A phylogenetic tree

Phylogenetic tree

A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree is a branching diagram or "tree" showing the inferred evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical and/or genetic characteristics...

 of the modern bird orders, based on recent studies. Note the polytomies

Polytomy

A polytomy , meaning many temporal based branches, is a section of a phylogeny in which the evolutionary relationships can not be fully resolved to dichotomies. In a phylogenetic tree, a polytomy is represented as a node which has more than two immediate descending branches...

.

This is a list relating to extant species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s. For a list of birds in history and fiction, see List of historical and fictional birds. For extinct birds, please see List of extinct birds, Prehistoric birds and Fossil birds

Fossil birds

Birds are generally believed to have evolved from certain feathered theropod dinosaurs, and there is no real dividing line between birds and dinosaurs, except of course that some of the former survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event while the latter did not. For the purposes of this...

.

This page lists living orders

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

 and families

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s. The links below should then lead to family accounts and hence to individual species.

Taxonomy is very fluid in the age of DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 analysis, so comments are made where appropriate, and all numbers are approximate. In particular see Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy

Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy

The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy is a bird taxonomy proposed by Charles Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist. It is based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s....

 for a very different classification.

Paleognathae

The flightless and mostly giant Struthioniformes lack a keeled sternum and are collectively known as ratites. Together with the Tinamiformes, they form the Paleognathae

Paleognathae

The Palaeognathae or paleognaths are one of the two living superorders of birds. The other living superorder is Neognathae. Together these two clades form the subclass Neornithes....

or "old jaws", one of the two evolutionary superorders.

Casuariiformes

Australasia; 4 species.

• Casuariidae
  Casuariidae
  The bird family Casuariidae has four surviving members: the three species of cassowary, and the only remaining species of Emu. The emus were formerly classified in their own family, Dromaiidae, but are regarded as sufficiently closely related to the cassowaries to be part of the same family.All...
  
  : cassowaries
• Dromaiidae: Emu

Neognathae

Nearly all living birds belong to the superorder of Neognathae

Neognathae

Neognaths are birds within the subclass Neornithes of the class Aves. The Neognathae include virtually all living birds; their sister taxon Palaeognathae contains the tinamous and the flightless ratites....

or "new jaws". With their keels, unlike the ratites, they are known as carinatae

Carinatae

This article is about bird taxonomy; for the topic in pottery and glassware design, see Carinate.The Carinatae are, in phylogenetic taxonomy, the last common ancestor of the Neornithes and Ichthyornis , and all its descendants...

. The passerines alone account for well over 5000 species.

Anseriformes

Anseriformes

The order Anseriformes contains about 150 living species of birds in three extant families: the Anhimidae , Anseranatidae , and the Anatidae, which includes over 140 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans.All species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at...

Worldwide; 150 species.

• Anhimidae: screamers
• Anseranatidae
  Anseranatidae
  Anseranatidae, the magpie-geese, is a biological family of waterbirds. It is a unique member of the order Anseriformes. The only living species, the Magpie Goose, is a resident breeder in northern Australia and in southern New Guinea....
  
  : Magpie-goose
• Anatidae
  Anatidae
  Anatidae is the biological family of birds that includes ducks, geese and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica and on most of the world's islands and island groups...
  
  : duck
  Duck
  Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
  
  s, geese
  Goose
  The word goose is the English name for a group of waterfowl, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
  
  , and swan
  Swan
  Swans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae...
  
  s

Galliformes

Galliformes

Galliformes are an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding domestic or game bird, containing turkey, grouse, chicken, New and Old World Quail, ptarmigan, partridge, pheasant, and the Cracidae. Common names are gamefowl or gamebirds, landfowl, gallinaceous birds or galliforms...

Worldwide; 250 species.

• Megapodidae: megapodes
• Cracidae
  Cracidae
  The chachalacas, guans and curassows are birds in the family Cracidae.These are species of tropical and subtropical Central and South America. One species, the Plain Chachalaca, just reaches southernmost Texas in the USA...
  
