Hornbills are birds found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia of the family Bucerotidae. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a horny casque on the upper mandible. Hornbills have a two-lobed kidney. They are the only birds in which the first and second neck vertebrae are fused together; this probably provides a more stable platform for carrying the bill. The family is omnivorous, feeding on fruit and small animals. They are monogamous breeders nesting in natural cavities in trees and sometimes cliffs. A number of mainly insular species of hornbill with small ranges are threatened with extinction, mainly in Southeast Asia.
Rails are a large, cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial and/or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes such ubiquitous species as the crakes, coots, and gallinule; other rail species are extremely rare or endangered. Many are associated with wetland habitats, some being semi-aquatic like waterfowl, but many more are wading birds or shorebirds. The ideal rail habitats are marsh areas, including rice paddies, and flooded fields or open forest. They are especially fond of dense vegetation for nesting. The rail family is found in every terrestrial habitat with the exception of dry desert, polar or freezing regions, and alpine areas. Members of Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. Numerous unique island species are known.
The turacos make up the bird family Musophagidae ( "banana-eaters"), which includes plantain-eaters and go-away-birds. In southern Africa both turacos and go-away-birds are commonly known as loeries. They are semi-zygodactylous: the fourth (outer) toe can be switched back and forth. The second and third toes, which always point forward, are conjoined in some species. Musophagids often have prominent crests and long tails; the turacos are noted for peculiar and unique pigments giving them their bright green and red feathers.
Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes, the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The Piciformes contain about 71 living genera with a little over 450 species, of which the Picidae make up about half.
The mousebirds are birds in the order Coliiformes. They are the sister group to the clade Cavitaves, which includes the Leptosomiformes, Trogoniformes (trogons), Bucerotiformes, Piciformes and Coraciformes. This group is now confined to sub-Saharan Africa, and it is the only bird order confined entirely to that continent, with the possible exception of turacos which are considered by some as the distinct order Musophagiformes, and the cuckoo roller, which is the only member of the order Leptosomiformes, and which is found in Madagascar but not mainland Africa. Mousebirds had a wider range in the Paleogene, with a widespread distribution in Europe and North America during the Paleocene.
The New World barbets are a family, Capitonidae, of 15 birds in the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans.
Tringa is a genus of waders, containing the shanks and tattlers. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1599. They are mainly freshwater birds, often with brightly coloured legs as reflected in the English names of six species, as well as the specific names of two of these and the green sandpiper. They are typically associated with northern hemisphere temperate regions for breeding. Some of this group—notably the green sandpiper—nest in trees, using the old nests of other birds, usually thrushes.
The yellow-fronted tinkerbird is a small bird in the family Lybiidae formerly known as yellow-fronted tinker barbet. It is sometimes considered conspecific with its southern counterpart, the red-fronted tinkerbird, Pogoniulus pusillus. Barbets are near passerine birds with bristles around the base of the bill and a world-wide tropical distribution.
The tinkerbirds or tinker barbets are the genus Pogoniulus of the Lybiidae, the African barbet family of near passerines, which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. Tinkerbirds are widely distributed in tropical Africa.
Tyto is a genus of birds consisting of true barn owls, grass owls and masked owls that collectively make up all the species within the subfamily Tytoninae of the barn owl family, Tytonidae.
D'Arnaud's barbet is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae. Barbets and toucans are a group of near passerine birds with a worldwide tropical distribution. The barbets get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills. Four geographical races have been recorded. The 2021 taxonomic update to the IOC World Bird List upgraded the usambiro subspecies to species status as Usambiro barbet / Trachyphonus usambiro.
Megalaimidae, the Asian barbets, are a family of birds, comprising two genera with 35 species native to the forests of the Indomalayan realm from Tibet to Indonesia. They were once clubbed with all barbets in the family Capitonidae but the Old World species have been found to be distinctive and are considered, along with the Lybiidae and Ramphastidae, as sister groups.
The southern red-fronted tinkerbird, is a small bird in the African barbet family Lybiidae. It is found in southern Mozambique and eastern South Africa. This species was formerly regarded as conspecific with the northern red-fronted tinkerbird.
The red-crowned barbet is part of one of the two subfamilies of Megalaimidae birds. it is in the order of woodpeckers (Piciformes) and their relatives. It is distributed in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and plantations with a distribution area of 3,180,000 km2 (1,230,000 sq mi).
The yellow-rumped tinkerbird is a bird species in the family Lybiidae, which is native to the moist tropical and subtropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa.
The African terrestrial barbets are the bird genus Trachyphonus in the African barbet family (Lybiidae), which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. These birds are more terrestrial than the other African barbets and differ in some other respects too; they are thus separated in a monotypic subfamily Trachyphoninae.
The miombo pied barbet is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae. It is found in south-central Africa.
The toucan barbets are the small birds in the genus Semnornis. This was often included in the paraphyletic barbets but recently usually considered a distinct family Semnornithidae; alternatively, all barbets might be moved to the toucan family Ramphastidae as a subfamily, Semnornithinae. It contains only two species, the toucan barbet and the prong-billed barbet.
Toucans are Neotropical birds in the family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the Toucan barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and over 40 different species.
The northern red-fronted tinkerbird is a small bird in the African barbet family Lybiidae that is found in East Africa. It was regarded as conspecific with the southern red-fronted tinkerbird.
