Margaret’s son-in-law, John started a new job in Maldon, Essex back in March, Anita followed him in May after landing a job on Canvey Island. Margaret visited them whilst I was in Borneo but last weekend we both visited over a long weekend.
Although less than 170 miles away we found the journeys there and back to be quite tiring, mainly due to dreadful congestion on the M25. On the way up the temperature exceeded 30c which made sitting in stationary traffic jams most unpleasant.
Maldon is a very pleasant town on the western bank of the River Chelmer. Leaving Margaret and Anita to chat, John and I walked down to the river bank for a pint on our first evening. A line of Thames barges was docked waiting for the high tide.
I have been on several foreign birding tours with Essex birders and ringers Simon and Pat Cox. We contacted them before our visit and they invited us along to see a brood of Barn Owls being ringed at a nearby reserve.
Seven eggs had been laid, six hatched but one chick died young, even so a brood a five healthy youngsters shows that Barn Owls are having a good breeding season, unlike last year. Simon on the right is assisted by the local reserve warden (whose name I’m afraid I forgot to note).
I had ringed Barn Owl chicks before but not Kestrels, so I was delighted when Simon took me to a Kestrel’s nest where the three chicks were just the right age for ringing. Ringing birds at the nest is particularly valuable as it defines exactly where bird has come from in the event of a later recapture.
On the 26th John and Anita had some business in Canvey Island and afterwards we drove to Southend-on-Sea for lunch. The weather had turned rather dull but that still didn’t deter the masses of holiday makers that thronged the beach.
In the 19th century it was the fashion for Londoners to take a short cruise on the Thames. Margate in Kent had good docking facilities but Southend with its extensive mud flats didn’t. Southend’s answer was to build the longest pier in the world – over one and a third miles long. The Kent coastline can be seen in the background.
That evening we visited the Blue Boar, an coach horse inn in Maldon dating back to 1400. We were impressed that although John has only been living there for five months, everyone in the pubs and many passers-by already know him.
The adjacent hotel has plenty of old world charm
On the 27th Margaret and I borrowed their bicycles and cycled round to Heybridge Basin.
The cycle path followed the River Blackwater which was turned into a canal in the 19th century to move timber from the Baltic inland. Here yachts wait for hide tide before departing the canal for the tidal stretch of the river.
Even row boats have to wait until the lock gates open on the high tide. We were later joined by John and Anita at a nearby cafe. We had planned on a late cooked breakfast but breakfasts weren’t served after 11. No worries, as we could get scrambled egg on toast with a side order of bacon, sausage and beans, ie a cooked breakfast. You could get tomatoes as well but only if they weren’t cooked as they couldn’t fry them after 11 !
Margaret and I cycled back along the River Chelmer. Maldon is on the far side of the river.
With the rising tide, the tourist carrying Thames barges were able to set sail.
Cycling up the steep hill that leads to Maldon High street was a bit of challenge. Margaret has opted to push her bike.
Of course you can’t be two places at once, but it was a bit ironic that I suggested that we go to Essex in July rather than August as I wanted to maximise my chance of seeing an Aquatic Warbler in the hand at Lytchett Bay, something that was far more likely in August. Guess what, on the 25th they trapped what was not only the first UK Aquatic of 2014, the first in western Europe of 2014 but the earliest record in Dorset ever! Photo by Shaun Robson.
As would be expected at this time of year it was an adult, as can be seen by the very abraded plumage. Although I saw a number of these very rare birds from eastern Europe in the hand when we used to ring at Keysworth, I haven’t seen one anywhere since 2000 and haven’t seen one at the Bay since 1983! Photo by Shaun Robson.
There are 16 species of harrier in the world and five have occurred in the UK; two Northern and Pallid are vagrants and one Montague’s is a very rare breeder with just six pairs in 2013. It is the the very different fortunes of the other two species that I want to highlight in this post.
