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List of birds of Prince Edward Island
 Prince Edward Island is the smallest province within Canada. It is part of The Maritimes and is separated to the north from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia by the Northumberland Strait.[1] The information provided is from the most recent Field Checklist of Birds published by the Government of Prince Edward Island's Department of Agriculture and Forestry, which contains 369 species observed in the province as of 2014.[2] Of these, 78 are accidentals, 38 are occasional, and 13 are hypotheticals as defined below. Two species have been introduced to Prince Edward Island and another four were introduced elsewhere in North America. This list is presented in the taxonomic sequence of the Check-list of North and Middle American Birds, 7th edition through the 62nd Supplement, published by the American Ornithological Society (AOS).[3] Common and scientific names are also those of the Check-list, except that Canadian English spellings are used and the common names of families are from the Clements taxonomy because the AOS list does not include them. The following tags are used to categorise some species. The DAF Checklist provides abundance codes by season, and species may be abundant in one season and accidental in another. Therefore, an (A), (O), or (H) code is used here when a "higher" code does not also apply.
Ducks, geese, and waterfowl .jpg)  Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, bills which are flattened to a greater or lesser extent, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to special oils.
Pheasants, grouse, and allies.jpg) Order: Galliformes Family: Phasianidae Phasianidae consists of the pheasants and their allies. These are terrestrial species, variable in size but generally plump with broad relatively short wings. Many species are gamebirds or have been domesticated as a food source for humans.
Grebes Order: Podicipediformes Family: Podicipedidae Grebes are small to medium-large freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, they have their feet placed far back on the body, making them quite ungainly on land.
Pigeons and doves Order: Columbiformes Family: Columbidae Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a fleshy cere. They feed on seeds, fruit and plants. Unlike most other birds, the doves and pigeons produce "crop milk," which is secreted by a sloughing of fluid-filled cells from the lining of the crop. Both sexes produce this highly nutritious substance to feed to the young.
Cuckoos Order: Cuculiformes Family: Cuculidae The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos, roadrunners, and anis. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs.
Nightjars and alliesOrder: Caprimulgiformes Family: Caprimulgidae Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds that usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very short bills. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is cryptically coloured to resemble bark or leaves.
SwiftsOrder: Apodiformes Family: Apodidae The swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. These birds have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent or boomerang.
Hummingbirds.jpg) Order: Apodiformes Family: Trochilidae Hummingbirds are small birds capable of hovering in mid-air due to the rapid flapping of their wings. They are the only birds that can fly backwards.
Rails, gallinules, and coots.jpg) Order: Gruiformes Family: Rallidae Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. The most typical family members occupy dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps, or rivers. In general they are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.
CranesOrder: Gruiformes Family: Gruidae Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Most have elaborate and noisy courting displays or "dances".
Stilts and avocetsOrder: Charadriiformes Family: Recurvirostridae Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds which includes the avocets and stilts. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.
Oystercatchers_in_flight.jpg) Order: Charadriiformes Family: Haematopodidae The oystercatchers are large, obvious and noisy plover-like birds, with strong bills used for smashing or prising open molluscs.
Plovers and lapwings Order: Charadriiformes Family: Charadriidae The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.
Sandpipers and allies-2.jpg)   Order: Charadriiformes Family: Scolopacidae Scolopacidae is a large diverse family of small to medium-sized shorebirds including the sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers, and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Different lengths of legs and bills enable multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.
Skuas and jaegers Order: Charadriiformes Family: Stercorariidae Skuas and Jaegers are in general medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They have longish bills with hooked tips and webbed feet with sharp claws. They look like large dark gulls, but have a fleshy cere above the upper mandible. They are strong, acrobatic fliers.
Auks, murres, and puffins Order: Charadriiformes Family: Alcidae Alcids are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colours, their upright posture, and some of their habits, however they are only distantly related to the penguins and are able to fly. Auks live on the open sea, only deliberately coming ashore to nest.
Gulls, terns, and skimmers  Order: Charadriiformes Family: Laridae Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds and includes gulls, terns, kittiwakes, and skimmers. They are typically grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have stout, longish bills and webbed feet.
Loons Order: Gaviiformes Family: Gaviidae Loons are aquatic birds, the size of a large duck, to which they are unrelated. Their plumage is largely grey or black, and they have spear-shaped bills. Loons swim well and fly adequately, but are almost hopeless on land, because their legs are placed towards the rear of the body.
