LSM 3266 Families Lecture 6

Superorder Neoaves

- All modern birds (Aves) minus palaeognaths (=ratites) and minus Galloanseres (=chickens & ducks) - "explosion" after K-T Boundary

Babblers

- Largely Asian rainforest understory denizens - Striped Tit-Babbler commonest member in Singapore - Short-tailed Babbler still hanging on in Sinagpore but pop-genetic diversity greatly diminished - Chestnut-winged Babbler on its way out of Singapore

Order Galliformes Family Megapodiidae (~25 sp)

- Superprecocial: lack of brood care - Incubation is taken over by nature: build mounds of rotting compost in which eggs self-incubate or deposit eggs in hot, volcanic soil for auto-incubation

Family Alaudidae

- larks (100 sp) - cosmopolitan - terrestrial - deserts and savannahs - hard to ID - most species in Africa

Family Acrocephalidae

- reed warblers - Old world (65 sp) - in swamps/reeds - all species look similar - scratchy songs carry far in open habitat

Order Charadriiformes

- shorebirds and allies - About 20 families, incl. many unfamiliar small families

Order Procellariiformes

- tubenoses - Highly pelagic, cosmopolitan, often breeding in tight colonies on tiny islands and spending most of lifetime at sea - Undertake long pelagic migrations (often circular) - Most species are nocturnal when on land, nesting in sheltered burrows - strong sense of smell facilitates marine prey detection - Long-lived, brood-caring, delayed maturation - Albatrosses are the classic example for lifelong monogamy in which partners take many years to perfect mating dances - Many species now extinct or critically endangered, mostly due to mammalian predators on breeding islands, crashes in fish stocks and by-catch

Family Zosteropidae

- white eyes - old world (140 sp) - great speciators - endemic species on most larger indonesian islands

Palaeognathae and Neognathae

Clades, only ratites in palaeognathae

Order Anseriformes - Moa-nalos

- ("turtle-jawed, pot-bellied ducks") - Driven to extinction by first Polynesian settlers on Hawaii ~500 A.D. - Flightless; often with toothlike ridges along tomia; lack of webs - sister to dabbling ducks

Order Anseriformes

- (ducks, geese and swans), ~160 species (cosmopolitan, but high diversity in Holarctic) - Much anseriform diversity has gone extinct by better-adapted predatory mammals or human colonizers of Australia at ~50,000 years ago (thunderbirds; Australia)

Suboscines

- 1400 sp - Mostly Neotropical, but some important palaeotropical groups - Divided into two unequal groups - Old World suboscines (Eurylaimides; 53 species) - New World suboscines (Tyrannides; >1300 species) - Less complicated, more stereotypical songs - Innate song leads to less dialectal song variation than in oscines - suboscine vocalizations are important taxonomic character

Major passerine division

- 2 Groups: - Suboscines (=suboscine passerines) - Oscines (=oscine passerines) - oftentimes the name - 'songbirds' is restricted to oscines - Most important difference: anatomy of syrinx musculature leading to different song apparatus - Generally oscines thought to have song-learning ability, whereas suboscines' songs are innate - Division happened ~30-35 million years ago

Oscines

- 5000 sp - The true 'songbirds' - One of three avian groups known for song-learning behaviour (together with hummingbirds and parrots) - Complex courtship vocalizations ('songs'), often with great dialectal variation - Oscines (esp. zebra finch) are a model for brain research on song and language acquisition - Most speciose avian assemblage of comparable taxonomic rank: has song learning behavior helped speed up their rates of speciation

The American Nine-Primaried Oscine Radiation

- 900 sp. - Among ~10 families, only one occurs in Old World: Emberizidae (buntings, ~45 species, Eurasia & Africa; see Black-headed Bunting Emberiza melanocephala) - Among American-only groups, most important is tanagers (Thraupidae, ~380 sp., restricted to Neotropics) - massive radiation of mostly frugivores, especially diverse in Andean cloud forests (see Tangara tanager and Anisognathus mountain-tanager) - Much of radiation is very young (post - "Great Interchange" at 3mya), although ancestor would have invaded South America before then - includes many un-tanager-like (e.g. finch-like) South American groups, e.g. Darwin's finch (Geospiza) radiation from Galápagos Islands - Most other sizable families are most diverse in Central America and (less so) North America, and probably only invaded South America during the Great Interchange (after closure of Panamanian Isthmus)

Passerine Origins

- As with their sister group (parrots), passerines' most basal group restricted to New Zealand: - New Zealand wrens (Acanthisitti) - 2 extant species - Unrelated to true wrens -> convergence (a common theme in passerines) - All Acanthisitti now rare owing to mammalian predators introduced by man - Stephen's Island Wren, one of few known flightless passerines, reported extinct because of lighthouse keeper's single cat - Dating of divergence between New Zealand wrens and all other passerines long controversial, only recently resolved

Corvida

- Assemblage of ~25 mostly AUS-Papuan families, with a few Asian, African and very few cosmopolitan families mixed in Basic division into 3 important lineages: - Orioles & allies - Cuckooshrikes & allies - Crows & allies

Order Pelecaniformes Families (stork-like and pelican-like birds)

- Ciconiidae (storks): 20 sp. - Pelecanidae (pelicans): 8 sp. - Threskiornithidae (ibis): 35 sp. - Ardeidae (herons, egrets, bitterns): 75 sp. - Phalacrocoracidae (cormorants): ~45 sp.

Core Passeroidea

- Core Passeroidea divided into three lineages: (1) the estrildid clade; (2) the passerid clade; and (3) the so-called 'nine-primaried oscines' - Passerid clade consists of true sparrows (=Old World sparrows) (Passeridae; ~45 sp.): Africa and Eurasia - House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is probably the oldest avian commensal of humans - Other true sparrows also mostly co-exist with humans - Singapore has Tree Sparrow Passer montanus

Order Gruiformes

- Cranes & Rails - Order consists of six families, most important of which are cranes (Gruidae; 15 sp.) and rails (Rallidae; ~150 sp.)

Clade Otidimorphae

- Cuculiformes (cuckoos) - Turacos (Musophagidae) - Bustards

Order Procellariiformes Families

- Diomedeidae: albatrosses; 20 species - Procellariidae (+Pelecaniodidae): shearwaters & petrels; 80 species - Oceanitidae and Hydrobatidae: storm-petrels; combined 20 species

Order Gruiformes - Rails

- Diverse, cosmopolitan family with a range of bill types and foot types - Most species aquatic, but a few inhabit forest floor and other habitats - Most species are exceedingly shy and never seen, while others are tame and approachable - Most species have loud screeching or clucking voices - Short wings lead to poor flight capabilities -> once species are blown off course, they get stranded on islands -> many secondarily flightless island endemics (-> great "speciator") - Many species extinct or endangered; probably hundreds of flightless rail species driven to extinction on Pacific islands after Polynesian colonization

Core Passerida

- Divided into four superfamilies whose exact interrelationships are still imperfectly known, so we're here treating them as a polytomy (=equally related): - Paroidea (tits & allies) - Sylvioidea (true warblers & allies) - Muscicapoidea (true flycatchers & allies) - Passeroidea (nine-primaried oscines & allies) - All four superfamilies are cosmopolitan; however, the first three are usually much more diverse in the Old World, while the last invaded the New World and is much more diverse there

Family Phoenicopteridae

- Flamingos - Carotenoid-based plumage coloration - Special filter feeding apparatus for shrimps and algae - Restricted to saline lakes and (more rarely) sea coasts, large group - Highest species diversity in Neotropics, half in Old World (sub-)tropics - Long-legged long-necked appearance is convergent with that of several other groups

The "Interchangers"

- Four sizeable families (>50 sp.): super-diverse in Central/(North) America but have "spawned off" daughter species into South America after the closure of Isthmus - American sparrows (Passerellidae; ~140 sp.): unrelated to true sparrows (convergent); common members of Nearctic open-land fauna (see Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia) - New World blackbirds & orioles (Icteridae; ~115 sp.): unrelated to Old World groups bearing same name - glossy-black (blackbirds) or orange/yellow-and-black (orioles) (see Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula) - Many colonial breeders, many in aquatic habitats (e.g. Crested Oropendola Psarocolius decumanus) - Cardinals (Cardinalidae; ~55 sp.): thicker, finch-like beaks adapted for granivory (see Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis) - Wood-warblers (Parulidae; ~130 sp.): remarkable Nearctic radiation that fills Asian leaf-warbler niche, but mostly more brightly colored than leaf-warblers