When I started birding in the seventies Western Marsh Harrier (hereafter just Marsh Harrier) was a very rare bird indeed, declines due to pesticide contamination brought the UK population down to just one pair in 1971. Since then there has been a steady recovery and the UK population now stands at between 350 and 400 pairs. The fact that many males are polygamous and provision more than one nest makes the actual number of ‘pairs’ hard to estimate.
Marsh Harriers used to breed in Poole Harbour up to the late 50’s but since then up to a few years ago they were just winter visitors/passage migrants in the county. About five years ago nesting occurred at Lodmoor and Radipole in Weymouth and last year a pair bred on the western fringes of Poole Harbour. This year there were two nests, one nest fledged one or two young, the other a remarkable four!
Although Marsh Harriers have spread from their East Anglian strongholds, they have yet to colonise south-west England. Hopefully if the high productivity of the four nesting females in Dorset plus the birds on the Somerset levels continues then we will see them spread into Devon and Cornwall in the next few years.
This morning Margaret and I went down to Swineham where a footpath overlooks the area where they breed and had good views of a female and the four offspring. Unfortunately as I mentioned in my last post I am without a working camera with telephoto lens at the moment and have had to ‘borrow’ photos from elsewhere.
In this stunning photo by Paul Thompson the female Marsh Harrier at Swineham can be seen arriving with food, closely followed by her four offspring. see http//oakphotography.co.uk
On the other hand the fortunes of the Hen Harrier has been diametrically opposed to that of the Marsh Harrier. Since I have been birding Hen Harriers have been winter visitors to the south of England, although they may have bred in the distant past. Now their breeding range is restricted to upland areas of northern England and southern and eastern Scotland, plus other areas in the Hebrides, Orkney and the Isle of Man.
Unfortunately this beautiful bird has fallen foul of gamekeeping interests especially on driven grouse moors. It is completely illegal, but it is known that Hen Harriers have been shot and their chicks have even been stamped to death in the nest on moorland areas. It has been calculated that there is enough habitat for 300 Hen Harrier pairs in northern England, this year there were three, last year there were none. No-one ever gets prosecuted for these crimes as it hard to gain access and even harder to prove who did it, a few years ago one was even seen to be shot as it flew past the Queen’s estate at Sandringham, yet no-one was reprehended.
Fewer and fewer Hen Harriers are seen in southern England in winter and most of these probably come from the areas where there are no grouse moors.
Male Hen Harrier – Poole Harbour. Photo by Phyl England.
So what can be done to help this beautiful raptor, must we see it slide into extinction over vast swathes of the country just because it might take the occasional grouse, a gamebird that is raised in large numbers for no reason than to give people something to shoot at?
There have been a number of initiatives recently. The RSPB has launched the Skydancer program (named after the males display flight) and a number of organisations and individuals such as Birders Against Wildlife Crime http://birdersagainst.org/, Mark Avery and Chris Packham are promoting a Hen Harrier day on 10th of August to coincide with the start of the grouse shooting season. Various events have been planned in northern England, see the above website for details. My friend Mark Constantine of Lush and the Sound Approach has paid for radio tags for the six Hen Harrier chicks that have fledged this year so it can be seen just where they go and where they might get killed in the future.
The RSPB recently launched an appeal for money to pay for radio tracking, monitoring and further research. I had mixed feelings about this and wrote to them to say so. Money of course is essential to the campaign, but above all I felt they should have been getting the million strong membership to write to their MP, sign petitions and generally campaign against this needless slaughter.
This old war time bunker is at the site of a former Hen Harrier roost on Sheppey Island. Who ever painted this male Hen Harrier is raising awareness with the general public and not just to a select few. Photo supplied by Peter Hadrill who has dedicated his time to monitoring our local harrier populations.
Its been a fortnight since I returned from Borneo and, as always, I have been pretty busy. One of the main projects has been to edit all the photos taken on the trip. Unfortunately my ‘bridge’ camera was ruined by a sudden downpour just a few days into the trip and after a number of days of being unable to take photos, the leader Chris Kehoe offered to lend me his camera as long as I took enough to illustrate the tour report. This was an arrangement that suited us both as he had no interest in photography, but it meant that editing my shots had to be given a high priority on my return.
