s/y Nine of Cups
Birds of the World
Sources for Identifying Birds...
We've always liked birds, but we can't say we were
ever avid bird watchers. Since we've been sailing,
however, we're more aware of the different birds we
encounter and much more enthusiastic about spotting
and identifying them. We originally bought  "Birds of
the World" (Smithsonian Handbooks/ Alan
Greensmith)  and soon found it to be very limited in its
scope. Though expensive, we purchased a bird book
specific to Patagonia  "Birds of Patagonia, Tierra
del Fuego and the Antarctica Peninsula" in English
and Spanish (Couve & Vidal) which was extraordinary.
Subsequently, we purchased a book specific to South
Africa when we visited South Africa and Namibia and
found it to be wonderful, but it gets to be costly and
takes up a lot of space aboard to have a book specific
to each area. We were on the lookout for a more
definitive world book of birds and purchased a used
copy of "Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds" (Perrins)
and quite honestly, it still didn't work for us. So we've
resorted to buying localized books once again
augmented by surfing the internet for
localized/specialized bird identification sites. Wikpedia
is great for bird lists and images for each country.
Birds of
South America
Birds of
the Caribbean
Please note that the most common shot of birds we
managed is that of the "blurry bird" (Thank John Santic
for that particular nomenclature). Our photographic
skills have improved over the years as has the quality of
the digital cameras we've used, but "blurry" still  seems
to prevail. We've seen and identified many more than
we've been able to capture in a photograph. That said,
we'd still like to share with you  a sampling of what
we've seen.

We originally just lumped all of the bird photos
together, but there are so many now, we've decided to
separate them by geographical area. So click on the
area of interest to view birds found in that area.
Birds of
South Pacific
Birds of
North America
Birds of Antarctica
Birds of
South Atlantic
Birds of New Zealand
Birds of Africa
Bird Order
 Common Names
Struthioniformes
 Cassowaries, emus, kiwis, ostriches, rheas
Tinamiformes
 Tinamous
Craciformes
 Chachalacas, currasows, guans, malleefowl, scrubfowls
Galliformes
 Grouse, guineafowl, quails, new world quails, pheasants, turkeys  
Anseriformes
 Ducks, geese, screamers, swans, whistling-ducks
Turniciformes
 Buttonquails
Piciformes
 Barbets, honeyguides,piculets,woodpeckers, wrynecks
Galbuliformes
 Jacamars, puffbirds
Bucerotiformes
 Hornbills
Upupiformes
 Hoopoes, scimitarbills
Trogoniformes
 Trogons
Coraciiformes
 Bee-eaters, kingfishers, motmots, rollers, todies
Coliiformes
 Colies or mousebirds
Cuculiformes
 Ani, coucal, cuckoo,hotazin, roadrunners
Psittaciformes
 Mawcaw, parrots
Apodiformes
 Swifts
Trochiliformes
 Hermits, hummingbirds
Musophagiformes
 Plaintain-eaters, touracos
Strigiformes
 Nightjars, oilbirds, owls, owlet-nightjars, potoos
Gruiformes
 Bustards, coots, cranes,gallinules, kagus,limpkins, mesites, monias,
rails, roatelos,seriemas,sbuntterns, sungrebes, trumpeters
Columbiformes
 Pigeons
Ciconiformes
 Albertross, Anhingas, Auks, Avocets, Bitterns, Boobies, Caracaras,
Cormorants, Crab-plovers, Curlews, Darters, Divers, Eagles, Egrets,
Falcons, Flamingos, Frigatebirds, Gannets, Grebes, Gulls,
Hammerkops, Hawks, Herons, Ibises, Jacanas, Kites,
Lapwings,Loons, Oystercatchers, Paintedsnipe, Pelecans, Penguins,
Petrels, Phalaropes, Plains-wanderers, Plovers, Pratincoles, Puffins,
Sandgrouse, Sandpipers, Secretarybirds, Seedsnipes, Shags,
Shearwaters, Sheathbills, Shoebills, Skuas, Snipe, Spoonbills, Stilts,
Storks, Thick-knees, Tropicbirds,Vultures,
Passeriformes
 Accentors, Antbirds, Asities, Babblers, Birds of Paradise,
Bowerbirds, Bristlebirds, Broadbills, Bulbuls, Buntings, Bushtits,
Cardinals, Catbirds, Chaffinches, Chats, Chickadees, Chowchillas,
Cotingas, Crossbills, Crows, Dippers, Drongos, Emuwrens,
Fairy-bluebirds, Fairywrens, Fantails, Finches, Flowerpeckers,
Flycatchers, Goldfinches, Gnatcatchers, Gnateaters, Grass-warblers,
Grasswrens, Greenbuls, Greenlets, Honeycreepers, Honeyeaters,
Hypocolius, Jays, Kinglets, Larks, Laughingthrushes, Leafbirds,
Leaf-warblers, Logrunners, Lyrebirds, Magpies, Manakins, Martins,
Mockingbirds,Mynas, Northern Creepers, Nuthatches, Ovenbirds,
Palmchats, Pardalotes, Peppershrikes, Pipits, Pittas, Robins, Ravens,
Scrub-birds, Scrubwrens, Shrikes, Shrike-vireos, Silky-flycatchers,
Sparrows, Spiderhunters, Starlings, Swallows, Sugarbirds, Sunbirds,
Tapaculos, Thornbills, Tits, Tityras, Treecreepers, Thrushes,Tyrant
Wattlebirds, Wag-tails, Wallcreepers, Waxwings, Weavers,
White-eyes, Whydahs, Woodcreepers, Woodwarblers, Wrens,
Wrentits, Vireos
A list of orders of the class Aves
by Mr Gordon Ramel  http://www.earthlife.net/birds/orders.html
Interesting Bird facts:
  • Birds are classified into two groups: passerines (perching and
    songbirds) and non-passerines. Passerines account for more than
    50% of the bird species.
  • Passerines are the most spectacularly successful vertebrate order.
    With around 5,400 species, they are roughly twice as diverse as the
    largest of the mammal orders, the Rodentia.
  • The oldest bird was known as an Archaeopteryx and lived about
    150 million years ago. It was the size of a raven, was covered with
    feathers, and had wings.
  • The egg of the hummingbird is the world's smallest bird's egg; the
    egg of the ostrich, the world's largest.
  • The now-extinct elephant bird of Madagascar laid an egg that
    weighed 27 pounds.
  • Air sacs may make up 1/5 of the body volume of a bird.
  • A bird's normal body temperature is usually 7-8 degrees hotter than
    a human's. Up to three-quarters of the air a bird breathes is used
    just for cooling down since they are unable to sweat.
  • A bird's heart beats 400 times per minute while resting and up to
    1000 beats per minute while flying.
  • The world's only wingless bird is the kiwi of New Zealand.
  • Migrating ducks and geese often fly in V-shape formations. Each
    bird flies in the upwash of its neighbor's beating wings and this extra
    bit of supporting wind increases lift, thereby saving energy.
  • Pigeons can reach speeds up to 100 mph. Swifts, doves, falcons,
    and sandpipers can approach 200 mph.
  • The only known poisonous bird in the world is the hooded pitohui of
    Papua, New Guinea. The poison is found in its skin and feathers.
  • The American turkey vulture helps human engineers detect cracked
    or broken underground fuel pipes. The leaking fuel smells like
    vulture food (they eat carrion), and the clustered birds show repair
    people where the lines need fixing.
Birds of Australia
Return to Home Page
Check on this Wiki link for a list of
National Birds of the world.