| Birds |
| Birds are a very large family of animals, so many, that they are broken down into groups by order, according to the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy- a new and increasingly approved taxonomy based on DNA analysis, as opposed to the older taxonomy, which was more based on appearance, geography, and behavior. |
| Ciconiiformes (including Falconiformes) | |
| Ciconiiformes traditionally included long-legged wading birds with large bills. The Sibley-Ahlquist theory broadened the category to include the older order Faloniformes. |
 |
| Columbiformes | |
| Columbiformes is a large order, containing the world's doves and pigeons, as well as the extinct Dodo bird. |  |
| Coraciiformes | |
| The Coraciiformes are a particularly colorful order, and all have three toes that point forward, and mostly spend their time in trees. They eat insects, lizards, and small mammals, depending on the size of the bird. |
 |
| Galliformes | |
| Galliformes is an order of birds that contains turkeys, grouse, quails and pheasants. In Africa, this includes the Guineafowl. |
 |
| Gruiformes | |
| Gruiformes is a diverse order, containing bustards, very large cranes, trumpeters, etc... Most of these are wading birds. |
 |
| Passeriformes | |
| Passeriformes is the largest order of birds, with over half the
species belonging to this group. Passerines are also called perching
birds, and there are over 5400 species- twice as many as rodents, the most
diverse order of the mammals. Many of the passerines are songbirds and have evolved complicated vocal controls. |
 |
| Phoenicopteriformes | |
| Phoenicopteriformes consists only of Flamingoes, of which there are six varieties. Two of those varieties- Greater and Lesser, exist in Africa. |
 |
| Psittaciformes | |
| Psittaciformes are basically parrots, of which there are 353 species currently known. We only saw one parrot in Tanzania- Fischer's Lovebird, but we saw quite a few of them. |  |
| Struthioniformes | |
| Struthioniformes are also called Ratites, and are flightles birds including the Ostriches, Emus, Moa and Kiwis, among others. In Africa, Ostriches are widely distributed in Tanzania. |  |