  : chachalaca
  Chachalaca
  Chachalacas are mainly brown birds from the genus Ortalis. These cracids are found in wooded habitats in far southern United States , Mexico, and Central and South America. They are social, can be very noisy and often remain fairly common even near humans, as their relatively small size makes them...
  
  s, curassow
  Curassow
  Curassows are one of the three major groups of cracid birds. Three of the four genera are restricted to tropical South America; a single species of Crax ranges north to Mexico...
  
  s, and guan
  Guan (bird)
  The guans are a number of bird genera which make up the largest group in the family Cracidae. They are found mainly in northern South America, southern Central America, and a few adjacent Caribbean islands...
  
  s
• Phasianoidea: pheasant
  Pheasant
  Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
  
  s and allies
  • Odontophoridae: New World quail
  • Numididae: guineafowl
  • Phasianidae
    Phasianidae
    The Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, including the junglefowl , Old World Quail, francolins, monals and peafowl. The family is a large one, and is occasionally broken up into two subfamilies, the Phasianinae, and the Perdicinae...
    
    : pheasant
    Pheasant
    Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
    
    s and relatives

Podicipediformes

Worldwide; 19 species; sometimes grouped with Phoenicopteriformes.

• Podicipedidae: grebes

Mesitornithiformes

Madagascar, Neotropics, New Caledonia; 5 species.

• Mesitornithidae: mesites
• Rhynochetidae: Kagu
• Eurypygidae: Sunbittern

Pteroclidiformes

Africa, Europe, Asia; 16 species; sometimes grouped with Columbiformes.

• Pteroclididae: sandgrouse

Caprimulgiformes

Caprimulgiformes

The Caprimulgiformes is an order of birds that includes a number of birds with global distribution . They are generally insectivorous and nocturnal...

Worldwide; 90 species.

• Steatornithidae: Oilbird
• Podargidae: frogmouths
• Nyctibiidae: potoos
• Caprimulgidae: nighthawk
  Nighthawk
  A nighthawk is a nocturnal bird of the subfamily Chordeilinae, within the nightjar family, Caprimulgidae. Nighthawks are medium-sized New World birds, with long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They usually nest on the ground. They feed on flying insects. The Least Nighthawk, at and ,...
  
  s and nightjars
• Eurostopodidae
  Eurostopodidae
  The Eared nightjars are a small family of nocturnal birds related to nightjars, although the taxonomy is uncertain. There are seven species, mainly found in forest and scrub from China to Australia. All are placed in one genus, Eurostopodus. They are long winged birds with plumage patterned with...
  
  : eared-nightjars

Apodiformes

Apodiformes

Traditionally, the bird order Apodiformes contained three living families: the swifts , the tree swifts , and the hummingbirds . In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, this order is raised to a superorder Apodimorphae in which hummingbirds are separated as a new order, Trochiliformes...

Worldwide; 400 species.

• Trochilidae: hummingbirds
• Apodidae: swifts
• Hemiprocnidae: treeswifts

Aegotheliformes

Oceania; 10 species; sometimes grouped with Apodiformes.

• Aegothelidae: owlet-nightjars

Gruiformes

Gruiformes

The Gruiformes are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means "crane-like"....

Worldwide; 191 species.

• Otididae: bustards
• Grui: cranes and allies
  • Gruidae: cranes
  • Aramidae: Limpkin
  • Psophiidae: trumpeters
• Ralli: rails and allies
  • Rallidae
    Rallidae
    The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small to medium-sized birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and the family also includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules...
    
    : rails and relatives
  • Heliornithidae
    Heliornithidae
    The Heliornithidae are a small family of tropical birds with webbed lobes on their feet like those of grebes and coots. The family overall are known as finfoots, although one species is known as a Sungrebe. The family is composed of three species in three genera.-Description:Finfoots resemble...
    
    : finfoots

Procellariiformes

Procellariiformes

Procellariiformes is an order of seabirds that comprises four families: the albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, storm petrels, and diving petrels...

Pan-oceanic; 120 species.

• Diomedeidae: albatrosses
• Procellariidae
  Procellariidae
  The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes , which also includes the albatrosses, the storm-petrels, and the diving petrels.The procellariids are...
  
  : petrel
  Petrel
  Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of the four families within that group...
  
  s and relatives
• Pelecanoididae: diving petrels
• Hydrobatidae: storm petrels

Pelecaniformes

Pelecaniformes

The Pelecaniformes is a order of medium-sized and large waterbirds found worldwide. As traditionally—but erroneously—defined, they encompass all birds that have feet with all four toes webbed. Hence, they were formerly also known by such names as totipalmates or steganopodes...

Worldwide; 108 species.

• Balaenicipitidae: Shoebill
• Scopidae: Hamerkop
• Pelecanidae: pelicans
• Ardeidae: herons and relatives
• Threskiornithidae
  Threskiornithidae
  The family Threskiornithidae includes 34 species of large terrestrial and wading birds, falling into two subfamilies, the ibises and the spoonbills. It was formerly known as Plataleidae. The spoonbills and ibises were once thought to be related to other groups of long-legged wading birds in the...
  
  : ibis
  Ibis
  The ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae....
  
  es and spoonbill
  Spoonbill
  Spoonbills are a group of large, long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, which also includes the Ibises.All have large, flat, spatulate bills and feed by wading through shallow water, sweeping the partly opened bill from side to side...
  
  s

Suliformes

Suliformes

The Order Suliformes is a proposed order by the International Ornithologist's Union...

Worldwide; 59 species.

• Phalacrocoracidae: cormorants and shags
• Fregatidae: frigatebirds
• Sulidae
  Sulidae
  The bird family Sulidae comprises the gannets and boobies. Collectively called sulidas, they are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish and similar prey. The ten species in this family are often considered congeneric in older sources, placing all in the genus Sula...
  
  : boobies
  Booby
  A booby is a seabird in the genus Sula, part of the Sulidae family. Boobies are closely related to the gannets , which were formerly included in Sula.-Description:...
  
   and gannet
  Gannet
  Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus, in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.The gannets are large black and white birds with yellow heads. They have long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up...
  
  s
• Anhingidae: darters

Charadriiformes

Charadriiformes

Charadriiformes is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 350 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most Charadriiformes live near water and eat invertebrates or other small animals; however, some are pelagic , some occupy deserts and a few are found in thick...

Worldwide; 350 species

• Scolopaci
  • Scolopacidae
    Scolopacidae
    The sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders or shorebirds. They include many species called sandpipers, as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil...
    
    : sandpipers and relatives
• Thinocori: jacana
  Jacana
  The jaçanas are a group of tropical waders in the family Jacanidae. They are found worldwide within the tropical zone. See Etymology below for pronunciation....
  
  -like waders
  • Rostratulidae: painted snipes
  • Jacanidae: jacanas
  • Thinocoridae: seedsnipes
  • Pedionomidae: Plains-wanderer
• Turnici
  • Turnicidae: buttonquail
• Lari
  Lari
  The suborder Lari is the part of the order Charadriiformes which includes the gulls, terns, skuas and skimmers, with the waders and snipes making up the rest of the order. Following recent research, the auks are now placed into the Lari too; the Glareolidae might constitute a distinct suborder...
  
  : gulls and allies
  • Laridae: gull
    Gull
    Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...
    
    s
  • Rhynchopidae: skimmers
  • Sternidae: terns
  • Alcidae: auks
  • Stercorariidae: skuas and jaegers
  • Glareolidae
    Glareolidae
    Glareolidae is a family of birds in the wader suborder Charadri. It contains two distinct groups, the pratincoles and the coursers. The coursers include the atypical Egyptian Plover, Pluvianus aegyptius, which has sometimes been placed in its own family...
    
