The Oscine Passarines I: Suborder Passeri

SUPERFAMILY SYLVIOODAE - The Old World Insect-Eaters 

Family Timaliidae 

 The Babblers and Wrentits 

 - 254 species, 44 genera 

 - Old world tropics and one species on the California coast 

 - strong pair bonds 

 - males and females sing (unique) 

Family Sylviidae 

 The Old World Warblers and Kinglets 

 - diverse group - 361 species, 60 genera 

 - Old World insectivorous - a few new world species 

Family Hirundinidae 

 The Swallows 

 - nest construction variations that follow evolutionary trends 

 - cosmopolitan 

 - insectivorous

Family Alaudidae 

 The Larks 

 - 78 species, 16 genera 

 - Old World (1 new world species) 

 - great singers (flight song of the males) 

 - biparental care 

 - popular culture and Shakespeare's favorite bird 

Family Remizidae 

 The Penduline Tits and Verdin 

 - Old world (1 new world species) 

 - elaborate hanging nests 

 - biparental care 

 

Family Paridae 

 The Titmice and Chickadees 

 - Eurasia and North America

 - cavity nesters, biparental care 

 - food storage behavior 

SUPERFAMILY CORVIOIDEA 

Family Picathartidae 

Rockfowl or Bald Crows 

 - African 

 - 2 species 

 - cave nesters with helpers 

Family Corvidae 

 The Crows and Jays 

 - 106 species, 26 genera 

 - cosmopolitan 

 - among the smartest birds 

Family Vangidae 

 The Vangas 

 - Madagascar 

 - Carnivorous 

Family Laniidae 

 The Shrieks 

 - Cosmopolitan 

 - 73 species, 11 genera 

 - carnivorous 

 - will dry food (insects, small vertebrates, etc) on sharp thorns or barbed wire 

Family Cracticidae 

 The Butcherbirds 

 - black and white with a large beak with a hook on the end

 - babies raised by mother

 - Australian 

 - impale insects on their beak (also males during courtship) 

Family  Paradisaeidae 

The Birds of Paradise 

 - 42 species, 20 genera

 - crow-like morphology 

 - fruit eating 

 - monogamous (some), but mostly polygamous 

 - elaborate plumage and courtship rituals 

 - nest in the forks of trees 

Family Vireonidae 

 The Vireos 

 - 43 species, 4 genera

 - New World 

 - appear to be related to shrieks 

END SUPERFAMILY CORVIOIDEA (Not in superfamily) 

Family Orthonychidae 

 The Logrunners 

 - ground-dwellers, bad fliers 

 - 4 species 

 - eat insects 

 - unique hips that allow they to push debris out of their way while walking through underbrush

 

Family Maluridae 

 Fairy Wrens 

 - cooperative breeders 

 - complex social structures - socially monogamous, breeding-wise polygamous (form pair bonds, have affairs)

 - eat insects 

Family Meliphagidae 

The Honeyeaters 

 - 172 species, 39 genera

 - polygamous with sexual dimorphism  

 - eat nectar and insects - fill Australian hummingbird niche 

Family Ptilonorhyncidae 

 The Bowerbirds 

 - monogamous

  - 18 species, 8 genera

 - polygamous (catbirds are usually monogamous) 

 - maternal parental care 

 - awesome bowers - very elaborate, especially in males with less vibrant coloring. 

 Family Climacteridae 

 The Treecreepers 

 - 6 species, 1 genus 

 - different syringal - is it a true oscine? doubtful. 

 - woodpecker like behavior - fill Australian niche 

 Family Menuridae - The Lyrebirds 

  - tails are shaped like lyres 

  - omnivorous ground-dwellers 

  - polygamous - 3 syrinx muscles, probably a reversal from the usual oscine 5 

  - most basal oscines 

  - mimicks sounds of other birds and things

  - Australia 

Order Galliformes

Family Phasianidae:

Pheasants, Grouse, Turkeys and Chickens

Usually no pair bond

Harem polygamy – sexual dimorphism

Turkeys – almost extinct in the US, reintroduced in the 1970s, returned in huge numbers, have unique “turkey beard” – not like feathers but a novel skin-like ornament that grows out of the chest. 

