The Bird Family Tree | Eric Ray
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
This is a pretty good presentation of recent knowledge of the avian evolutionary tree, and includes photos of many of the families and most of the orders of birds. It packs a lot into 30 minutes. Eric also discusses topics like convergent evolution, the paleognathes, and the mobile-like maneuverability of the lineages at the nodes. I disagree with him slightly on his polytomies as I think there is recent information on dating the nodes which he didn’t use. Not sure what all that means? Watch the film. Then you’ll know, probably for forever. Then, knowing all this, your birding ventures will be that much more interesting.
If you know of a better explanation of reasonable length, send it to me and I’ll post it.
I’ve written a few blogs on this subject.
Cladogram of forty-one Avian Orders | Taxonomy 9. Link
Avian Checklist of 41 Orders & 251 Families | Taxonomy 10. Link.
Discover more from SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 
Thanks for sharing Eric Ray’s engaging presentation on the avian evolutionary tree—it’s a rich 30-minute dive into bird family diversity that makes evolutionary concepts feel approachable. Your insights on convergent evolution and maneuverability bring great depth, and it’s inspiring to see this grounded in an honors capstone project. I’d love to hear more about any recent findings on node dating to revisit those polytomies!
LikeLike
Hi Angeljane290:
You’re welcome.
I’m planning on doing an update to my cladogram and/or checklists of Sept. last year found here:
However, as you sound knowledgeable and interested, let me know if you’d like to do one and I’ll either post it here, or link to it if you put it online elsewhere. I find myself quite pressed for time and energy and I’d welcome any assistance. Various organizations (AOS, e-bird, Birds of the World) have traditionally done their annual updates in August in the past, but I think some may be putting it off due to the entrance of AviList onto the scene.
Let me know.
Yours, Chuck
LikeLike