Otidae is a clade that includes the superorders Otidimorphae and Strisores. It was identified in 2014 by genome analysis. Earlier it was thought that Strisores was closely related to birds such as pigeons, flamingos, tropicbirds, and the sunbittern and kagu in the taxon Metaves, but subsequent work has provided evidence that Metaves is polyphyletic. Although analyses of genome data provided relatively high support for monophyly of Otidae, indicating that it is sister to all other Passerea clades, other analyses of large data matrices have not recovered a clade comprising Otidimorphae and Strisores, raising questions about the monophyly of Otidae.
Neoaves is a clade that consists of all modern birds with the exception of Palaeognathae and Galloanserae. This group is defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the most inclusive crown clade containing Passer domesticus, but not Gallus gallus". Almost 95% of the roughly 10,000 known species of extant birds belong to the Neoaves.
Aequornithes, or core water birds, are defined as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Pelecanus onocrotalus and Gavia immer".
The order Falconiformes is represented by the extant family Falconidae and a handful of enigmatic Paleogene species. Traditionally, the other bird of prey families Cathartidae, Sagittariidae (secretarybird), Pandionidae (ospreys), Accipitridae (hawks) were classified in Falconiformes. A variety of comparative genome analyses published since 2008, however, found that falcons are part of a clade of birds called Australaves, which also includes seriemas, parrots and passerines. Within Australaves falcons are more closely related to the parrot-passerine clade than they are to the seriemas. The hawks, vultures and owls are placed in the clade Afroaves.
Cariamiformes is an order of primarily flightless birds that has existed for over 50 million years. The group includes the family Cariamidae (seriemas) and the extinct families such as Phorusrhacidae, Bathornithidae, Idiornithidae and Ameghinornithidae. Extant members (seriemas) are only known from South America, but fossils of many extinct taxa are also found in other continents including Europe and North America. Though traditionally considered a suborder within Gruiformes, both morphological and genetic studies show that it belongs to a separate group of birds, Australaves, whose other living members are Falconidae, Psittaciformes and Passeriformes.
Eufalconimorphae is a proposed clade of birds, consisting of passerines, parrots, falcons, caracaras, and forest falcons. It has whole-genome DNA support. This clade was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Falco subbuteo and Passer domesticus". Eufalconimorphae birds are characterized by their strong and hooked beaks, sharp talons, and powerful wings. They have excellent eyesight, which allows them to spot their prey from great distances. The Eufalconimorphae is noted to produce aerodynamic force during the upstroke of flight to help create a vertical flight pattern.
Strisores, sometimes called nightbirds, is a clade of birds that includes the living families and orders Caprimulgidae, Nyctibiidae (potoos), Steatornithidae (oilbirds), Podargidae (frogmouths), Apodiformes, as well as the Aegotheliformes (owlet-nightjars) whose distinctness was only recently realized. The Apodiformes and the Aegotheliformes form the Daedalornithes.
Australaves is a clade of birds, defined in 2012, consisting of the Eufalconimorphae as well as the Cariamiformes. They appear to be the sister group of Afroaves. This clade was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Cariama cristata and Passer domesticus".
Telluraves is a recently defined clade of birds defined by their arboreality. Based on most recent genetic studies, the clade unites a variety of bird groups, including the australavians as well as the afroavians. This grouping was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Accipiter nisus and Passer domesticus". They appear to be the sister group of the Phaethoquornithes.
Passerea is a clade of neoavian birds that was proposed by Jarvis et al. (2014). Their genomic analysis recovered two major clades within Neoaves, Passerea and Columbea, and concluded that both clades appear to have many ecologically driven convergent traits.
Eurypygimorphae or Phaethontimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the orders Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds) and Eurypygiformes recovered by genome analysis. The relationship was first identified in 2013 based on their nuclear genes. This group was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Phaethon aethereus, Eurypyga helias, and Rhynochetos jubatus". Historically these birds were placed at different parts of the tree, with tropicbirds in Pelecaniformes and the kagu and sunbittern in Gruiformes. Some genetic analyses have placed the eurypygimorph taxa in the controversial and obsolete clade Metaves, with uncertain placement within that group. More recent molecular studies support their grouping together in Eurypygimorphae, which is usually recovered as the sister taxon to Aequornithes within Ardeae.
Phaethoquornithes is a clade of birds that contains Eurypygimorphae and Aequornithes, which was first recovered by genome analysis in 2014. Members of Eurypygimorphae were originally classified in the obsolete group Metaves, and Aequornithes were classified as the sister taxon to Musophagiformes or Gruiformes.
Austrodyptornithes is a clade of birds that include the orders Sphenisciformes (penguins) and Procellariiformes. A 2014 analysis of whole genomes of 48 representative bird species concluded that penguins are the sister group of Procellariiformes, from which they diverged about 60 million years ago.
Coraciimorphae is a clade of birds that contains the order Coliiformes (mousebirds) and the clade Cavitaves. The name however was coined in the 1990s by Sibley and Ahlquist based on their DNA-DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. However their Coraciimorphae only contains Trogoniformes and Coraciiformes. Coraciimorphae was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Colius colius and Picus viridis, but not Accipiter nisus or Passer domesticus".
Eucavitaves is a clade that contains the order Trogoniformes (trogons) and the clade Picocoraciae. The group was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Trogon viridis and Picus viridis". The name refers to the fact that the majority of them nest in cavities.
Cavitaves is a clade that contains the order Leptosomiformes and the clade Eucavitaves. This group was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Leptosomus discolor and Picus viridis". The name refers to the fact that the majority of them nest in cavities.
Picocoraciae is a clade that contains the order Bucerotiformes and the clade Picodynastornithes supported by various genetic analysis and morphological studies. While these studies supported a sister grouping of Coraciiformes and Piciformes, a large scale, sparse supermatrix has suggested alternative sister relationship between Bucerotiformes and Piciformes instead. This group was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Buceros rhinoceros, Coracias garrulus, and Picus viridis".
Columbimorphae is a clade discovered by genome analysis that includes birds of the orders Columbiformes, Pterocliformes (sandgrouse), and Mesitornithiformes (mesites). This group was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Columba oenas, Mesitornis variegatus, and Pterocles alchata". Previous analyses had also recovered this grouping, although the exact relationships differed. Some studies indicated a sister relationship between sandgrouse and pigeons while other studies favored a sister grouping of mesites and sandgrouse instead. This sister relationship of the sandgrouses and mesites was named by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as the clade Pteroclimesites and defined in the PhyloCode as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Mesitornis variegatus and Pterocles alchata".
Picodynastornithes is a clade that contains the orders Coraciiformes and Piciformes. This grouping also has current and historical support from molecular and morphological studies. This group was defined in the PhyloCode by George Sangster and colleagues in 2022 as "the least inclusive crown clade containing Coracias garrulus, Alcedo atthis, and Picus viridis".
Hieraves is a clade of telluravian birds named by Wu et al. (2024) that includes the orders Strigiformes (owls), Cathartiformes, and Accipitriformes. In the past, either owls, New World vultures, and hawks were found to be basal outgroups with respect to Coraciimorphae inside Afroaves, or Accipitriformes and Cathartiformes were recovered as a basal clade in respect to the rest of the members of Telluraves. Houde and Braun (2019) found support for Hieraves, but they were found to be the sister group to Coraciimorphae and Australaves. The analysis of Wu et al. (2024) has found Hieraves to be the sister clade to Australaves. Stiller et al. (2024) found Hieraves to be basal to Afroaves.