    : courser
    Courser
    The Coursers are a group of birds which together with the pratincoles make up the family Glareolidae. They have long legs, short wings and long pointed bills which curve downwards...
    
    s and pratincole
    Pratincole
    The Pratincoles or Greywaders are a group of birds which together with the coursers and Egyptian Plover make up the family Glareolidae. They have short legs, very long pointed wings and long forked tails....
    
    s
  • Dromadidae
    Crab Plover
    The Crab-plover or Crab Plover is a bird related to the waders, but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family Dromadidae. Its relationship within the Charadriiformes is unclear, some have considered it to be closely related to the thick-knees, or the pratincoles, while others have...
    
    : Crab-Plover
• Chionidi: thick-knees and allies
  • Burhinidae: thick-knees and relatives
  • Chionididae: sheathbills
  • Pluvianellidae: Magellanic Plover
• Charadrii: plover-like waders
  • Ibidorhynchidae: Ibisbill
  • Recurvirostridae
    Recurvirostridae
    Recurvirostridae is a family of birds in the wader suborder Charadrii. It contains two distinct groups of birds, the avocets and the stilts .-Description and diet:...
    
    : avocet
    Avocet
    The four species of Avocets are a genus, Recurvirostra, of waders in the same avian family as the stilts.Avocets have long legs and long, thin, upcurved bills which they sweep from side to side when feeding in the brackish or saline wetlands they prefer...
    
    s and stilt
    Stilt
    Stilt is a common name for several species of birds in the family Recurvirostridae, which also includes those known as avocets. They are found in brackish or saline wetlands in warm or hot climates....
    
    s
  • Haematopodidae: oystercatchers
  • Charadriidae
    Charadriidae
    The bird family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings, about 64 to 66 species in all.- Morphology :They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short, thick necks and long, usually pointed, wings, but most species of lapwing may have more rounded wings...
    
    : plover
    Plover
    Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 40 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises another 20-odd species.Plovers are found throughout...
    
    s and lapwing
    Lapwing
    Vanellinae are any of various crested plovers, family Charadriidae, noted for its slow, irregular wingbeat in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. Its length is 10-16 inches. They are a subfamily of medium-sized wading birds which also includes the plovers and dotterels. The Vanellinae are...
    
    s

Accipitriformes

Accipitriformes

The Accipitriformes is an order that has been proposed to include most of the diurnal birds of prey: hawks, eagles, vultures, and many others, about 225 species in all. For a long time, the majority view has been to include them with the falcons in the Falconiformes, but some authorities have...

Worldwide; 200 species.

• Cathartidae: New World vultures
• Pandionidae: Osprey
• Accipitridae
  Accipitridae
  The Accipitridae, one of the two major families within the order Accipitriformes , are a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-sized mammals, with a number feeding on carrion and a...
  
  : hawk
  Hawk
  The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
  
  s and relatives
• Sagittaridae: Secretarybird

Trogoniformes

Sub-Saharan Africa, Americas, Asia; 35 species.

• Trogonidae: trogons and quetzal
  Quetzal
  Quetzals are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family . They are found in forests and woodlands, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus Pharomachrus being exclusively Neotropical, while the single Euptilotis species is almost entirely restricted to western Mexico...
  
  s

Coraciiformes

Coraciiformes

The Coraciiformes are a group of usually colorful near passerine birds including the kingfishers, the Hoopoe, the bee-eaters, the rollers, and the hornbills...

Worldwide; 144 species.

• Meropidae: bee-eaters
• Coraciidae: rollers
• Brachypteraciidae: ground rollers
• Todidae: todies
• Momotidae: motmots
• Alcedines: kingfishers
  • Alcedinidae: river kingfishers
  • Halcyonidae: tree kingfishers
  • Cerylidae: water kingfishers

Bucerotiformes

Old World, New Guinea; 64 species.

• Bucerotidae: hornbills
• Upupidae: Hoopoe
• Phoeniculidae: woodhoopoes

Piciformes

Piciformes

Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes, the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives...

Worldwide except Australasia; 400 species.

