list of north american birds

The List of North American birds is a comprehensive enumeration of all the bird species known from the North American continent north of Mexico.

Scope of this list

North American birds most closely resemble those of Eurasia, which was connected to this continent until geologically recent times. Many groups occur throughout the northern hemisphere and world-wide. However some groups unique to the New World have also arisen including the wrens, 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. 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 the Baja California peninsula, 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, Canada, and the French islands 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.

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: