Order Passeriformes (Perching Birds) Australasian early songbirds: fairywrens, honeyeaters & allies This subsection covers the earliest groups of true songbirds, centred in Australasia. It includes ancient lineages such as lyrebirds and scrub-birds, along with Australasian treecreepers and bowerbirds, followed by the large and varied groups of fairywrens, honeyeaters, thornbills, pardalotes and their close Australian–New Guinean … Continue reading "Section 9C – Australasian & Basal Oscines"

Order Passeriformes (Perching Birds) Crow lineage songbirds: Crows, Shrikes, Orioles & Allies This subsection covers the core corvoid groups and their close relatives — a large and diverse set of songbirds found across Africa, Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific. It begins with cuckooshrikes, whiteheads, boatbills and woodswallows, then moves through the African bushshrikes and vangas, … Continue reading "Section 9D – Core Corvoids & Allies"

Order Passeriformes (Perching Birds) Warbler- and thrush-like songbirds: warblers, babblers, wrens, thrushes & starlings This subsection covers the central part of the Passerida, a large group of small to medium-sized songbirds that dominate Eurasia, Africa, and many other regions. It begins with fairy-flycatchers, tits, larks and swallows, then moves through the major Old World warbler … Continue reading "Section 9E – Core Passerida: Sylvioid & Muscicapoid Songbirds"

Order Passeriformes (Perching Birds) Finch-like songbirds: finches, sparrows, pipits, New World warblers & tanagers The final subsection of the passerines covers a large and widespread group of songbirds found across Africa, Eurasia, Australasia, and the Americas. It starts with several mainly tropical nectar-feeding lineages — sugarbirds, flowerpeckers, sunbirds, leafbirds, and fairy-bluebirds — then moves into … Continue reading "Section 9F – Passeroidea: Finches, Sparrows, Tanagers and Allies"

Early‑branching ground birds with ancient lineages, many of which are poor fliers or completely flightless. This section includes the Palaeognaths — one of the oldest branches of modern birds — such as ostriches, rheas, emus, cassowaries, kiwis, and tinamous. Although tinamous can fly, they share the same deep ancestry as the large flightless ratites. It … Continue reading "Section 1 — Ratites, Tinamous & Gamebirds"