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A passerine (/ ˈ p æ s ə r aɪ n /) is any bird of the order Passeriformes (/ ˈ p æ s ə r ɪ f ɔːr m iː z /; from Latin passer 'sparrow' and formis '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species.
Songbird, any member of the suborder Passeri (or Oscines), of the order Passeriformes, including about 4,000 species—nearly half the world’s birds—in 35 to 55 families. Most cage birds belong to this group. Songbirds are alike in having the vocal organ highly developed, though not all use it to.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Overview
- Size range and structural diversity
passeriform, (order Passeriformes), any member of the largest order of birds and the dominant avian group on Earth today. The passeriform birds are true perching birds, with four toes, three directed forward and one backward. Considered the most highly evolved of all birds, passerines have undergone an explosive evolutionary radiation in relatively recent geological time and now occur in abundance on all continents except Antarctica and on most oceanic islands. Their rapid evolution and adaptation to virtually all terrestrial environments resulted in a large number of species, some 5,700, compared with only about 4,069 species of all other birds.
The order Passeriformes is divided by most taxonomists into two suborders: Tyranni and Passeri. The first suborder, containing about 1,250 species, is considered more primitive and is often grouped informally as the “suboscines.” Birds of suborder Passeri are often grouped as the “oscines,” or songbirds, for convenient comparison with the suboscines. Passeri is a very large group made up of about 4,500 species.
Passerines are small to medium-sized land birds, ranging from about 7.5 to about 117 cm (3 to 46 inches) in overall length. Among the tiniest species are some of the New World flycatchers (Tyrannidae), New Zealand wrens (Xenicidae), titmice (Paridae), flowerpeckers (Dicaeidae), tanagers (Thraupidae), and waxbills (Estrildidae). The heaviest are the lyrebirds (Menuridae) of Australia and the ravens (Corvus). The longest species, the ribbon-tailed bird-of-paradise (Astrapia mayeri), is actually not so large in body bulk but has extremely long tail feathers. Most passerine species fall within the range of about 12.5 to 20 cm (5 to 8 inches) in length and from 15 to 30 grams (0.5 to 1 ounce) in weight. A house sparrow (Passer domesticus), for example, is 12 to 15 cm (5 to 6 inches) long and weighs about 26 grams (0.9 ounce); a cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is 20 to 23 cm (8 to 9 inches) long and weighs approximately 44 grams (1.6 ounces).
Passerines have evolved a great diversity of feeding adaptations. The majority are insectivorous, at least at certain times of their lives. Members of the order have evolved many ways for finding insect food: swallows (Hirundinidae) are aerial feeders; New World flycatchers “hawk” insects by flying out from a perch; vireos (Vireonidae) glean insects from small twigs and foliage; woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptidae), nuthatches (Sittidae), and creepers (Certhiidae) search for insects in crevices in tree bark; and many other species pick and scratch on the ground and in leaf litter. More-specialized passerines eat aquatic insects (dippers: Cinclidae), fish (some New World flycatchers: Tyrannidae), fruit (cotingas: Cotingidae; and many others), leaves (plantcutters: Phytotoma), nectar (sunbirds: Nectariniidae), small land vertebrates (shrikes: Laniidae), and seeds (finches and many others). For these different food habits, various structural specializations have developed, especially in the bill and feet (see below Form and function).
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A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "songbird".
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What type of bird is a songbird?
What are passerine & Passeriformes?
What is a Passeri bird?
What is a songbird & what do they do?
Passerines and Songbirds. Roughly 60 percent of all bird species are passerines, but only about 40 percent of the families. Thus, this order makes up an extremely large fraction of bird diversity, and the families within it have a disproportionately high average number of species.