• Galbulidae: jacamars
• Bucconidae: puffbirds
• Lybiidae
  Lybiidae
  The Lybiidae is a bird family containing the African barbets. They were usually united with their American and Asian relatives in the Capitonidae for quite some time, but this has been confirmed to be limited to the main American lineage. There are 42 species ranging from the type genus Lybius of...
  
  : African barbets
• Megalaimidae
  Megalaimidae
  A family of birds comprising the Asian barbets, the Megalaimidae were once united with all other barbets in the Capitonidae but they have turned out to be distinct...
  
  : Asian barbets
• Ramphastidae: toucans
• Semnornithidae: Toucan barbets
• Capitonidae: American barbets
• Picidae
  Picidae
  The woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks are a family, Picidae, of near-passerine birds. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia and New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions...
  
  : woodpeckers
• Indicatoridae: honeyguides

Psittaciformes

Pan-tropical, southern temperate zones; 330 species.

• Cacatuidae: cockatoos
• Strigopidae: New Zealand parrots
• Psittacidae: true parrots

Passeriformes

Worldwide; 5000 species.

• Acanthisitti
  • Acanthisittidae: New Zealand wrens
• Tyranni
  Tyranni
  The suborder of passerine birds Tyranni includes about 1,000 species, the large majority of which are South American. It is named after the type genus Tyrannus....
  
  : suboscines
  • Eurylaimidae: broadbills
  • Philepittidae: asities
  • Pittidae: pittas
  • Sapayoidae: Sapayoa
  • Tyrannidae: tyrant flycatchers
  • Tityridae
    Tityridae
    Tityridae is family of suboscine passerine birds found in forest and woodland in the Neotropics. The approximately 30 species in this family were formerly spread over the families Tyrannidae, Pipridae and Cotingidae . As yet, no widely accepted common name exists for the family, although Tityras...
    
    : becards and tityra
    Tityra
    The tityras are passerine birds in the genus Tityra of the family Tityridae. They are found from southern Mexico, through Central America, to northern and central South America, including Trinidad....
    
    s
  • Furnariidae: ovenbirds
  • Thamnophilidae: antbirds
  • Formicariidae
    Formicariidae
    The Formicariidae, formicariids, or ground antbirds are a family of smallish passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America. They are between 10 and 20 cm in length, and are related to the antbirds, Thamnophilidae, and gnateaters, Conopophagidae...
    
    : ground antbirds and tapaculo
    Tapaculo
    The tapaculos are a group of small suboscine passeriform birds with numerous species, found mainly in South America and with the highest diversity in the Andean regions...
    
    s
  • Conopophagidae: gnateaters
  • Cotingidae: cotingas
  • Pipridae: manakins
  • Melanopareiidae: crescent-chests
• Passeri: oscines
  • Atrichornithidae: scrub-birds
  • Menuridae: lyrebirds
  • Alaudidae: larks
  • Hirundinidae: swallows and martins
  • Motacillidae
    Motacillidae
    The Motacillidae are a family of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. There are around 65 species in 6 genera and they include the wagtails, longclaws and pipits. The longclaws are entirely restricted to the Afrotropics, and the wagtails are predominately found in Europe, Africa and...
    
    : wagtail
    Wagtail
    The wagtails form the passerine bird genus Motacilla. They are small birds with long tails which they wag frequently. Motacilla, the root of the family and genus name, means moving tail...
    
    s and pipit
    Pipit
    The pipits are a cosmopolitan genus, Anthus, of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family Motacillidae...
    
    s
  • Campephagidae: cuckoo-shrikes
  • Eupetidae: Rail-Babbler
  • Pycnonotidae: bulbuls
  • Regulidae: kinglets
  • Hyliotidae: hyliotas
  • Chloropseidae: leafbirds
  • Aegithinidae: ioras
  • Ptilogonatidae: silky-flycatchers
  • Bombycillidae: waxwings
  • Hypocoliidae: Hypocolius
  • Dulidae: Palmchat
  • Cinclidae: dippers
  • Troglodytidae: wrens
  • Donacobiidae: Donacobius
  • Mimidae: mockingbird
    Mockingbird
    Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. There are about 17 species in three genera...
    
    s and thrasher
    Thrasher
    Thrashers are a New World group of passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the Mimidae family. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genera.These do not form a clade but are a phenetic assemblage...
    
    s
  • Prunellidae: accentors
  • Turdidae: thrushes and relatives
  • Cisticolidae
    Cisticolidae
    The Cisticolidae family of small passerine birds is a group of about 110 warblers found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They are often included within the Old World warbler family Sylviidae....
    