Oscine AUS Origins

- Gondwanan ancestor (also given that most Suboscines are from Gondwanan continents) - The most basal groups are all Australian => strong indication of AUS origin - Given that NZ wrens (basal to oscines + suboscines) are restricted to NZ, pattern of passerine Gondwanan origins is almost identical with that of parrots - However: one group, the Passerida (almost 4000 species) have conquered the rest of the earth

Family Podicipedidae

- Grebes - Famous for their well-synchronized courtship dances - Lobate feet and diving behavior - Chicks precocial, all-stripy and carried on parent's back - Cosmopolitan family: some widespread, some restricted, and some susceptible to introduction of aquatic predators -> extinction

Families Laridae & Sternidae

- Gulls, terns & allies (105 sp) - Cosmopolitan, marine and riverine, sometimes pelagic; palmate feet - Largely white with variable black markings - Mostly eat fish and invertebrates - Breed in loud colonies - Gulls (Laridae) abundant in cold countries but rare in tropics - Terns (Sternidae) common in tropics, including resident breeders and Arctic / temperate migrants - Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea migrate from pole to pole and back every year

Family Opisthocomidae

- Hoatzin - Monotypic family restricted to Amazonian lakesides and mangroves - Gregarious, loud and obnoxious - Herbivorous -> bacterial fermentation in enlarged crop -> "stinkbird" - Chicks have claws on wing (apomorphy -> atavism)

Nine-primaried Oscines

- Huge assemblage (~1200 sp.), informally known as 'nine-primaried oscines' because the tenth primary is small and concealed on them - Cosmopolitan Motacillidae (~70 sp.; pipits and allies) are sister to all other nine-primaried oscines - Mostly terrestrial open-country birds with long tails - Paddyfield Pipit Anthus rufulus breeds in Singapore - Next most basal branch is cosmopolitan true finches (~Fringillidae, 220 sp.) - Mostly thick beaks adapted to granivory (see Hawfinch Coccothruastes coccothraustes) - Especially diverse in cold northern hemisphere (many pine cone specialists - see Crossbill Loxia recurvirostra) - Includes the Island Canary Serinus canaria (=the "canary"), often held as cagebird and a model for research on avian song - Includes "Hawaiian honeycreepers" (Drepanidini), an impressive Hawaiian adaptive radiation, now largely extinct after human settlement - The remaining nine-primaried oscines (~900 sp.) - called the 'American nine-primaried oscine radiation' - consists of ~10 largely New World families, with a tiny basal family (Calcariidae; snow buntings; 6 sp.) restricted to sub-Arctic regions - This may suggest American colonization from Old World via the Arctic (Bering Strait?)

Family Trochilidae

- Hummingbirds - Smallest birds on earth - Nectarivorous; long, specialized tongue with taste receptors - able to stand mid-air or fly backwards - Super-high metabolism, able to go into torpor during which metabolism slows more than 10 times - evolved variety of bill types, each narrowly specialized to certain food plants - Lots of structural coloration / iridescence - song-learning capability but also mechanical sound production during courtship

Order Galliformes consists of 5 major families

- Megapodiidae (~25 species): megapodes & scrubfowl from Australasia - Phasianidae (~190 species): pheasants (Asia), Old World quail, Old World partridges, Turkey (Nearctic), grouse (Holarctic)

Order Galliformes Family Phasianidae (~190 sp)

- Most important bird family for human - Includes such economically important birds as chicken (Gallus), turkey (Meleagris; formerly divided off into separate family), quail (Coturnix), and grouse (Tetraoninae, unusual lekking behavior)

Cuckooshrikes & allies

- Most important constituents: - Cuckooshrikes & minivets (~95 sp.): palaeotropical canopy insectivores; highest diversity in Papua/Wallacea - Singapore has ~4 species, incl. Lesser Cuckooshrike (Coracina fimbriata; functionally extinct), Scarlet Minivet (Pericrocotus flammeus; functionally extinct), Pied Triller (Lalage nigra; still common) - Woodswallows & allies ( ~30 sp.): unrelated to swallows; mostly AUS-Papua, but a few reaching SE Asia - 1 species near Singapore: White-breasted Woodswallow Artamus leucorhynchus - Ioras (4 sp.): small family endemic to Oriental region - yellowish all-round arboreal insectivores - Common Iora Aegithina tiphia abundant in Singapore - monotypic Bristlehead (Borneo only): taxonomic enigma until placement with cuckooshrikes & allies was shown - Woodshrikes, philentomas & non-Asian allies (~40 sp.): mainly African group of shrike-like canopy carnivores / insectivores, often with hooked bill - 5 species (e.g. Bar-winged Flycatcher- Shrike Hemipus picatus, Large Woodshrike Tephrodornis virgatus and Rufous-winged Philentoma Philentoma pyrrhopterum) now largely extinct in Singapore but still found in Malaysian rainforests

