List of passerine families

Taxonomic list of Passeriformes families




This list is in taxonomic order, placing related species/groups next to each other. The Passerida subdivisions are updated as needed from the default sequence of the Handbook of the Birds of the World, based on the most modern and comprehensive studies.

Suborder Acanthisitti

 * Acanthisittidae: New Zealand wrens



=Eupasseres=

Suborder Tyranni
The suborder Tyranni are also called suboscines.

Infraorder Eurylaimides

 * Philepittidae: asities
 * Eurylaimidae: eurylaimid broadbills
 * Sapayoidae: Broad-billed Sapayoa
 * Smithornithidae: African broadbill
 * Calyptomenidae: calytomenid broadbills
 * Pittidae: pittas



Infraorder Tyrannides
New World suboscines

Superfamily Tyrannida

 * Pipridae: manakins
 * Cotingidae: cotingas
 * Oxyruncidae: the Sharpbill
 * Onychorhynchidae: Royal Flycatcher & allies
 * Tityridae: tityras and allies.
 * Pipritidae: piprites
 * Platyrinchidae: spadebills
 * Tachurididae: the Many-coloured Rush Tyrant
 * Rhynchocyclidae: mionectine flycatchers
 * Tyrannidae: tyrant flycatchers

Superfamily Furnariida

 * Melanopareiidae: crescent-chests
 * Conopophagidae: gnateaters and gnatpittas
 * Thamnophilidae: antbirds
 * Grallariidae: antpittas
 * Rhinocryptidae: tapaculos
 * Formicariidae: antthrushes
 * Furnariidae: ovenbirds and woodcreepers



Infraorder Menurida
The most ancient true songbirds, endemic to Australia. Considered to be a suborder on the TiF checklist..
 * Menuridae: lyrebirds
 * Atrichornithidae: scrub-birds

Infraorder Climacterida
A group of two families endemic to Australasia.
 * Climacteridae: Australian treecreepers
 * Ptilonorhynchidae: bowerbirds



Infraorder Meliphagida

 * Maluridae: fairywrens, emu-wrens and grasswrens
 * Dasyornithidae: bristlebirds. Formerly in Acanthizidae.
 * Pardalotidae: pardalotes. Formerly in Acanthizidae.
 * Meliphagidae: honeyeaters

Infraorder Orthonychida
The massive multigene analysis of Aggerbeck et al. (2014) finds them to be sisters, albeit fairly deeply separated. They split off before the division between the Corvida and Passerida, which means they are in the paracorvids.
 * Orthonychidae: logrunners
 * Pomatostomidae: pseudo-babblers

Superfamily Mohouoidea

 * Mohouidae: Whitehead and allies

Superfamily Orioloidea

 * Oreoicidae: Australo-Papuan bellbirds
 * Falcunculidae: shriketits
 * Cinclosomatidae: quail-thrushes and jewel-babblers
 * Pachycephalidae: whistlers and allies.
 * Eulacestomatidae: Wattled Ploughbill
 * Oriolidae: Old World orioles and figbirds
 * Paramythiidae: painted berrypeckers
 * Psophodidae: whipbirds and wedgebills
 * Pteruthiidae: shrike-babblers
 * Vireonidae: vireos

Superfamily Neosittoidea

 * Neosittidae: sittellas

Superfamily Malaconotoidea

 * Campephagidae: cuckooshrikes and trillers
 * Rhagologidae: Mottled Berryhunter
 * Artamidae: woodswallows, butcherbirds, currawongs, peltops, and Australian Magpie
 * Machaerirhynchidae: boatbills
 * Aegithinidae: ioras
 * Pityriaseidae: Bornean Bristlehead
 * Malaconotidae: puffbacks, bushshrikes, tchagras, gonoleks and boubous
 * Platysteiridae: wattle-eyes and batises
 * Vangidae: vangas, helmetshrikes, philentomas and woodshrikes



Superfamily Corvoidea
A highly diverse group of global distribution, but most plentiful in the Australasian region and surroundings. The oldest truly globally successful group of passerines, they include among them what may well be the most intelligent and the most spectacular of the order.


 * Dicruridae: drongos
 * Lamproliidae: Silktail, Drongo Fantail
 * Rhipiduridae: fantails
 * Ifritidae: Blue-capped Ifrita
 * Melampittidae: melampittas
 * Corcoracidae: Australian mudnesters
 * Paradisaeidae: birds-of-paradise
 * Monarchidae: monarch flycatchers
 * Laniidae: shrikes
 * Platylophidae: Crested Jay
 * Corvidae: crows, ravens, choughs, treepies, magpies and jays



Superfamily Melanocharitoidea

 * Melanocharitidae: berrypeckers and longbills

Superfamily Cnemophiloidea

 * Cnemophilidae: satinbirds

Superfamily Callaeoidea

 * Notiomystidae: Stitchbird
 * Callaeidae: New Zealand wattlebirds
 * Petroicidae: Australasian robins

Superfamily Picathartoidea

 * Picathartidae: rockfowl
 * Chaetopidae: rockjumpers. Recently split from Turdidae.
 * Eupetidae: Rail-babbler. Recently split from Cinclosomatidae.



Superfamily Paroidea

 * Stenostiridae: fairy flycatchers. A newly assembled family; sometimes included in Paridae.
 * Hyliotidae: hyliotas. Recently split from Sylviidae.
 * Remizidae: penduline tits
 * Paridae: tits, chickadees and titmice



Superfamily Sylvioidea
Mostly insectivores, distribution centered on the Indo-Pacific region. Few occur in the Australian region and fewer still in the Americas. Usually sleek and drab birds, few have pronounced sexual dimorphism.