    : cisticola
    Cisticola
    Cisticolas are a genus of very small insectivorous birds formerly classified in the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, but now usually considered to be in the separate family Cisticolidae, along with other southern warbler genera. They are believed to be quite closely related to the swallows and...
    
    s and relatives
  • Sylviidae
    Sylviidae
    Sylviidae is a family of passerine birds that was part of an assemblage known as the Old World warblers. The family was formerly a wastebin taxon with over 400 species of bird in over 70 genera. The family was poorly defined with many characteristics shared with other families...
    
    : true warblers
  • Stenostiridae
    Stenostiridae
    Stenostiridae, or the Fairy Flycatchers, is a family of small passerine birds proposed as a result of recent discoveries in molecular systematics . They are commonly referred to as stenostirid warblers....
    
    : fairy warblers
  • Macrosphenidae
    Macrosphenidae
    The African warblers are a newly erected family, Macrosphenidae, of songbirds. Most of the species were formerly placed in the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, although one species, the Rockrunner, was placed in the babbler family Timaliidae...
    
    : african warblers
  • Cettiidae
    Cettiidae
    Cettiidae is a newly validated family of small insectivorous songbirds , formerly placed in the Old World warbler "wastebin" assemblage. It contains the typical bush-warblers and their relatives. As common name, cettiid warblers is usually used.Its members occur mainly in Asia and Africa, ranging...
    
    : bush warblers
  • Phylloscopidae
    Phylloscopidae
    Phylloscopidae is a newly described family of small insectivorous birds formerly placed in the Old World warbler family. Its members occur in Eurasia, ranging into Wallacea and Africa...
    
    : leaf warblers
  • Megaluridae
    Megaluridae
    Locustellidae is a newly recognized family of small insectivorous songbirds , formerly placed in the Old World warbler "wastebin" family. It contains the grass-warblers, grassbirds, and the Bradypterus "bush-warblers". These birds occur mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region...
    
    : grass warblers
  • Acrocephalidae
    Acrocephalidae
    Acrocephalidae is a family of oscine passerine birds, in the superfamily Sylvioidea....
    
    : marsh warblers
  • Bernieridae: malagasy warblers
  • Pnoepygidae: pygmy wren-babblers
  • Polioptilidae: gnatcatchers
  • Muscicapidae: flycatchers and relatives
  • Platysteiridae: wattle-eyes and batis
    Batis (bird)
    For other uses, see Batis .Batis is a genus of passerine birds in the wattle-eye family. Its species are resident in Africa south of the Sahara. They were previously classed as a subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae.They are small stout insect-eating birds, usually found in...
    
    es
  • Petroicidae
    Petroicidae
    The bird family Petroicidae includes roughly 45 species in about 15 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called the Australasian robins. Within the...
    
    : Australasian robins
  • Pachycephalidae
    Pachycephalidae
    The family Pachycephalidae, collectively the whistlers, includes the whistlers, shrike-thrushes, shrike-tits, pitohuis and Crested Bellbird, and is part of the ancient Australo-Papuan radiation of songbirds. Its members range from small to medium in size, and occupy most of Australasia...
    
