A five-year-old Golden Eagle.
This list of birds of Canada and the United States is a comprehensive listing of all the bird species known from the North American continent north of Mexico as of November 2008.
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.
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 list is based on a checklist used by the ABA, the list used by most field guides for North American birds. Since the ABA follows the AOU on taxonomical matters, the AOU's list is used to settle questions of taxonomy.
Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae
The family Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swan. These are birds that are modified for an aquatic existence with webbed feet, bills which are flattened to a greater or lesser extent, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to special oils.
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Dendrocygna autumnalis
- Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Dendrocygna bicolor
- Taiga Bean-Goose, Anser fabalis
- Tundra Bean-Goose, Anser serrirostris
- Pink-footed Goose, Anser brachyrhynchus (C)
- Graylag Goose, Anser anser (A)
- Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons
- Lesser White-fronted Goose, Anser erythropus (A)
- Emperor Goose, Chen canagica
- Snow Goose, Chen caerulescens
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