Passerines
This worldwide order of perching birds contains more than half of the known bird species. All have three, similar, unwebbed front toes and a hind toe which is highly developed but not reversible. Their young are born naked and helpless. There are 56 families listed here. However, they have evolved comparatively recently and are not well defined. Some authorities would divide the order into fewer families and some into more.

Family Eurylaimidae Broadbills: 14 species Broadbills are brightly coloured forest birds of the Old World tropics. They have big heads and partly joined front toes.
Family Dendrocolaptidae Woodcreepers: 50 species This is a family of New World tropical forest birds with partly joined front toes and vertically flattened bills.
Family Furnariidae Ovenbirds: 221 species These Central and South American birds are very similar to the woodcreepers. They build intricate, oven-shaped clay nests. Some species live on the ground and nest in burrows.
Family Formicariidae Antbirds: 223 species Antbirds are similar to ovenbirds, but their beaks are hooked at the tip and they build simpler nests. They are confied to Central and South America.
Family Conopophagidae Ant pipits: 11 species These small stocky birds, with broad bills, are found on the floor of the Amazonian rain forests.
Family Rhinocryptidae Tapaculos: 30 species These are ground-living birds, and fly very little. They have erect tails, long strong legs and weak wings. They live in scrub or mountain forests in Central and South America.
Family Cotingidae Cotingas: 90 species These solitary birds have a wide range of ornamentation and many have bare patches or wattles on their heads. They are found in forests from Argentina to Texas.
Family Pipridae Manakins: 59 species These are brightly coloured, tiny birds that feed mainly on small fruits, plucked on the wing. The males perform elaborate courtship rites on special display grounds.
Family Tyrannidae Tyrant flycatchers: 365 species Related to the cotingas and manakins, tyrant flycatchers hunt in the open, capturing insects in short, speedy bursts of flight. Their crown feathers stand erect, and the birds are found throughout the Americas up to the timberline.
Family Phytotomidae Plantcutters: 3 species These plump, finch-like birds with short, saw-toothed bills are found on the lower slopes of the Andes.	No picture available
Family Oxyruncidae There is one species, the sharpbill, Oxyruncus cristatus which has a sharp beak with a feathery rim at the base. It has no close relatives and is confied the forests of Central and South America.	No picture available
Family Pittidae Pittas: 23 species These plump birds have slightly down-curved bills, big heads, short tails and long legs. They are found in tropical forest undergrowth in the Old World.
Family Acanthisittidae New Zealand wrens: 3 species This is a family of small, brown birds which rarely fly higher than about 100 ft; they often scurry along the ground with their tails erect.	No picture available
Family Philepittidae Asitys: 4 species These plump, tree-living birds are found only on Madagascar. Mainly fruit-eaters, they sometimes eat insects. They make a hanging nest.
Family Menuridae Lyrebirds: 2 species Brown above and ashen below, these solitary birds have pointed bills and they seldom fly. The male has a long tail with two feathers - up to 24 in. long - forming the frame of the lyre, six pairs of central plumes forming the 'strings' and a webless central pair of feathers. The male has one of the most elaborate displays of any bird.
Family Atrichornithidae Scrub-birds: 2 species Scrub-birds, which look like wrens with long tails, are related to lyrebirds. They are good mimics and are found only in Australia. The noisy scrub-bird Atrichornis clamosus, long feared extinct, was recently rediscovered.
Family Alaudidae Larks: 70 species These widely distributed birds have long, pointed wings, rounded scaly ankles and long, straight hind claws. They always live in open country and nest on the ground.
Family Hirundinidae Swallows and martins: 74 species This is a family of cosmopolitan birds which resemble swifts but fly more erratically. They have long, pointed wings, weak legs and relatively large mouths with a wide gape; several species have forked tails. They are not good perchers and spend most of their time on the wing.
Family Campephagidae Cuckoo-shrikes: 70 species These are insect-eating birds from Africa, southern Asia and Australia. They have stout beaks, notched at the tip. Some are as big as pigeons, others as small as sparrows.
Family Dicruridae Drongos: 20 species Drongos are aggressive, insect-eating birds with stout, arched beaks and strong feet, they are found in the tropical forests of the Old World.
Family Oriolidae Orioles: 28 species These birds are found in the forests of Europe and western Asia; they winter in Africa, southern Asia and Australia. The true orioles - different from the American orioles - are generally yellow and black, the males being brighter than the females.
Family Corvidae Crows, magpies and jays: 102 species These aggressive, noisy and usually omnivorous birds are widely distributed. Their ankles are scaled in front and smooth at the back. avi, 1.7 MB
Family Callaeidae Wattlebirds: 3 species These are New Zealand forest birds with large wattles at the corners of their jaws. They have weak wings.
Family Grallinidae Mudnest-builders: 4 species The black-and-white Australian birds of this group build deep, open nests of mud on branches.
Family Cracticidae Song-shrikes: 10 species Noisy and gregarious, the Australian song-shrikes are strong flyers which impale their prey - insects, lizards and small birds - on thorns to store them.
Family Ptilonorhynchidae Bowerbirds and catbirds: 18 species The Australian bowerbirds build huge, often hut-shaped bowers or stages to attract females; they adorn the bowers with bright objects.
Family Paradisaeidae Birds of paradise: 42 species Relatives of the bowerbirds and crows, these birds live in the northern Australian and New Guinea tropical forests. Most males are ornate and colourful and generally have long tail feathers and crests or ruffs. The females are usually plain.