Family Numididae

Guinea fowl

African birds

Complex feathers and coloration

15 species

highly social and very diverse

 

Family Cracidae:

Currasows, Chacalacas, Guans

Neotropical

Female or biparental care

In Brazil, there calls are: female “I want to get married,” male “I want to die”

Currasows have expanded trachea, syrinx is very deep, very low vocals like grunting pig

Very edible family – all critically endangered

 

Family Megapodidae:

Megapodes and mound builders

New Zealand and New Guinea

They heat the eggs with rotting compost

No parental care after hatching

Born ready to fly

Male watches the nest and controls the temperature – some use hot-springs’ heat

Order Anseriformes

Family Anatidae

True ducks – very diverse

All continents except Antartica

Vary in feeding mode (divers, boppers, fish eaters, shellfish fishers, etc)

Different sizes

Swans – monogamous; swift-tailed ducks polygamous

Duck chicks are precotial, only cared for by 1 sex

Has a phallus

Family Anseranatidae

Magpie Geese

Pied black and white pattern, prominent knob

Semi-webbed feet

Endemic to Australia

Molt – drop all the flight feathers at once and will be flightless for 4-7 weeks (like true ducks)

Unpredictable life styles

Family Anhimidae

“screamers”

large unwebbed toes, good swimmers

overt wing weapons – spikes on carpometacarpus

South American – large lakes and grassland swamps

Territorial and monogamous, biparental care.

 

Paleognathes 2!

Order Casuariformes:

-       Have distinctive mirror feathers 

Family Dromiceidae:

-       Emus

-       Females are larger

-       Australia

-       Fruit eating and insectivorous

-       Some pairs are formed

 

 

Order Casuariformes:

-       Have distinctive mirror feathers

Family Casuariidae:

-       Cassowaries

-       Australia and Tropical New Zealand

-       3 toes, 58 kg.

-       eat vegetation and fruits

-       very low vocalizations (like rumbling feathers)

-       hypothesis that their unique crown is a resonating device

-       first digit is a super-sharp claw

Order Apterygiformes:

-       Kiwis! New Guinea and Australia

-       Noctural burrowing small birds

-       Nostrils near the tip of the beak – better for foraging and smell

-       Sensory feathers around the beak area

-       Endangered by mammals – massive protection programs in New Zealand now

-       Lay largest egg for its body size of any bird

Order Aepyornithiformes: 

Elephant Birds 

-Madagascar 

-1000 pounds of bird, driven extinct by human hunting

-egg is the largest single cell known - equivalent of 183 chicken eggs 

-colonial beach nesters 

Order Rheiformes:

-      -    2 species of Rhea

-      -   In the S. American Andes

-           They eat Insects and vegitation

-           11-18 eggs per clutch

-            polyandrous

Order Dinornithiformes:

-       Moas

-       Extinct New Zealand ratites

-       Up to 10 foot holes

-       5 genera, 10 species, lived 1000 years ago

-       probably extinct due to humans reaching islands

-       extreme sexual size dimorphism (males are much larger)

Order Apterygiformes:

-       Kiwis! New Guinea and Australia

-       Noctural burrowing small birds

-       Nostrils near the tip of the beak – better for foraging and smell

-       Sensory feathers around the beak area

-       Endangered by mammals – massive protection programs in New Zealand now

-       Lay largest egg for its body size of any bird

Order Casuariformes:

-       Have distinctive mirror feathers

Family Casuariidae:

-       Cassowaries

-       Australia and Tropical New Zealand

-       3 toes, 58 kg.

-       eat vegetation and fruits

-       very low vocalizations (like rumbling feathers)

-       hypothesis that their unique crown is a resonating device

-       first digit is a super-sharp claw

Family Dromiceidae:

-       Emus

-       Females are larger

-       Australia

-       Fruit eating and insectivorous

-       Some pairs are formed