    : whistlers and relatives
  • Colluricinclidae: shrike-thrush
    Shrike-thrush
    Colluricincla is a bird genus in the family Colluricinclidae, which was formerly included in the Pachycephalidae. Its members are known as the shrikethrushes.It contains the following species:* Bower's Shrikethrush, Colluricincla boweri...
    
    es and relatives
  • Picathartidae: rockfowl
  • Chaetopidae: rock-jumpers
  • Timaliidae: babblers and relatives
  • Panuridae: Bearded Reedling
  • Nicatoridae: nicators
  • Pomatostomidae: australasian babblers
  • Orthonychidae
    Orthonychidae
    The Orthonychidae is a family of birds with a single genus, Orthonyx, which comprises three species of passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea, the Logrunners and the Chowchilla. Some authorities consider the Australian family Cinclosomatidae to be part of the Orthonychidae...
    
    : logrunners
  • Cinclosomatidae
    Cinclosomatidae
    Cinclosomatidae is a family of passerine birds native to Australia and nearby areas. It has a complicated taxonomic history and different authors vary in which birds they include in the family. It includes at least the quail-thrushes , 5 species of ground-dwelling birds found in Australia and New...
    
    : whipbirds and quail-thrush
    Quail-thrush
    Quail-thrush is the term applied to any member of the genus Cinclosoma, which contains five species of birds who are related to neither quails nor thrushes though have characteristics of both. The genus is found in Australia and New Guinea in a variety of habitats ranging from rainforest to deserts...
    
    es
  • Aegithalidae: bushtits
  • Maluridae
    Maluridae
    The Maluridae are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere...
    
    : australasian wrens
  • Neosittidae: sittellas
  • Climacteridae: Australasian treecreepers
  • Paridae: chickadees and true tits
  • Sittidae
    Sittidae
    Sittidae is a family of small passerine birds which contains the single genus Sitta containing about 24 species of nuthatches, which are found across Eurasia and North America....
    
    : nuthatches
  • Tichodromidae: Wallcreeper
  • Certhiidae: treecreepers
  • Rhabdornithidae: Philippine creepers
  • Remizidae: penduline tits
  • Nectariniidae: sunbirds
  • Melanocharitidae
    Melanocharitidae
    The Melanocharitidae, the berrypeckers and longbills, is a small bird family restricted to the forests of New Guinea. The family contains ten species in four genera...
    
    : berrypeckers
  • Paramythiidae
    Paramythiidae
    The painted berrypeckers, Paramythiidae, are a very small bird family restricted to the mountain forests of New Guinea. The family comprises two species in two genera: the Tit Berrypecker and the Crested Berrypecker . These are colourful medium-sized birds which feed on fruit and some insects...
    
    : painted berrypeckers
  • Dicaeidae: flowerpeckers
  • Dasyornithidae: bristlebirds
  • Pardalotidae: pardalotes
  • Acanthizidae
    Acanthizidae
    The Acanthizidae, also known as the Australasian warblers, are a family of passerine birds which include gerygones, thornbills, and scrubwrens. The Acanthizidae consists of small to medium passerine birds, with a total length varying between 8 and 19 cm. They have short rounded wings, slender...
    
    : australasian warblers
  • Zosteropidae: white-eyes
  • Promeropidae: sugarbirds
  • Meliphagidae: honeyeaters and relatives
  • Notiomystidae: Stitchbird
  • Oriolidae: Old World orioles
  • Irenidae: fairy-bluebirds
  • Laniidae: shrikes
  • Malaconotidae: bushshrikes and relatives
  • Prionopidae: helmetshrikes and relatives
  • Vangidae: vangas
  • Dicruridae: drongos
  • Rhipiduridae: fantails
  • Monarchidae: monarch flycatchers
  • Callaeidae
    Callaeidae
    The small bird family Callaeidae is endemic to New Zealand. It contains three monotypic genera; of the three species in the family, only two survive and both of them, the Kokako and the Saddleback, are endangered species, threatened primarily by the predations of introduced mammalian species such...
    
    : wattlebirds
  • Corcoracidae
    Corcoracidae
    The Australian mudnesters are passerine family Struthideidae. The family is often commonly called Corcoracidae, however this is the junior synonym. It contains just two species in two genera, the White-winged Chough, Corcorax melanorhamphos, and the Apostlebird Struthidea cinerea...
    