Southern storm-petrelsOrder: Procellariiformes Family: Oceanitidae The storm-petrels are the smallest seabirds, relatives of the petrels, feeding on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering. The flight is fluttering and sometimes bat-like. Until 2018, this family's three species were included with the other storm-petrels in family Hydrobatidae.
Northern storm-petrelsOrder: Procellariiformes Family: Hydrobatidae Though the members of this family are similar in many respects to the southern storm-petrels, including their general appearance and habits, there are enough genetic differences to warrant their placement in a separate family.
Shearwaters and petrelsOrder: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels", characterized by united nostrils with medium septum and a long outer functional primary.
Boobies and gannetsOrder: Suliformes Family: Sulidae The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish.
Cormorants and shagsOrder: Suliformes Family: Phalacrocoracidae Cormorants are medium-to-large aquatic birds, usually with mainly dark plumage and areas of coloured skin on the face. The bill is long, thin, and sharply hooked. Their feet are four-toed and webbed.
PelicansOrder: Pelecaniformes Family: Pelecanidae Pelicans are very large water birds with a distinctive pouch under their beak. Like other birds in the order Pelecaniformes, they have four webbed toes.
Herons, egrets, and bitternsOrder: Pelecaniformes Family: Ardeidae The family Ardeidae contains the herons, egrets, and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more secretive. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises, and spoonbills.
Ibises and spoonbillsOrder: Pelecaniformes Family: Threskiornithidae The family Threskiornithidae includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings. Their bodies tend to be elongated, the neck more so, with rather long legs. The bill is also long, decurved in the case of the ibises, straight and distinctively flattened in the spoonbills.
New World vulturesOrder: Cathartiformes Family: Cathartidae The New World vultures are not closely related to Old World vultures, but superficially resemble them because of convergent evolution. Like the Old World vultures, they are scavengers. However, unlike Old World vultures, which find carcasses by sight, New World vultures have a good sense of smell with which they locate carcasses.
OspreyOrder: Accipitriformes Family: Pandionidae Pandionidae is a family of fish-eating birds of prey possessing a very large, powerful hooked beak for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight. The family is monotypic.
Hawks, eagles, and kitesOrder: Accipitriformes Family: Accipitridae Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey which includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, and Old World vultures. These birds have very large powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight.
Barn-owlsOrder: Strigiformes Family: Tytonidae Owls in the family Tytonidae are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces.
OwlsOrder: Strigiformes Family: Strigidae Typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak, and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.
KingfishersOrder: Coraciiformes Family: Alcedinidae Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails.
WoodpeckersOrder: Piciformes Family: Picidae Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks, short legs, stiff tails, and long tongues used for capturing insects. Some species have feet with two toes pointing forward and two backward, while several species have only three toes. Many woodpeckers have the habit of tapping noisily on tree trunks with their beaks.
Falcons and caracarasOrder: Falconiformes Family: Falconidae Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey, notably the falcons and caracaras. They differ from hawks, eagles, and kites in that they kill with their beaks instead of their talons.
Tyrant flycatchersOrder: Passeriformes Family: Tyrannidae Tyrant flycatchers are Passerine birds which occur throughout North and South America. They superficially resemble the Old World flycatchers, but are more robust and have stronger bills. They do not have the sophisticated vocal capabilities of the songbirds. Most, but not all, are rather plain. As the name implies, most are insectivorous.
Vireos, shrike-babblers, and erpornisOrder: Passeriformes Family: Vireonidae The vireos are a group of small to medium-sized passerine birds mostly restricted to the New World, though a few other members of the family are found in Asia. They are typically greenish in colour and resemble wood-warblers apart from their heavier bills.
ShrikesOrder: Passeriformes Family: Laniidae Shrikes are passerine birds known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns. A shrike's beak is hooked, like that of a typical bird of prey.
Crows, jays, and magpies Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, choughs, magpies, treepies, nutcrackers, and ground jays. Corvids are above average in size among the Passeriformes, and some of the larger species show high levels of intelligence.
Tits, chickadees, and titmiceOrder: Passeriformes Family: Paridae The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.
LarksOrder: Passeriformes Family: Alaudidae Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights. Most larks are fairly dull in appearance. Their food is insects and seeds.