To birders autumn starts as soon as south bound migration commences, which can be as early as late June. Certainly by mid July we were ringing southbound Sedge Warblers at Lytchett Bay, at least two weeks earlier than usual. At Fleets Lane we have trapped 22 juvenile Blackcaps showing that there has been an exceptional breeding season at this very small site but most seem to have already departed.
I have also tried ringing in my garden, where juvenile Robins, Starlings and House Sparrows have featured. Now that the BTO’s ringing emphasis has shifted from understanding migration routes to population dynamics, the ringing of these common garden birds is as valuable as the ringing of long distance migrants.
Juvenile Starlings can be a pitfall for the less experienced birdwatcher and indeed Margaret was puzzled when they gathered on our feeders. This bird is losing its grey juvenile feathers and adult type feathers can be seen on the primary, lesser and greater (but not median) coverts and a few spotted feathers are appearing on the flanks.
Starlings are unusual in that juveniles undergo a complete moult. This juvenile can be seen to be moulting its primaries. In all of the British passerines this moult strategy is shared only by Long-tailed and Bearded Tits, House and Tree Sparrows and Corn Bunting.
We have been out to various places in Dorset and Hampshire recently. An attempt to locate a reported Short-toed Eagle in the New Forest (a bird I missed in Dorset when I was in the USA) drew a blank , hardly surprising as that sighting (but not the original) referred to a pale Buzzard. Inland of the Purbeck Ridge in Dorset there is a lot of forest surrounding the heathland and this can be good for raptors.
It is outrageous that even in these so called enlightened days there are those who would persecute raptors, be it by egg collection or in a misguided belief that their game rearing interests are more important than the existence of a healthy raptor population. As I result I cannot reveal the site where this Honey Buzzard was photographed. With a UK population of just 50 or so pairs we can’t take any chances. Photograph by Ian Ballam
A week ago my friend Paul Harvey came down from Shetland to visit his family. He spent a few days with his parents in Poole before going to stay with his daughter and her family in Devon. One day he went out with Ian Alexander and myself and instead of birds we targeted Butterflies and Dragonflies.
Most of our time was spent at Holt Heath near Wimborne where we found this Beautiful Demoiselle, which clearly lived up to it’s name.
A Gold-banded Dragonfly
and a Keeled Skimmer
A heathland specialist, the Silver Studded Blue Butterfly.
But the real surprise came later in the day when we heard of the existence of a rare ‘rogeri’ variant of Painted Lady. As with the Honey Buzzard the exact location cannot be revealed, as those who prefer to see butterflies pinned in a display cabinet rather than on the wing or in their cameras memory, would pay good money for someone to collect it.
A view of the underwing.
The following day we went round to Paul’s parents, Terry and Margaret. As well as Paul and family, both his sisters, who I haven’t seen for about 30 years, and their children and grandchildren were there. Above – Paul with his wife Liz, and grandsons 9 month old George and 3 year old Harvey.
Harvey last appeared on this blog two years ago, he’s grown a bit and turned into Spiderman since then.
Paul and Liz’s daughter Bryony with her son George.
On another evening we took a dusk walk to Upton Heath which lies just the other side of the Upton by-pass from our house. It didn’t take long before we saw several Nightjars displaying.
Another bird I failed to see on spring migration was the Turtle Dove so a few days ago Margaret and I spent the morning at Martin Down, one of the few sites were it can still be found.
An extensive area of chalk downland on the border of north Dorset and Hampshire, the site is a haven for chalk land plant and butterfly specialities.
We soon heard and eventually saw a couple of Turtle Doves but without a telephoto capability failed to photograph it. This shot was taken in 2011 at the same site. Turtle Dove have declined by 95% in recent decades, a combination of agricultural intensification in the UK, destruction of their wintering grounds and shooting on migration in the Mediterranean have taken their toll.
Pyramidal Orchid, one of the many chalk grassland plants to be found at Martin Down.
On Sunday we were just leaving for walk to Swineham near Wareham when we head that Lytchett Bay stalwart Ian Ballam had just found a Spotted Crake. I have seen this species before at the Bay 33 years ago (!) but the views this time were far, far better. Well done Ian (who also took this photo)
That evening we put on a braai (South African for barbecue) for our friends in the ringing group and their partners. As usual Margaret excelled with the food and a good time was had by all. Some group members couldn’t make it as they were away, others were stuck down the Bay trying in vain to see the crake! Clockwise: Ivana Gifford, Jane Dowling, Janis, Kimberley Elborn, Margaret, Paul Morton, Bob Gifford, Mike Gould, John Dowling, Ian Alexander, Terry Elborn, Karen Elborn.
Terry, Karen and three year old Kimberley.
On 28th June I was part of a birding group in a small boat, slowly drifting down a tributary of the Kinabatenga River in Sabah, Borneo when our leader Chris Kehoe exclaimed that he could hear Bristleheads, a few minutes later a small flock of five or more bizarrely shaped red, black and yellow birds appeared in the tops of the riverine forest. Our first Bornean Bristleheads of the tour and the end of a thirty five year quest to see all the bird Families of the world!
Well what is a bird Family; well I don’t mean this!
Wood Duck and ducklings – photo from the internet.
A bird Family is a taxonomic unit above that of Genus and below that of Order. For the uninitiated I’d better summarise the essential, but sometimes confusing, subject of the classification of life.
To make sense of the many million types of organisms in existence a classification methodology based on Latin nomenclature was introduced by Linnaeus in 1735, which has been refined into the current system. It is universally applicable to all forms of life and strict rules govern its application, so that particular name is applicable to a single species and to no other.
All life is divided into six Kingdoms, three of microscopic organisms, plus fungi, plants and animals. Each Kingdom is divided into Phyla for example in animals all vertebrates are in the Phylum Chordata. Each Phylum is in turn divided into a number of Classes, in Chordata there are 6 Classes of fish, plus one each of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Each Class is divided into Orders and each Order into Families. In birds the huge group known as the passerines is a single Order Passeriformes and this is composed of 129 Families. For example the tits and chickadees form the Family Paridae and this in turn is divided into 61 Species in 14 Genera. Species can be further subdivided into subspecies where there is variation within a single species.
So the classification of our familiar Marsh Tit from the UK would be
Kingdom – Animalia – animals
Phylum – Chordata – vertebrates and allies
Class – Aves – birds
Order – Passeriformes – passerines or ‘perching birds’
Family – Paridae – tits and chickadees
Genus – Poecile – a collection of 15 mainly black, brown and white tits from the northern hemisphere
Species – Poecile pallustris – Marsh Tit
Subspecies – Poecile pallustris dresseri – the subspecies or race of Marsh Tit occurring in the UK
So what has all this to do with my recent trip to Sabah in Borneo. Of course I have been trying to see as many of the world’s bird species over the past 35 years (and, as sometimes subspecies are ‘upgraded’ to full species when new information about their breeding biology and genetics becomes available, I’ve been taking note of them as well) but many birders have realised is that to see as wide a range of bird groups as possible it is necessary to see the bird Families of the world. In total there are 232 extant Families (plus 5 uncertain groups or Incertae sedis that have still to be decided on).
The trouble is that whilst many Families are obvious to anyone interested in birds, for example all duck, geese and swans (except one) form one Family, grebes another and divers yet another, other groups are more obscure and changes are continually made as DNA evidence reveals relationships that morphology alone cannot; owls fall into two Families, Old World warblers have been placed in about six different Families and a few oddities like Przevalski’s Rosefinch and Spotted Wren-babbler are so unique that they have been placed in Families all of their own (the latter only a few months ago after DNA evidence showed it was only distant related to other Wren-babblers)
It is relatively easy to see the bulk of the Families once you have travelled to the major faunal regions of the world, it these oddball Families that present the challenge, for example Shoebill in Africa, Kagu in New Caledonia, Picathartes in West Africa or Przevalski’s Rosefinch in Tibet, not necessarily because they are hard to see but because it takes a lot of travel to get round to see them all. In recent years I have concentrated on seeing the last few and the Bornean Bristlehead, the sole member of its Family, was the last.
Some Families are obvious, even to the non-birder. All Hummingbirds are clearly related and all 345 species are in a single Family the Trochilidae. Peacock Coquette – photo from the Internet Bird Collection
Birds of prey or raptors however fall across five Families, New World vultures form one, hawks, eagles, kites and Old World vultures form another, the Osprey and Secretary Bird are in Families of its own, whilst the fifth, the Falcons aren’t even closely related to other raptors and are now count the passerines and parrots as their nearest relatives. Bonelli’s Eagle: photo from Internet Bird Collection
There are many monospecific Families, birds that have no close living relatives. This Przevalski’s Rosefinch or Pink-tailed Bunting from Tibet, is neither a finch nor a bunting but dates from a time before those two Families diverged. Photo from the Internet Bird Collection.
There have losses as well as gains, the diverse Hawaiian Honeycreepers were once considered to constitute a Family but now they are know to be just aberrant finches, most closely related to the Asian rosefinches. Iiwi -photo from the Internet Bird Collection.
Its a bit of a rubbish photo but it was taken at some distance, from a moving boat and on a borrowed camera! Borneo Bristlehead, Kinabatenga River, Sabah, Borneo
To get a better idea what this mega looks like, here is a close up shot by James Eaton from the Internet Bird Collection.
But although I am very happy to have fulfilled my ambition to see all the world’s bird Families I cannot be complacent. I follow the species and Family list as produced by the IOC (International Bird Committee) which treats the Sapayoa of the Choco region of northern South America and Panama (below) as a member of the Old World Broadbills. This species has been treated as a Manakin then a Tyrant Flycatcher, before DNA evidence showed conclusively it was a New World representative of the Broadbills. The Clements/Cornell checklist agrees in principle but places it in its own Family next to the Broadbills. I have heard, but not seen this species in Colombia.
The enigmatic Sapayoa: Photo from the Internet Bird Collection
The Zeledonia or Wrenthrush was once considered in its own Family but then got moved to the Parulidae, the New World Warblers and then to the limbo of Incertae Sedis. There have been suggestions recently that it may again regain monospecific Family status. A trip to Costa Rica would be needed to see this beauty.
Zeledonia: Photo from the Internet Bird Collection.
And finally and most worryingly of all, the publisher Lynx Editions, in conjunction with Birdlife International are producing an Illustrated Checklist of Birds of the World. This is a wholly new concept for a checklist, the validity of each species being determined by a mathematical ranking. The first volume, due in a month or so, covers the non-passerines and the advertising blurb of the cover shows the non-passerine Families they recognise. This appears to show that they recognise the enigmatic flightless New Zealand parrot, the Kakapo as a monospecific Family. The Kakapo is on the brink of extinction and the few remaining birds have been translocated to an island where no-one but the wardens/researches are allowed to go. All TV film/video of this species appears to be of a captive individual known as Sirocco. The chances of ever seeing a wild individual of this species/Family would appear to be zero.
Of course the Family or species list produced by Birdlife International may not be accepted by the mainstream checklists of Clements/Cornell and the IOC, but even if the Kakapo does eventually get universally accepted as a new Family, I will have at least been able to say that at one stage in my life I had seen all the world’s bird Families!
Sirocco – the tame Kakapo. Photo from the Internet
The 232 Bird Familes plus 5 Icertae sedis as recognised by the IOC. The Hawaiian Oo’s are now extinct and are not included in the total.