Orioles & allies

- Most important constituents: - Oriolidae (Old World orioles; 40 sp.) mostly yellow-and-black canopy omnivores - Black-naped Oriole Oriolus chinensis one of most common native birds in Singapore - The arboreal Pachycephalidae (whistlers; ~65 sp.; mostly AUS-Papuan) have great song repertoire - 1 species reaches across Wallace's Line far into Sundaland (Mangrove Whistler Pachycephala cinerea found on Tekong Island) - Vireonidae (vireos & allies; ~65 sp.) are a taxonomic surprise! - Most species are from New World and therefore previously thought to belong to Passerida - DNA shows they're with orioles & allies - Additionally, two Asian groups (formerly with babblers) now known to be vireos: - Erpornis (formerly White-bellied Yuhina) - common in Asian (incl. Malaysian) rainforests - Pteruthius shrike-babblers or shrike-vireos - common in Asian (incl. Malaysian) montane forest

Family Cathartidae

- New World Vultures & Condors (7 sp) - Presently restricted to New World although fossil remains found in Old World <- unrelated to Old World vultures - Scavengers; mostly bald-headed to preclude bacterial infections - Stork fallacy -> in fact, cathartids turn out to be basal members of Accipitriformes (hawks, eagles & allies)

Tyrannides

- New World suboscines - Super-speciose group (>1300 sp.) responsible for a great part of Neotropical avian diversity - The "original" Neotropical passerine radiation (many other passerine groups "intruded" southwards from North America during Great Interchange when Isthmus of Panamá closed)

Superfamily Sylvioidea

- Old World warblers & allies - Massive superfamily in Passerida containing up to 22 mid-sized to large families in ~1300 species - Large majority of species Eurasian, a few African, very few cosmopolitan - Even so, some entire families African, especially basalmost ones, pointing to potential African origin - This superfamily contains the bulk of Sundaic rainforest passerines, especially birds of forest understorey (babblers and bulbuls) - Large species diversity may be due to great sylvioid speciation potential: non-dispersive, territorial insectivores with limited gene flow over large distances...

Order Passeriformes

- Passerines = Perching Birds - Passeriformes contain >6000 species, more than all other bird orders combined! - Name derived from Passer = sparrow - Anisodactyl birds known for their specially adapted 'perching foot': automatically curls and stiffens when legs bend (perfect for arboreal perching during sleep) - Often known as 'songbirds', although this name is usually reserved to oscine passerines

Sandgrouse and Mesites

- Sandgrouse are seed-eaters - Sandgrouse have precocial chicks that are nevertheless tended for the first few days/weeks - Sandgrouse (~16 sp) live in African/Asian deserts and steppes - Sandgrouse are gregarious; frequent waterholes at dusk and dawn; often eruptive and nomadic - Mesites (3 sp) restricted to Madagascar desert to forest habitats; rare, endangered and little-known

Passerida

- Sister to core Corvida - Contains >35% of world's birds - Multiple basal groups (mostly from New Zealand, Australia and Africa) also include: - Rail-babbler and its 5 non-Asian allies: long-time taxonomic enigma, not related to babblers; hard to see but best place in the world is Johor!

Family Scolopacidae

- Snipes & Sandpipers (100 sp) - Cosmopolitan and mostly aquatic - Majority of species breed in Arctic and migrate to (sub-) tropical coasts in winter - Thousands winter in Sungei Buloh (north coast of Singapore) every year - Includes many groups with different bill shapes adapted to probing or fishing for invertebrates at different depths and angles - Sensory organs allow for better prey detection - Some Arctic breeders polyandrous with brighter females - Usually very different breeding and non-breeding plumages

Superfamily Passeroidea

- The final superfamily of Passerida - >20 families amounting to ~1500 species - Some basal groups that lead to a core Passeroidea assemblage: - two sister families Dicaeidae (flowerpeckers; ~50 sp.; Australasia) and Nectariniidae (sunbirds; ~145 sp paleotropical) - Both nectarivores and frugivores, filling the "hummingbird niche" in Asia - Singapore has ~3 species well adapted to cityscape and extremely common - leafbirds (Chloropseidae; ~15 sp.) including fairy-bluebirds (Irena), an Oriental endemic family of canopy fruiteaters