Family Paridae Tits and chickadees: 59 species The adaptable and intelligent tits are very small (3-8 in.), with soft, thick plumage which may be grey or black, with blue on the back and yellow on the breast. They have stout, pointed beaks, strong feet and rounded wings. They feed mostly on insects and are found throughout the world except in South America, Australia and Madagascar.
Family Certhiidae Tree creepers: 5 species These slender, brown birds (streaked and spotted above, paler below) have thin, down-curved probing bills and long, stiff tails. They creep up and around the trunks of trees, foraging for the insects on which they feed.
Family Climacteridae Australian treecreepers: 6 species The tail feathers of these birds, which live in wooded country in Australia and New Guinea, are not adapted for climbing trees. Some species feed on the ground.	No picture available
Family Sittidae Nuthatches: 30 species These birds are stocky and small, and have thin straight bills, long toes and sharp claws. They are found throughout the world, except in South America and New Zealand. They hunt face downwards on tree trunks for insects and spiders. Northern species also eat seeds, including nuts, in winter.
Family Pycnonotidae Bulbuls: 120 species Bulbuls are noisy, drab birds from Africa and southern Asia; they have slender beaks and hair-like feathers on the back of their necks.
Family Irenidae Leafbirds: 14 species These forest-living, fruit-eating birds from south-east Asia are similar to bulbuls.
Family Cinclidae Dippers: 4 species Found in cool mountain streams in Eurasia and the Americas, these birds run in and out of the water, capturing small water invertebrates.
Family Troglodytidae Wrens: 60 species These small (3.75 - 9 in.) brown birds, most numerous in South America, have slender, sharp beaks, upright tails and a quick strong flight.
Family Mimidae Mockingbirds: 34 species Found living near the ground from Canada to Chile, mockingbirds are good singers and mimics. They build open, cup-shaped nests 2-6 ft above the ground. Both sexes incubate the eggs.
Family Muscicapidae Flycatchers, babblers, thrushes and warblers: about 1200 species Most members of this huge family are Old World, insect-eating birds characterised by ten primary wing feathers.
Family Prunellidae Accentors: 12 species Stout, drab birds with thin beaks and rounded wings, the accentors are found only in Eurasia and are typical of Arctic regions.
Family Motacillidae Wagtails and pipits: 48 species These slender birds with thin, pointed beaks, walk along the ground and are found throughout the world.
Family Bombycillidae Waxwings and palmchats: 9 species This is a family of fruit-eating birds of the Northern Hemisphere; they have broad beaks and silky plumage.
Family Artamidae Wood-swallows: 10 species These small birds of south-east Asia and Australia have long, pointed wings; they catch insects in flight.	No picture available
Family Vangidae Vanga-shrikes: 12 species A Madagascar family of blue-and-white or black-and-white birds with rounded wings and short tails. The species vary in size from 5 to 12 in. Their beaks also vary considerably, though all are strongly made and hooked.
Family Laniidae Shrikes: 74 species These miniature birds of prey, found in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, kill insects and small vertebrates with their sharp, hooked beaks and often impale their prey on thorns.
Family Sturnidae Starlings: 110 species This is an Old World, largely tropical family of active and highly gregarious birds with straight or slightly down-curved beaks. Their flight is strong and direct.
Family Meliphagidae Honey-eaters: 167 species Honey-eaters are small, often patterned, birds from Australia, the Pacific islands and southern Africa. They have slender, down-curved beaks and tube-like, brush-tipped tongues adapted for feeding on nectar and insects.
Family Nectariniidae Sunbirds: 106 species Sunbirds are the gaudy, Old World counterparts of the New World hummingbirds, but they usually perch on, rather than hover above, flowers; some are known as spider-hunters. Their nests are always suspended from leaves or branches of trees.
Family Dicaeidae Flowerpeckers: 55 species These are plump, active birds from south-east Asia and Australia; they have tubular tongues and shosrter beaks than the sunbirds.
Family Zosteropidae White-eyes: 85 species These nectar-eaters, with brush-tipped tongues, narrow white rings round the eyes, and nine primary wing feathers, are found throughout the Old World tropics. Gregarious birds, they often travel in large flocks.
Family Vireonidae Vieros: 45 species This family of small green birds, 4-6 in. long, live among trees in the New World. The North American species usually migrate to the tropics in winter.
Family Drepanididae Hawaiian honeycreepers: 22 species This recently evolved group has radiated from a single colonist species. The males are brightly coloured in green, red, yellow, grey or black; the females are duller and grey-green. Honeycreepers have beaks and tongues of various shapes.
Family Parulidae Wood-warblers: 113 species This group exhibits a wide range of social, feeding and breeding behaviour. They also vary greatly in size - from 4 to 21 in. - but all have conical beaks. They are found throughout the New World.
Family Icteridae American orioles: 87 species New World birds found from Alaska to Argentina. They are small, with slender, pointed beaks. The North American species are migratory, often travelling in huge, mixed flocks. The tropical species do not migrate. A number of species regularly interbreed in the wild.
Family Emberizidae Tanagers, cardinals, sugarbirds and buntings: 525 species This is a diverse group of birds found in Europe, Asia and America; it includes many brightly coloured species.
Family Fringillidae Finches: 138 species These tree-loving seed-eaters make open cup nests. They are found throughout the world, except in Australia, many are migratory.
Family Estrildidae Weaver-finches: 108 species These small seed-eaters of the Old World tropics make solitary, untidy nests.
Family Ploceidae Weavers and sparrows: 132 species Members of this family are found in Europe, Asia and Africa, often in large colonies.

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