| Family Tinamidae |
Tinamous |
| Family Struthionidae |
Ostriches |
| Family Rheidae |
Rheas |
| Family Casuariidae |
Cassowaries |
| Family Dromaiidae |
Emu |
| Family Apterygidae |
Kiwis |
| Family Anhimidae |
Screamers |
| Family Anseranatidae |
Magpie Goose |
| Family Anatidae |
Wildfowl |
| Family Megapodiidae |
Megapodes |
| Family Cracidae |
Cracids |
| Family Numididae |
Guineafowl |
| Family Odontophoridae |
NW Quail |
| Family Phasianidae |
Game birds |
| Family Gaviidae |
Loons |
| Family Spheniscidae |
Penguins |
| Family Diomedeidae |
Albatrosses |
| Family Procellariidae |
Petrels/Shearwaters |
| Family Hydrobatidae |
Storm Petrels |
| Family Pelecanoididae |
Diving Petrels |
| Family Podicipedidae |
Grebes |
| Family Phoenicopteridae |
Flamingos |
| Family Ciconiidae |
Storks |
| Family Threskiornithidae |
Ibises/Spoonbills |
| Family Ardeidae |
Herons |
| Family Scopidae |
Hammerkop |
| Family Balaenicipitidae |
Shoebill |
| Family Pelecanidae |
Pelicans |
| Family Fregatidae |
Frigatebirds |
| Family Sulidae |
Gannets |
| Family Phalacrocoracidae |
Cormorants |
| Family Anhingidae |
Darters |
| Family Cathartidae |
NW Vultures |
| Family Sagittariidae |
Secretarybird |
| Family Pandionidae |
Ospreys |
| Family Accipitridae |
Hawks, Eagles etc |
| Family Otididae |
Bustards |
| Family Eurypygidae |
Sunbittern |
| Family Sarothruridae |
Flufftails |
| Family Heliornithidae |
Finfoots |
| Family Rallidae |
Rails |
| Family Psophiidae |
Trumpeters |
| Family Gruidae |
Cranes |
| Family Aramidae |
Limpkin |
| Family Turnicidae |
Buttonquails |
| Family Burhinidae |
Thick-knees |
| Family Chionidae |
Sheathbills |
| Family Pluvianellidae |
Magellanic Plover |
| Family Haematopodidae |
Oystercatchers |
| Family Dromadidae |
Crab-plover |
| Family Ibidorhynchidae |
Ibisbill |
| Family Recurvirostridae |
Stilts, Avocets |
| Family Charadriidae |
Plovers |
| Family Pluvianidae |
Egyptian Plover |
| Family Rostratulidae |
Painted-snipes |
| Family Jacanidae |
Jacanas |
| Family Pedionomidae |
Plains Wanderer |
| Family Thinocoridae |
Seedsnipes |
| Family Scolopacidae |
Sandpipers |
| Family Glareolidae |
Coursers, Pratincoles |
| Family Laridae |
Terns, Gulls, Skimmers |
| Family Stercorariidae |
Skuas |
| Family Alcidae |
Auks |
| Family Pteroclidae |
Sandgrouse |
| Family Columbidae |
Pigeons |
| Family Phaethontidae |
Tropicbirds |
| Family Mesitornithidae |
Mesites |
| Family Rhynochetidae |
Kagu |
| Family Opisthocomidae |
Hoatzin |
| Family Musophagidae |
Turacos |
| Family Podargidae |
Frogmouths |
| Family Steatornithidae |
Oilbird |
| Family Nyctibiidae |
Potoos |
| Family Caprimulgidae |
Nightjars |
| Family Aegothelidae |
Owlet-nightjars |
| Family Hemiprocnidae |
Treeswifts |
| Family Apodidae |
Swifts |
| Family Trochilidae |
Hummingbirds |
| Family Cuculidae |
Cuckoos |
| Family Tytonidae |
Barn Owls |
| Family Strigidae |
Owls |
| Family Coliidae |
Mousebirds |
| Family Trogonidae |
Trogons |
| Family Leptosomidae |
Cuckoo Roller |
| Family Coraciidae |
Rollers |
| Family Brachypteraciidae |
Ground Rollers |
| Family Alcedinidae |