Superfamily Paroidea

- Tits & allies - The smallest superfamily in Passerida (as in current treatment), consisting of three families, one of which is important in this course: - Family Paridae: - Great Tit Parus major is an important model species in ecology and evolutionary research - Cinereous Tit (Parus cinereus), formerly included in Great Tit, and the distinct Sultan Tit (Melanochlora sultanea) occur close to Singapore on Malaysian mainland

Clade Coraciimorphae Families

- Trogonidae (trogons; ~45 sp.) - Bucerotidae (hornbills; ~60 sp.) - Meropidae (bee-eaters; ~30 sp.) - Coraciidae (rollers; 12 sp.) - Alcedinidae (kingfishers; ~110 sp.) - Ramphastidae (toucans & barbets; ~140 sp.) - Picidae (woodpeckers; ~240 sp.)

Family Musophagidae

- Turacos (~25 sp.): strictly African, mostly frugivores with amazing crests - Turacos are often agile acrobats of tree canopy - have their own pigments (turacins and turacoverdins) - semi-zygodactyl feet (outer toe can be switched back and forth)

Family Tyrannidae

- Tyrant-flycatchers - perhaps largest extant bird family (~500-600 species in 100 genera): drab, olive-brown, confusing 'flycatchers' (convergent to true Old World flycatchers) that make up much of Neotropical canopy and open-land avian diversity - immense cryptic diversity

Family Meropidae and Coraciidae

- bee-eaters and rollers - Bee-eaters are elegant, swallow-shaped, bright-colored sallying insectivores (eating mostly bees) from the Old World that breed in colonies along banks - Rollers are iridescent, bright (mostly bluish) crow-shaped predators (small vertebrates and insects) from the Old World (sub-) tropics

Family Pycnonotidae

- bulbuls - palaeotropic (150 sp) - frugivores (often in the rainforest) - important for seed dispersal

Family Cisticolidae

- cisticolas, tailorbirds, prinias, allies - old world (160 sp) - open land or forest edge - tiny with long tail - hard to see but easily heard

Family Phalacrocoracidae

- cormorants (45 sp) - Truly cosmopolitan freshwater and coastal piscivorous divers (many species on subantarctic islands!) - Often all-black or pied plumage with colorful bare parts (loral patches, gular pouches) - Famous wing-drying behavior probably serves drying (despite gland secretions that keep plumage waterproof)

Order Gruiformes - Cranes

- cosmopolitan (but not in Neotropics) and often semi-aquatic; most species now endangered - omnivorous, long-legged and long-necked - gregarious in non-breeding season but solitary during breeding - Tallest flying bird is Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) from Australia and India to Vietnam - Crane courtship dances have become important in Chinese and Japanese symbolism

Order Cuculiformes

- cuckoos - mainly insectivores (some eating fruit); many terrestrial species known for following army ant swarms - many are brood parasites, targeting a fixed set of host species (mostly songbirds) - Host species and cuckoo parasite are often in "evolutionary arms race" to outsmart each other

Family Falconidae

- falcons (70 sp) - Long placed with Accipitridae, but now genomic DNA refutes close relationship - Amazing similarity to Accipitridae: convergence or retention of ancestral characters?? - Sister to the parrot-songbird clade - Includes very aerodynamic aerial hunters such as Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus, the fastest-moving animal on earth (320 km/h)

Family Locustellidae

- grasshopper warblers - old world (65 sp) - skulking in dense vegetation - insect like sounds

Family Accipitridae

- hawks, eagles & allies (255 sp) - Typical "birds of prey" or "raptors", carnivorous, sometimes piscivorous or scavengers - Accipitridae do not include falcons, but do include Old World vultures - Cosmopolitan; some are migratory - Some of the best vision among birds - Most species have sexual dimorphism with larger females - Raptorial beak with a fleshy cere (often colorful) - Many species are mimics - Old World vultures have naked heads for scavenging (convergent with Cathartidae)

Family Ardeidae

- herons, egrets, bitterns (75 sp) - Long-legged, long-necked wading birds - different from other families by flying with S-shaped retracted neck - Cosmopolitan and overwhelmingly aquatic - Most nest colonially, but some (esp. bitterns) nest solitarily in reeds; feed on invertebrates and small vertebrates - Some species have different color morphs, other species have bright-colored bare parts during short breeding season

