NGM Blog Central - Birds of a Father - National Geographic Magazine

Some birds that look very different— say, bright hummingbirds and drab nightjars—are long-lost kin. Some never considered together, like songbirds and parrots, are really close relatives. Others that act similarly, such as falcons and other birds of prey, may be genetically unrelated.

Those are just some of the sure-to-cause-a-flap findings of the Early Bird Project, a landmark study led by Chicago’s Field Museum that compared the genes of 169 species and sequenced nuclear DNA from CT-WILD-taxonomy_inset

15 chromosomes to fill in big evolutionary holes. The bird branch of zoology has always been a thorny one, with little fossil evidence to show stages of development, making anatomy, appearance, and behavior the main means of gauging kinship—until now. With five years’ worth of new data, other long-held beliefs may also fly right out the window.

—Jeremy Berlin

Illustration: New data show that parrots, falcons, and chickadees (left to right) are closely related. Above left: hummingbird, nightjar.

Art: Aldo Chiappe

Posted by National Geographic Staff | Comments (1)
Filed Under: Science, Wide Angle, Wildlife

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Johanne Blouin Bourque
Apr 9, 2009 11AM #

Prince George British Columbia
Each day I observe them, look at them,
feed them, admired them and I picture it!
Northen Junco Oregon,House Finch, Sparrow. Flicker, starling, seagul, robin, black-capped chickadees, budgies,crows, Downy woodpeckers.
Pictures by SamediSearch.com

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