List of Birds of Canada and The United States

List Of Birds Of Canada And The United States

North American birds most closely resemble those of Eurasia, which was connected to the continent as part of the supercontinent Laurasia until around 60 million years ago. Many groups occur throughout the northern hemisphere and worldwide. However some groups unique to the New World have also arisen; those represented in this list are 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 Pigeon, 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 United States. 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. Neither is the Glossy Ibis, which probably had a similar history.

The status of one bird on the North American list, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, is controversial. Until 2005 this bird was widely considered to be extinct. In April of that year, it was reported that at least one adult male bird had been sighted in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas. This report however, has not been universally accepted, and the American Birding Association still lists the Ivory-billed Woodpecker as extinct.

The definition of the area covered by a list of "North American" birds is somewhat subjective. 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 include 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 American Birding Association (ABA), use a smaller area: the current ABA area includes the 49 continental states of the US, Canada, and the French islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, plus surrounding waters. It does not include Greenland, Bermuda, the Bahamas or the Hawaiian Islands. This article is based on a checklist used by the ABA, which used by most field guides for North American birds, and is complete up to November 2010. Since the ABA follows the AOU on taxonomical matters, the AOU's list is used to settle questions of taxonomy.