Family Bucerotidae

- hornbills - Strictly palaeotropical, >30 species in Asia - Eat small animals and fruit - Fused cranial vertebrae provide stability for carrying heavy bill casque - Males seal females in arboreal nesting cavity; females undergo complete molt in the dark while laying and attending eggs - Many species become endangered with deforestation, some island endemics critically endangered

Family Threskiornithidae

- ibis and spoonbills (35 sp) - Cosmopolitan wading birds; some quite aquatic, others in dry habitat or even forest ground - Mostly probing in mud or sieving through water for invertebrates and small vertebrates - Gregarious; colony-nesting; flying in formation Two subfamilies often separated on basis of bill types: "spoonbills" and long down-curved "ibis bills" - It turns out that spoonbills are not sister to ibises but embedded within Asian ibis species; their peculiar bill evolved quite rapidly

Family Alcedinidae

- kingsfishers - Cosmopolitan, but species-poor in New World; divided into three deep clades, two of which are mostly riverine and one mostly arboreal-terrestrial (forest or savannah-inhabiting) - Diet is fish (in riverine species) and invertebrates & small vertebrates (in non-aquatic species) - Bright colors (often blue) based on structural coloration Mostly cavity nesters

Family Phylloscopidae

- leaf warblers - old world (80 sp) - leaf gleaning canopy insectivores - highest diversity in china

Family Caprimulgidae

- nightjars - Cryptically colored (blend with brown leaves), crepuscular, aerial insectivores - Typically unusual, stereotypical, insect-like or mechanical vocalizations - One Nearctic species, the Common Poorwill, is the only bird to undergo hibernation in winter - Weak feet; long rectrices (sometimes modified) - perch on roads or branches at night

Order Strigiformes

- owls (235 sp) - Cosmopolitan, mostly nocturnal carnivores with acute sense of hearing and exceptional vision - Serrated edges of remiges lead to soundless flight - Regurgitation of indigestible parts of food (bones etc) in form of pellets - Cryptic plumage helps camouflage - Vocalizations are very important for territoriality and courtship

Order Psittaciformes

- parrots (390 sp) - Cosmopolitan, mostly (sub-) tropics, with highest diversity in Australo-Papua - Strong, curved, almost raptorial beak; strong legs with zygodactyl toe arrangement - High intelligence; song-learning ability (and general ability to imitate sounds) - Bright coloration (often green) with almost no sexual dimorphism - Frugivores and granivores; a few species specializing in nectar or carrion -Parrots probably share a Gondwanan origin with their sister group, the songbirds. The most basal lineages of both are from New Zealand, followed by the second-most-basal lineage from AUS

Family Pelecanidae

- pelicans - Mostly (sub-) tropical, some temperate, freshwater and saltwater inhabitants eating large fish and similar-sized vertebrates - Bare parts often colorful during courtship - Large gular pouches help with prey capture and storage - Colonial breeders; monogamous for a season

Family Columbidae

- pigeons and doves - "pigeon" often refers to larger, fatter species; "dove" to more slender, longer-tailed species - rock dove adapted to human settlements, became domesticated and is now one of most common city birds around the world - Have fleshy opercula covering nostrils - most columbids drink via peristalsis - Important frugivores and granivores in most ecosystems - Often seasonal or erratic in response to fruiting - Produce "crop milk" to feed young

Family Ciconiidae

- storks - Cosmopolitan, typical semi-aquatic wading birds eating invertebrates and small vertebrates - Lack of syrinx -> mute -> bill clapping important in communication - Storks are not lifelong monogamous as usually thought but change partners after each season

Family Hirundinidae

- swallows and martins - cosmopolitan (90 sp) - aerial insectivores - atypical member of this group

Family Apodidae

- swifts - Cosmopolitan aerial insectivores; adapted to life in air (->weak pamprodactyl feet) - Usually nest along vertical surfaces (cliffs, buildings), some only in dark caves - Food source unreliable (->weather) so can go into torpor - Echolocation in Aerodramus only

Family Ramphastidae

- toucans and barbets - Former Capitonidae (barbets not including toucans); however, toucans (Ramphastidae) turn out to be embedded within barbets, being most closely related to American barbets, while African and Asian barbets are less closely related to toucans - Pantropical (toucans restricted to Neotropics), with almost a fifth of species in Asia - Asian barbets are one of most important rainforest frugivores, essential for seed dispersal - Mechanical, rhythmic calls given incessantly throughout the day - Cavity nesters

Family Trogonidae

- trogons - Pantropical, although most diverse in Neotropics and least diverse in tropical Africa - Insectivorous, but also take fruit - Only heterodactyl birds - Strictly arboreal, very unobtrusive behavior makes detection difficult - Beautiful coloration, much of it structural (iridescence)

Superfamily Muscicapoidea

- true flycatchers and allies - Another massive superfamily within - Passerida, containing ~17 (mostly smaller) families Following group: - Core Muscicapoidea

Family Picidae

- woodpeckers (240 sp) - Cosmopolitan inhabitant of forests and other plant growth, but curiously absent in the forests of Australo-Papua - South-east Asia (peninsular Malaysia) has largest diversity Adaptations to woodpecker lifestyle: - Strong claws in zygodactyl arrangement (akin to Ramphastidae) - Strong, sharp chisel bill - Small brain well encapsulated - Cavity nesters, often in self-constructed tree cavities - Typically monogamous for a season; sexual dimorphism often pronounced - Apart from stereotypical calls, woodpeckers use drumming for communication - Some species ground-living, mainly targeting ants

Crows & allies

-Palaeotropical drongos ( ~25 sp.) have highest diversity in SE Asia - All-black, some iridescent, some with ornamental plumes (rackets, spangles) - Greater Racket-tailed Drongo Dicrurus paradiseus is the only breeder among ~5 Singaporean drongos - Australasian fantails ( ~50 sp.): arboreal insectivores with amazing tail-fanning behavior - Pied Fantail Rhipidura javanica still breeding in Singapore - Birds-of-Paradise & allies (~50 sp.) from Papua (only a few in AUS and Wallacea) - Dazzling feather ornaments are one of nature's greatest exhibit of sexual selection - Insectivorous monarchs (~105 sp.) are mostly AUS-Papuan but include two important Singaporean representatives: - Black-naped Monarch (Hypothymis azurea) and paradise-flycatchers (Terpsiphone; unrelated to flycatchers) - Old World, true shrikes (~40 sp.): carnivorous, known for piercing prey on barbwire and thorns - Singapore has ~3 migrants from northern Asia - Taxonomic surprise: Crested Ja Platylophus galericulatus from Malaysian rainforests shown to be a basal shrike - Crows & jays ( ~130 sp.) are the only cosmopolitan member of true Corvida - Highly intelligent among birds (Pica magpies and Corvus ravens in human folklore) - Many members have great vocal repertoire (e.g. Oriental green magpie Cissa thalassina)

Family Spheniscidae

-penguins -not a mammal - Aquatic flightless (wings have become flippers) - Breeds in dense coastal colonies in southern hemisphere - Monogamous every season, but change of partners between seasons; 1-2 eggs - Dense layer of feathers encloses air layer that provides buoyancy and insulation

Order Tinamiformes (tinamous, 50 sp)

2 Hypothesis: either regained ability to fly or moas (extinct) and other ratites (kiwis, rheas, cassowaries, emus) lost ability to fly.

Core Muscicapoidea

6 families, for example including: - Sturnidae (~125 sp.; starlings & mynas): Old World, especially African and Oriental; often glossy plumage; intelligent, often human commensals - Turdidae (~170 sp.; thrushes): Cosmopolitan, great songsters (fluty); can be common omnivorous human commensal (European Blackbird Turdus merula, American Robin Turdus migratorius) or can be extremely shy frugivore (Zoothera ground thrushes) - Muscicapidae (~325 sp.; true flycatchers, chats)

Superorder Galloanseres

Consist of Anseriformes (ducks & geese) and Galliformes (chickens, quail & pheasants)

Aequornithes

Core Waterbirds

Clade Mirandornithes ("miraculous birds")

Include: - Flamingoes (Family Phoenicopteridae): 6 species; cosmopolitan (but mainly Neotropical) - Grebes (Family Podicipedidae): ~20 species worldwide

Tinamiformes and Struthioniformes

Orders in clade Palaeognathae, Ratites

Order Struthioniformes (ostrich, 1-2 sp)

Originated in Africa (Gondwana)

Order Caprimulgiformes - Clade Strisores

Swifts, humingbirds, nightjars