The Class Aves is currently divided up into 23 orders, 142 families, 2,057 genera and 9,702 species of birds. In the two tables linked to below I have listed all the orders and families of birds. For each family the table tells you the common name of the birds in the family, the number of genera, number of species and a rough indication of their geographical distribution. I hope to get something written about every order, and hopefully every family of birds, but this will take a lot of time so please be patient. Because over half the species of birds in the world are in one order, 'Passeriformes' (known as the Passerines) I have put them in a separate table, this is table two. All the rest of the orders, (the Non-Passerines)are therefore in table one.
It would takes an awful lot of space to list all the species of birds known to mankind, so though I have made a Complete Checklist of Birds of the World available it is also in two parts.
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Like most classification systems the classification of birds was until recently based on morphological characters. Over the last decade however much work has been done using DNA hybridisation which give scientists a much more accurate way of viewing the affinities between bird families. The tables here show the Orders of Birds listed in evolutionary order and are pretty much based on the publications of Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1992).
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| These pages are here free for you to use, I would like to keep them that way, however making and running this site, and the other sites I am currently making or have made, on Birds, Mammals, Insects and Fish and Bacteria as well as all the other invertebrates costs money. There are several simple ways you can help. The first is by using the search engine here, that way you make me 2 or 3 cents a time, not a lot but it adds up.
Or you could buy a copy of my recently published book of poetry. It is called Poetry for All the Family, which describes it perfectly. Although I do publish poetry in the specialised poetry magazines the poetry in this book is specifically designed to be enjoyed by people of every age. Follow the link for more information. It is not expensive and should be thoroughly enjoyable, so if you like it please tell people about it, or better still give it to someone as a present for Christmas of a birthday. |
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