Kingfishers |
| Family Todidae |
Todies |
| Family Momotidae |
Motmots |
| Family Meropidae |
Bee-eaters |
| Family Upupidae |
Hoopoes |
| Family Phoeniculidae |
Woodhoopoes |
| Family Bucerotidae |
Hornbills |
| Family Bucorvidae |
Ground Hornbills |
| Family Galbulidae |
Jacamars |
| Family Bucconidae |
Puffbirds |
| Family Capitonidae |
New World Barbets |
| Family Semnornithidae |
Prong-billed & Toucan Barbet |
| Family Ramphastidae |
Toucans |
| Family Megalaimidae |
Asian Barbets |
| Family Lybiidae |
African Barbets |
| Family Indicatoridae |
Honeyguides |
| Family Picidae |
Woodpeckers |
| Family Cariamidae |
Seriemas |
| Family Falconidae |
Falcons/Caracaras |
| Family Strigopidae |
NZ Parrots |
| Family Cacatuidae |
Cockatoos |
| Family Psittacidae |
Parrots |
| Family Acanthisittidae |
New Zealand Wrens |
| Family Eurylaimidae |
Broadbills, Asities, Sapayoa |
| Family Pittidae |
Pittas |
| Family Furnariidae |
Ovenbirds and Woodcreepers |
| Family Thamnophilidae |
Antbirds |
| Family Formicariidae |
Ant-thrushes |
| Family Grallariidae |
Antpittas |
| Family Conopophagidae |
Gnateaters |
| Family Rhinocryptidae |
Tapaculos |
| Family Melanopareiidae |
Crescentchests |
| Family Tyrannidae |
Tyrant Flycatchers |
| Family Cotingidae |
Cotingas, Plantcutters |
| Family Pipridae |
Manakins |
| Family Tityridae |
Tityras, Sharpbill, Becards |
| Family Incertae Sedis 1 |
Uncertain 1 (Swallow-tailed Cotinga) |
| Family Menuridae |
Lyrebirds |
| Family Atrichornithidae |
Scrubbirds |
| Family Ptilonorhynchidae |
Bowerbirds |
| Family Climacteridae |
Australasian Treecreepers |
| Family Maluridae |
Australasian Wrens |
| Family Meliphagidae |
Honeyeaters |
| Family Dasyornithidae |
Bristlebirds |
| Family Pardalotidae |
Pardalotes |
| Family Acanthizidae |
Australian Warblers |
| Family Pomatostomidae |
Australian Babblers |
| Family Orthonychidae |
Logrunners |
| Family Cnemophilidae |
Satinbirds |
| Family Melanocharitidae |
Berrypeckers, NG Longbills |
| Family Paramythiidae |
Painted Berrypeckers |
| Family Callaeidae |
NZ Wattlebirds |
| Family Notiomystidae |
Stitchbird |
| Family Psophodidae |
Quail-thrushes etc |
| Family Platysteiridae |
Wattle-eyes, Batises |
| Family Tephrodornithidae |
Woodshrikes and allies |
| Family Prionopidae |
Helmetshrikes |
| Family Malaconotidae |
Bushshrikes |
| Family Machaerirhynchidae |
Boatbills |
| Family Vangidae |
Vangas |
| Family Cracticidae |
Butcherbirds and Allies |
| Family Pityriaseidae |
Bristlehead |
| Family Artamidae |
Woodswallows |
| Family Aegithinidae |
Ioras |
| Family Campephagidae |
Cuckooshrikes |
| Family Mohouidae |
Whiteheads |
| Family Neosittidae |
Sittellas |
| Family Incertae Sedis 2 |
Uncertain 2 |
| Family Pachycephalidae |
Whistlers |
| Family Laniidae |
True Shrikes |
| Family Vireonidae |
Vireos, Greenlets |
| Family Oriolidae |
Figbirds, OW Orioles |
| Family Dicruridae |
Drongos |
| Family Rhipiduridae |
Fantails |
| Family Monarchidae |
Monarchs |
| Family Corvidae |
Crows, Jays |
| Family Corcoracidae |
Australian Mudnesters |
| Family Incertae Sedis 3 |
Uncertain 3 |
| Family Paradisaeidae |
