ANSERIFORMES (see NOTES below)
    Anatidae
         Dendrocygninae: whistling-ducks (rare in North Carolina)
         Anserinae: swans and geese
         Anatinae: ducks

GALLIFORMES (see NOTES below)
    Phasianidae
         Tetraoninae: grouse
         Meleagridinae: turkeys
    Odontophoridae: New World quail

GAVIIFORMES
    Gaviidae: loons

PODICIPEDIFORMES
    Podicipedidae: grebes

PHOENICOPTERIFORMES
    Phoenicopteridae: flamingos (rare in North Carolina)

PROCELLARIIFORMES
    Diomedeidae: albatrosses (rare in North Carolina)
    Procellariidae: shearwaters and petrels
    Hydrobatidae: storm-petrels

PELECANIFORMES
    Phaethontidae: tropicbirds
    Sulidae: gannets and boobies
    Pelicanidae: pelicans
    Phalacrocoracidae: cormorants
    Anhingidae: anhingas
    Fregatidae: frigatebirds (rare in North Carolina)

CICONIIFORMES
    Ardeidae: herons
    Threskiornithidae: ibises
    Ciconiidae: storks (rare in North Carolina)

ACCIPITRIFORMES
    Cathartidae: American vultures (see NOTES below)
    Accipitridae
         Pandioninae: Osprey (one species)
         Accipitrinae: kites, hawks, eagles

FALCONIFORMES
    Falconidae: falcons

GRUIFORMES
    Rallidae: rails, gallinules, coots
    Gruidae: cranes (rare in North Carolina)

CHARADRIIFORMES
    Charadriidae: plovers
    Haematopodidae: oystercatchers
    Recurvirostridae: avocets and stilts
    Scolopacidae
         Scolopacinae: sandpipers and relatives
         Phalaropinae: phalaropes
    Laridae
         Larinae: gulls
         Sterninae: terns
         Rynchopinae: skimmers
    Stercorariidae: skuas and jaegers
    Alcidae: auks, murres, and puffins (rare in North Carolina)

COLUMBIFORMES
    Columbidae: pigeons and doves

PSITTACIFORMES
    Psittacidae: parrots and parakeets (extinct in North Carolina)

CUCUCLIFORMES
    Cuculidae: cuckoos

STRIGIFORMES
    Tytonidae: barn-owls
    Strigidae: owls

CAPRIMULGIFORMES
    Caprimulgidae: nighthawks, Whip-poor-will, and relatives

APODIFORMES
    Apodidae: swifts
    Trochilidae: hummingbirds

CORACIIFORMES
    Alcedinidae: kingfishers

PICIFORMES
    Picidae: woodpeckers

PASSERIFORMES
    Tyrannidae: tyrant (New World) flycatchers
    Laniidae: shrikes
    Vireonidae: vireos
    Corvidae: jays and crows (see NOTES below)
    Alaudidae: larks
    Hirundinidae: swallows
    Paridae: titmice and chickadees
    Sittidae: nuthatches
    Certhiidae: creepers
    Troglodytidae: wrens
    Regulidae: kinglets (see NOTES below)
    Sylviidae: Old World warblers (including gnatcatchers)
    Turdidae: thrushes
    Mimidae: mockingbirds, catbirds, and thrashers
    Sturnidae: starlings (introduced from Europe)
    Motacillidae: pipits
    Bombycillidae: waxwings
    Parulidae: wood-warblers (New-World warblers)
    Emberizidae: New-World sparrows, Old-World buntings, and relatives
    Cardinalidae: cardinals, grosbeaks, New-World buntings, some "tanagers", and relatives
    Icteridae: meadowlarks, orioles, blackbirds, grackles, and relatives (see NOTES below)
    Fringillidae
         Carduelinae: goldfinches and relatives
    Passeridae: House Sparrow (introduced from Europe)

NOTES ON RECENT MAJOR CHANGES

DUCK-CHICKEN (ANSERIFORMES-GALLIFORMES) ASSEMBLAGE

It has been unexpectedly difficult to determine the correct branching arrangment of the major orders of modern birds.   Ornithologists for 80 or 100 years placed the loons first, based on problematic evidence that the loons (Gaviiformes) branched from the other modern birds earliest, followed subsequently by the grebes (Podicipediformes), albatrosses (Procellariiformes), and so forth.

Evidence from DNA sequences in the past two decades has made it clear that this arrangement cannot be correct -- although what the correct phylogeny of avian orders still has many uncertainties.

One conclusion has become clear though.   The swans, ducks, and geese (Anseriformes) and the chickenlike birds (pheasants, turkeys, quail) (Galliformes) are each other's closest relatives.   Furthermore, they are the sister-group to all other modern birds!   In other words, the anseri-galliforms and the other modern birds are each other's closest relatives ... or the split between anseri-galliforms and other modern birds is the oldest split among all modern birds.

The current revision of the AOU Checklist now incorporates this new view and places the swans, geese, and ducks and the chickenlike birds first.   As for the rest of the orders ... there could be more changes in the future!

NEW WORLD VULTURES

For thirty or more years, ornithologists concluded (based on morphological, behavioral, and early molecular informaton) that the Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, California Condor, and other New World Vultures were close phylogenetic relatives of the storks. So their similarities to the hawks, eagles, and Old World vultures (such as those you see in documentaries about East African wildlife) had resulted from convergent evolution.   However, recent molecular information indicates that their resemblence to the hawks is actually not convergence ... instead, the New World vultures are actually related to hawks, eagles, and Old World vultures.

CROW ASSEMBLAGE

One of the most dramatic results of the application of molecular techniques to phylogeny was the discovery that most Australian families of Passeriformes and a few families elsewhere in the world form a large monophyletic group (each others' closest relatives), now called the crow assemblage of families.   Crows are possibly the first branch from this phylogenetic lineage.   To everyone's astonishment, vireos (restricted to the New World) also belong in this assemblage.   The families of Australian Passeriformes are now recognized as one of the greatest adaptive radiations of vertebrates known; they all diversified from a few crow-like ancestors that colonized the Australian continental landmass (including New Guinea) in the past 30 million years or so.

KINGLETS

In contrast to the discovery of the connection between Australian passeriform families and crows, the discovery that kinglets are a pretty distinct group of birds is trivial!   It is nice to know that our special impression of these tiny birds is now confirmed!   The latest evidence shows that the phylogenetic relationships of kinglets are still unresolved!

NEW WORLD NINE-PRIMARIED BIRDS

The great majority of modern birds have 10 primaries in each wing, although the outermost one is often reduced in size. One group of birds has lost this outermost primary: a huge group of wood-warblers, sparrows, tanagers, and blackbirds, almost restricted to the New World.   Molecular evidence confirms long-recognized morphological evidence that these birds are another large monophyletic group in the Passeriformes.   Some authors think they are so closely related to each other that they constitute only one family, but the current official check-list puts them in separate families (Parulidae, Thraupidae, Emberizidae, and Icteridae).

Exactly which species belong in each of these four families has not always been clear!   For instance, recent molecular evidence suggests that the two "tanagers" that nest in North Carolina (Summer Tanager and Scarlet Tanager) are actually more closely related to other Cardinalidae than to the hundreds of species of true tanagers in the American tropics (in the family Tanagridae)!

This huge group of New World nine-primaried passeriforms (over 350 species in North and Central America alone) has its counterpart in the Old World.   The family Muscicapidae, restricted to the Old World, and its close relatives the Sylviidae (Old-World warblers) and Turdidae (thrushes) constitute an assemblage comparable to the New World nine-primaried families.   The evolution of small seed- and insect-eating passeriforms followed parallel but separate courses in the Old and New Worlds.

In each case, one particular group of each of these big assemblages managed to colonize the other hemisphere, probably across the Bering land-bridge.   Thus our thrushes and bluebirds are a small set of the Old World assemblage.   Conversely, European and Asian "buntings" are a small set of the New World assemblage (the New-World sparrows)!

The take-home lesson is that the Passeriformes evolved at least three major radiations of small birds, each based on a separate continent or hemisphere: the Australian (crow) assemblage, the Old-World assemblage, and the New-World assemblage.   Thus most of the passeriform birds in North Carolina are not closely related to those in Europe, Asia, Africa, or Australia, but they are to those in Brazil and Argentina!