    : mudnesters
  • Artamidae
    Artamidae
    The family Artamidae gathers together 20 species of mostly crow-like birds native to Australasia and nearby areas.There are two subfamilies: Artaminae, the woodswallows, are sombre-coloured, soft-plumaged birds that have a brush-tipped tongue but seldom use it for gathering nectar. Instead, they...
    
    : woodswallow
    Woodswallow
    Woodswallows are soft-plumaged, somber-coloured passerine birds. There is a single genus, Artamus, The woodswallows are either treated as a subfamily, Artaminae in an expanded family Artamidae, which includes the butcherbirds and Australian Magpie, or as the only genus in that family...
    
    s and butcherbird
    Butcherbird
    Butcherbirds are magpie-like birds in the genus Cracticus. They are native to Australasia. Their closest relatives are the three species of currawong...
    
    s
  • Pityriaseidae: bristlehead
  • Paradisaeidae: birds-of-paradise
  • Cnemophilidae
    Cnemophilidae
    The Satinbirds or Cnemophilines, Cnemophilidae are a group of passerine birds which consists of three species found in the mountain forests of New Guinea...
    
    : satinbirds
  • Ptilonorhynchidae: bowerbirds
  • Corvidae
    Corvidae
    Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
    
    : jay
    Jay
    The jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family Corvidae. The names jay and magpie are somewhat interchangeable, and the evolutionary relationships are rather complex...
    
    s and crow
    Crow
    Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
    
    s
  • Sturnidae: starlings and myna
    Myna
    The myna is a bird of the starling family . This is a group of passerine birds which occur naturally only in southern and eastern Asia...
    
    s
  • Buphagidae: oxpeckers
  • Passeridae: Old World sparrows
  • Ploceidae: weavers and relatives
  • Estrildidae: weaver finches
  • Viduidae: whydahs and indigobirds
  • Vireonidae: vireos and relatives
  • Fringillidae: finches and relatives
  • Urocynchramidae: Pink-tailed Bunting
  • Peucedramidae: Olive Warbler
  • Parulidae: wood warblers
  • Coerebidae: Bananaquit
  • Thraupidae: tanagers and relatives
  • Emberizidae
    Emberizidae
    The Emberizidae are a large family of passerine birds. They are seed-eating birds with a distinctively shaped bill.In Europe, most species are called buntings. In North America, most of the species in this family are known as sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the sparrows, the...
    
    : Old World buntings
    Bunting (bird)
    Buntings are a group of Eurasian and African passerine birds of the family Emberizidae.They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills, and are the Old World equivalents of the species known in North America as sparrows...
    
     and New World sparrows
  • Cardinalidae: cardinals, grosbeak
    Grosbeak
    Grosbeak is a form taxon containing several species of seed-eating passerine birds with large beaks. Although they all belong to the superfamily Passeroidea, they are not a natural group but rather a polyphyletic assemblage of distantly related songbirds....
    
    s, and New World buntings
  • Icteridae: New World blackbird
    New World blackbird
    The New World blackbirds consist of 26 species of icterid birds that share the name blackbird but do not correspond with a formal taxon...
    
    s and New World oriole
    New World oriole
    New World orioles, comprising the genus Icterus, are a group of birds in the blackbird family. They are not related to Old World orioles which are in the family Oriolidae, but are strikingly similar in size, diet, behaviour and in their strongly contrasting plumage, and are a good example of...
    
    s

See also

• Lists of animals
• List of African birds
• List of Asian birds
• List of birds of Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica
• List of Australian birds
• List of European birds
• List of North American birds
• List of extinct birds
• Prehistoric birds
• Fossil birds
  Fossil birds
  Birds are generally believed to have evolved from certain feathered theropod dinosaurs, and there is no real dividing line between birds and dinosaurs, except of course that some of the former survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event while the latter did not. For the purposes of this...
  
  
• List of chicken breeds
• List of birds by common name

For regions smaller than continents see:

• Lists of birds by region