Birds-of-paradise |
| Family Petroicidae |
Australian Robins |
| Family Picathartidae |
Picathartes |
| Family Chaetopidae |
Rockjumpers |
| Family Eupetidae |
Rail-babbler |
| Family Bombycillidae |
Waxwings |
| Family Ptilogonatidae |
Silky-flycatchers |
| Family Hypocoliidae |
Hypocolius |
| Family Dulidae |
Palmchat |
| Family Mohoidae |
Oos (recently extinct) |
| Family Hylocitreidae |
Hylocitrea |
| Family Stenostiridae |
Fairy Flycatchers |
| Family Paridae |
Tits |
| Family Remizidae |
Penduline Tits |
| Family Panuridae |
Bearded Reedling |
| Family Nicatoridae |
Nicators |
| Family Alaudidae |
Larks |
| Family Pycnonotidae |
Bulbuls |
| Family Hirundinidae |
Swallows, Martins |
| Family Pnoepygidae |
Wren-babblers |
| Family Macrosphenidae |
Crombecs, African warblers |
| Family Cettiidae |
Cettia bush warblers & allies |
| Family Scotocercidae |
Streaked Scrub Warbler |
| Family Erythrocercidae |
Yellow Flycatchers |
| Family Incertae Sedis 4 |
Uncertain 4 |
| Family Aegithalidae |
Bushtits |
| Family Phylloscopidae |
Leaf warblers and allies |
| Family Acrocephalidae |
Reed warblers and allies |
| Family Locustellidae |
Grassbirds and allies |
| Family Donacobiidae |
Black-capped Donacobius |
| Family Bernieridae |
Malagasy warblers |
| Family Cisticolidae |
Cisticolas and allies |
| Family Timaliidae |
Core Babblers |
| Family Elachuridae |
Spotted Wren-babbler |
| Family Pellorneidae |
Fulvettas, Ground Babblers |
| Family Leiothrichidae |
Laughingthrushes |
| Family Sylvidae |
Sylviid Babblers |
| Family Zosteropidae |
White-eyes and Yuhinas |
| Family Arcanatoridae |
Dapplethroat & allies |
| Family Promeropidae |
Sugarbirds and allies |
| Family Irenidae |
Fairy-bluebirds |
| Family Regulidae |
Goldcrests, kinglets |
| Family Hyliotidae |
Hyliotas |
| Family Troglodytidae |
Wrens |
| Family Polioptilidae |
Gnatcatchers |
| Family Sittidae |
Nuthatches |
| Family Tichodromidae |
Wallcreeper |
| Family Certhiidae |
Treecreepers |
| Family Mimidae |
Mockingbirds, Thrashers |
| Family Sturnidae |
Starlings |
| Family Buphagidae |
Oxpeckers |
| Family Turdidae |
Thrushes |
| Family Muscicapidae |
Chats, OW Flycatchers |
| Family Cinclidae |
Dippers |
| Family Chloropseidae |
Leafbirds |
| Family Dicaeidae |
Flowerpeckers |
| Family Nectariniidae |
Sunbirds |
| Family Passeridae |
Old World Sparrows |
| Family Ploceidae |
Weavers, Widowbirds |
| Family Estrildidae |
Waxbills, Munias & Allies |
| Family Viduidae |
Indigobirds, Whydahs |
| Family Peucedramidae |
Olive Warbler |
| Family Prunellidae |
Accentors |
| Family Motacillidae |
Wagtails, Pipits |
| Family Urocynchramidae |
Przevalski’s Finch |
| Family Fringillidae |
Finches |
| Family Parulidae |
New World Warblers |
| Family Incertae Sedis 5 |
Family Uncertain 5 |
| Family Icteridae |
NW Orioles & Blackbirds |
| Family Coerebidae |
Bananaquit |
| Family Emberizidae |
Buntings, NW Sparrows etc |
| Family Thraupidae |
Tanagers |
| Family Calcariidae |
Longspurs, snow buntings |
| Family Cardinalidae |
Cardinals, Grosbeaks & Allies |
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