"Nicatoridae-Panuridae-Alaudidae"
 * Nicatoridae: nicators. Formerly in Pycnonotidae.
 * Panuridae: Bearded Reedling (Bearded "Tit"). Relationships enigmatic. Formerly in Paradoxornithidae.
 * Alaudidae: larks

"Macrosphenidae"
 * Macrosphenidae: African warblers. Formerly in Sylviidae.

"Acrocephalus group"
 * Pnoepygidae: wren-babblers. Formerly in Timaliidae
 * Acrocephalidae: reed-warblers. Recently split from Sylviidae.
 * Donacobiidae: Black-capped Donacobius. Formerly in Troglodytidae and Mimidae.
 * Bernieridae: Malagasy warblers. A newly assembled family. Formerly in Pycnonotidae, Syvliidae and Timaliidae.
 * Locustellidae: grassbirds. Formerly in Sylviidae.
 * Cisticolidae: cisticolas and allies. Formerly in Sylviidae.

"Swallows, Bulbuls"
 * Hirundinidae: swallows and martins
 * Pycnonotidae: bulbuls

"Hyliidae, Aegithalidae, Cettiidae, and Phylloscopidae"
 * Hyliidae: hylias
 * Aegithalidae: long-tailed tits or bushtits
 * Cettiidae: cettiid warblers. Recently split from Sylviidae.
 * Phylloscopidae: leaf-warblers and allies. Recently split from Sylviidae.

"Babblers and allies"
 * Sylviidae: sylviid warblers
 * Paradoxornithidae: parrotbills and fulvettas
 * Zosteropidae: white-eyes and yuhinas
 * Timaliidae: babblers and scimitar-babblers
 * Pellorneidae: ground-babblers
 * Leiothrichidae: laughingthrushes

Superfamily Reguloidea

 * Regulidae: kinglets

Superfamily Bombycilloidea

 * Elachuridae: Spotted Elachura
 * Mohoidae: Hawaiian honeyeaters
 * Ptilogonatidae: silky flycatchers
 * Dulidae: Palmchat
 * Hypocoliidae: Grey Hypocolius and Hylocitrea
 * Bombycillidae: waxwings

Superfamily Certhioidea



 * Tichodromadidae: Wallcreeper. Traditionally placed as a subfamily of the nuthatches and more rarely of the treecreepers. Thus it is better considered a monotypic family.
 * Sittidae: nuthatches and Spotted Creeper
 * Certhiidae: treecreepers
 * Polioptilidae: gnatcatchers
 * Troglodytidae: wrens

Superfamily Muscicapoidea
Mostly insectivores, near-global distribution centered on Old World tropics. One family endemic to Americas. Nearly absent (except introductions) from the Australian region. Usually rather stocky for their size, most are quite dark and dull though Sturnidae are commonly iridescent and/or colorful. Sexual dimorphism often absent, sometimes pronounced.

"Oxpeckers, Starlings, Mockingbirds"
 * Buphagidae: oxpeckers. Formerly usually included in Sturnidae.
 * Mimidae: mockingbirds and thrashers
 * Sturnidae: starlings, mynas and Philippine creepers. Philippine creepers formerly had their own family, Rhabdornithidae.

"Dippers, Thrushes, Old World flycatchers"
 * Cinclidae: dippers
 * Muscicapidae: Old World flycatchers, Alethe, niltavas, African robins and chats. Formerly in Turdidae.
 * Turdidae: thrushes, Grandala, solitaires and robins



Superfamily Passeroidea
Mostly herbivores including many seed-eaters, near-global distribution centered on Palearctic and Americas. Includes the Nine-primaried oscines (probably a subclade). A very high proportion of colorful and highly sexually dimorphic forms.

"Basal Passeroidea"
 * Promeropidae: sugarbirds
 * Arcanatoridae: Sub-Saharan babblers
 * Dicaeidae: flowerpeckers
 * Nectariniidae: sunbirds
 * Irenidae: fairy-bluebirds
 * Chloropseidae: leafbirds

"Core Passeroidea"
 * Urocynchramidae: Przewalski's Finch. Recently split from Fringillidae.
 * Peucedramidae: Olive Warbler
 * Prunellidae: accentors

"Estrildid clade"
 * Ploceidae: weavers, bishops and queleas
 * Viduidae: Cuckoo Finch, indigobirds and whydahs
 * Estrildidae: waxbills, parrotfinches, mannikins, munias and quailfinches

"Passerid clade"
 * Passeridae: true sparrows





Nine-primaried oscines

 * Motacillidae: wagtails and pipits

"Sibley and Monroe's Fringillidae"
 * Sibley and Monroe's (1990) Fringillidae included all of the remaining birds, over 1000 of them. Most authors use a finely-grained family structure for these species that roughly corresponds to Sibley and Monroe's tribes. The TIF taxonomy divides Sibley and Monroe's Fringillidae into 11.


 * Fringillidae: true finches, euphonias and Hawaiian honeycreepers

Epifamily Icteroidea
 * Calcariidae: snow buntings and longspurs
 * Rhodinocichlidae: Rosy Thrush-Tanager

"Buntings and Sparrows"
 * Emberizidae: Old World buntings
 * Passerellidae: American sparrows. Recently split from Emberizidae.

"Blackbirds and Warblers"
 * Phaenicophilidae: palm-tanagers and allies
 * Incertae sedis: Teretistris and Wrenthrush
 * Icteridae: grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles
 * Parulidae: New World warblers

"Thraupid group"
 * Microspingidae: Mitrospingus and allies
 * Cardinalidae: cardinals and grosbeaks
 * Thraupidae: tanagers, Darwin's finches, dacnises, saltators, Bananaquit, honeyeaters and flower-piercers