SwallowsOrder: Passeriformes Family: Hirundinidae The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings, and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking, and the front toes are partially joined at the base.
KingletsOrder: Passeriformes Family: Regulidae The kinglets are a small family of birds which resemble the titmice. They are very small insectivorous birds. The adults have coloured crowns, giving rise to their name.
WaxwingsOrder: Passeriformes Family: Bombycillidae The waxwings are a group of passerine birds with soft silky plumage and unique red tips to some of the wing feathers. In the Bohemian and cedar waxwings, these tips look like sealing wax and give the group its name. These are arboreal birds of northern forests. They live on insects in summer and berries in winter.
NuthatchesOrder: Passeriformes Family: Sittidae Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have the unusual ability to climb down trees head first, unlike other birds which can only go upwards. Nuthatches have big heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet.
TreecreepersOrder: Passeriformes Family: Certhiidae Treecreepers are small woodland birds, brown above and white below. They have thin pointed down-curved bills, which they use to extricate insects from bark. They have stiff tail feathers, like woodpeckers, which they use to support themselves on vertical trees.
GnatcatchersOrder: Passeriformes Family: Polioptilidae These dainty birds resemble Old World warblers in their structure and habits, moving restlessly through the foliage seeking insects. The gnatcatchers are mainly soft bluish grey in colour and have the typical insectivore's long sharp bill. Many species have distinctive black head patterns (especially males) and long, regularly cocked, black-and-white tails.
WrensOrder: Passeriformes Family: Troglodytidae Wrens are small and inconspicuous birds, except for their loud songs. They have short wings and thin down-turned bills. Several species often hold their tails upright. All are insectivorous.
Mockingbirds and thrashersOrder: Passeriformes Family: Mimidae The mimids are a family of passerine birds which includes thrashers, mockingbirds, tremblers, and the New World catbirds. These birds are notable for their vocalization, especially their remarkable ability to mimic a wide variety of birds and other sounds heard outdoors. The species tend towards dull greys and browns in their appearance.
StarlingsOrder: Passeriformes Family: Sturnidae Starlings and mynas are small to medium-sized Old World passerine birds with strong feet. Their flight is strong and direct and most are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country, and they eat insects and fruit. The plumage of several species is dark with a metallic sheen.
Thrushes and alliesOrder: Passeriformes Family: Turdidae The thrushes are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly but not exclusively in the Old World. They are plump, soft plumaged, small to medium-sized insectivores or sometimes omnivores, often feeding on the ground. Many have attractive songs.
Old World flycatchersOrder: Passeriformes Family: Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family of small passerine birds. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing.
Old World sparrowsOrder: Passeriformes Family: Passeridae Old World sparrows are small passerine birds. In general, sparrows tend to be small plump brownish or greyish birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects.
Wagtails and pipitsOrder: Passeriformes Family: Motacillidae Motacillidae is a family of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They include the wagtails, longclaws, and pipits. They are slender ground-feeding insectivores of open country.
Finches, euphonias, and alliesOrder: Passeriformes Family: Fringillidae Finches are seed-eating passerine birds, that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.
Longspurs and snow buntingsOrder: Passeriformes Family: Calcariidae The Calcariidae are a group of passerine birds that were traditionally grouped with the New World sparrows, but differ in a number of respects and are usually found in open grassy areas.
New World sparrowsOrder: Passeriformes Family: Passerellidae Until 2017, these species were considered part of the family Emberizidae. Most of the species are known as sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the Old World sparrows which are in the family Passeridae. Many of these have distinctive head patterns.
Yellow-breasted chatOrder: Passeriformes Family: Icteriidae This species was historically placed in the wood-warblers (Parulidae) but nonetheless most authorities were unsure if it belonged there. It was placed in its own family in 2017.
Troupials and alliesOrder: Passeriformes Family: Icteridae The icterids are a group of small to medium-sized, often colourful passerine birds restricted to the New World and include the grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles. Most species have black as a predominant plumage colour, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red.
New World warblersOrder: Passeriformes Family: Parulidae The wood-warblers are a group of small, often colourful, passerine birds restricted to the New World. Most are arboreal, but some are more terrestrial. Most members of this family are insectivores.
Cardinals and alliesOrder: Passeriformes Family: Cardinalidae The cardinals are a family of robust, seed-eating birds with strong bills. They are typically associated with open woodland. The sexes usually have distinct plumages.
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