List of North American birds

The California Condor is one of North America's most endangered birds.

A five year-old American Golden Eagle.

This list of North American birds is a comprehensive listing of all the bird species known from the North American continent north of Mexico.

1 Scope of this list
2 Taxonomy
3 Ducks, Geese, and Swans
4 Curassows and Guans
5 Partridges, Grouse, Turkeys, and Old World Quail
6 New World Quail
7 Loons
8 Grebes
9 Albatrosses
10 Shearwaters and Petrels
11 Storm-Petrels
12 Tropicbirds
13 Boobies and Gannets
14 Pelicans
15 Cormorants
16 Darters
17 Frigatebirds
18 Bitterns, Herons, and Egrets
19 Ibises and Spoonbills
20 Storks
21 New World Vultures
22 Flamingos
23 Hawks, Kites, and Eagles
24 Caracaras and Falcons
25 Rails, Gallinules, and Coots
26 Limpkins
27 Cranes
28 Thick-knees
29 Lapwings and Plovers
30 Oystercatchers
31 Stilts and Avocets
32 Jacanas
33 Sandpipers, Curlews, Stints, Godwits, Snipes, and Phalaropes
34 Pratincoles
35 Skuas, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers
36 Auks, Murres, and Puffins
37 Pigeons and Doves
38 Lories, Parakeets, Macaws, and Parrots
39 Cuckoos, Roadrunners, and Anis
40 Barn owls
41 Typical owls
42 Goatsuckers
43 Swifts
44 Hummingbirds
45 Trogons
46 Hoopoes
47 Kingfishers
48 Woodpeckers, Sapsuckers, and Flickers
49 Tyrant flycatchers
50 Shrikes
51 Vireos
52 Jays, Crows, Magpies, and Ravens
53 Larks
54 Swallows and Martins
55 Chickadees and Titmice
56 Verdin
57 Bushtits
58 Nuthatches
59 Treecreepers
60 Wrens
61 Dippers
62 Bulbuls
63 Kinglets
64 Old World warblers and Gnatcatchers
65 Old World flycatchers
66 Thrushes
67 Babblers
68 Mockingbirds and Thrashers
69 Starlings
70 Accentors
71 Wagtails and Pipits
72 Waxwings
73 Silky-flycatchers
74 Olive Warbler
75 Wood-warblers
76 Bananaquits
77 Tanagers
78 American sparrows, Towhees, Juncos, and Longspurs
79 Cardinals, Saltators, and Grosbeaks
80 Blackbirds, Meadowlarks, Cowbirds, Grackles, and Orioles
81 Fringilline Finches, Cardueline Finches, and Allies
82 Old World sparrows
83 Weavers
84 See also
85 References

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Scope of this list

North American birds most closely resemble those of Eurasia, which was connected to the continent as part of the supercontinent Laurasia until recent times. Many groups occur throughout the northern hemisphere and worldwide. However some groups unique to the New World have also arisen including the hummingbirds, the New World vultures, the New World quail, the tyrant flycatchers, the vireos, the mimids, the New World warblers, the tanagers, the cardinals and the icterids.

Several common birds in North America, such as the House Sparrow, the Rock Dove, the European Starling, and the Mute Swan are introduced species, meaning that they are not native to this continent but were brought here by man from Europe or elsewhere. Introduced species are marked on this list as (I). There may be species that have individual escapees or small feral populations in North America that are not on this list. This is especially true of birds that are commonly held as pets, such as parrots and finches.

One species, the Cattle Egret, was historically an African bird. In the 20th century this bird colonized North America and is now found throughout the lower 48 states of the US. The Cattle Egret is the only Old World bird to establish itself in North America in historical times without being introduced by man. As such, it is not marked as introduced on this list.

The definition of the area covered by a list of "North American birds" is somewhat subjective. This list is based on a checklist used by the American Birding Association (ABA), the list used by most field guides for North American birds.

The original list published by the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) in 1886 covered birds found in North America north of Mexico, and included Baja California, Bermuda and Greenland. In 1983, the area was expanded to included all of Mexico, Central America south through Panama, the West Indies and the Hawaiian Islands, while Greenland was dropped. This expansion more than doubled the number of birds on the AOU list. Other organizations, such as the ABA, use a smaller area: the current ABA area includes the 49 continental states of the US, Canada, and the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, plus surrounding waters. It does not include Greenland, Bermuda, the Bahamas or the Hawaiian Islands. Since the ABA follows the AOU on taxonomical matters, the AOU's list is used to settle questions of taxonomy.

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Taxonomy

The taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families, and species) and nomenclature (common and scientific names) used in the accompanying bird lists adhere to the conventions of the AOU's (1998) Check-list of North American birds, the recognized scientific authority on the taxonomy and nomenclature of North America birds. The AOU's Committee on Classification and Nomenclature, the body responsible for maintaining and updating the Check-list, "strongly and unanimously continues to endorse the biological species concept (BSC), in which species are considered to be genetically cohesive groups of populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups" (AOU 1998). See Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy for an alternative phylogenetic arrangement based on DNA-DNA hybridization.

Unless otherwise noted, all species listed below are considered to occur regularly in North America as permanent residents, summer or winter residents or visitors, or migrants. The following codes are used to denote certain categories of species: