylaimi and Tyranni.

Diacromyodian = intrinsic syringeal muscles attach to both ends of bronchial half-rings. Passeres (oscines, including lyrebirds).

The number of intrinsic muscle pairs is also diagnostic for certain groups: 2 or 3 pairs in lyrebirds, 4 or 5 pairs in other oscines.

Thoracic vertebrae

Fused thoracic vertebrae occur in several groups (apparently evolving independently 10 times). Fusion refers to the 4-5 fused thoracic vertebrae anterior to a free vertebra that is anterior to the fused pelvis, though the number varies in this compound bone (notarium). See Storer 1982.

1- all fused: tinamous, grebes, flamingos, Galliformes, hoatzin, Columbiformes, sandgrouse

2- some fused: Pelecaniformes (some cormorants), Ciconiiformes (Threskiornithidae), Falconiformes (Falconidae except Herpetotheres and Micrastur), Gruiformes, Caprimulgiformes (Steatornis)

3- all unfused: ratites, loons, penguins, Procellariiformes, Anseriformes, Charadriiformes (including Pedionomus), Psittaciformes, Cuculiformes, Strigiformes, Apodiformes, Coraciiformes, Piciformes, Passeriformes.

Gruiformes: all fused in [mesites], cranes, limpkin, trumpeters, kagu, sunbittern, [hoatzin]; all unfused in [buttonquail,] rails, finfoots, seriemas, bustards.

Heterocoelous, ampisthocoelous, opisthocoelous (Charadriiformes, Pelecaniformes, Spheniscidae, Psittacidae): refer to shape of the vertebral centrum.

-For these terms and others, see Van Tyne and Berger, Fundamentals of Ornithology; also Baumel 2nd ed.

Basipterygoid process

In ratites and tinamous, originates from basisphenoid, and articulates with pterygoid. In other birds, when present, originates from basisphenoid rostrum, and does not articulate with pterygoid. In Passerines, present in embryo but not in adult bird.

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