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List of birds of Baxter State Park facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Welcome to a list of amazing birds you can find in Baxter State Park in Maine, a state in the United States. As of June 2004, people have spotted 178 different kinds of birds here!

This list follows a special order, like how scientists group animals together. It uses the Check-list of North and Middle American Birds from the American Ornithological Society (AOS). The common names for the bird families come from the Clements taxonomy.

Contents

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl: What Are They?

Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anatidae

This family includes ducks, geese, and swans. These birds are super good at living in water! They have webbed feet, flat bills, and special feathers that shed water easily.

Pheasants, Grouse, and Their Friends

Order: Galliformes   Family: Phasianidae

This group includes pheasants and their relatives. They are ground-dwelling birds, usually plump with short, wide wings. Many of these birds are hunted for sport or raised for food.

Grebes: Diving Birds

Order: Podicipediformes   Family: Podicipedidae

Grebes are small to medium-sized birds that dive in freshwater. They have special lobed toes, making them amazing swimmers and divers. However, their feet are set far back on their bodies, so they are clumsy on land.

Pigeons and Doves: Common Birds

Order: Columbiformes   Family: Columbidae

Pigeons and doves are birds with sturdy bodies, short necks, and thin bills. They also have a fleshy part at the base of their bill called a cere.

Cuckoos: Long Tails and Strong Legs

Order: Cuculiformes   Family: Cuculidae

The cuckoo family includes cuckoos, roadrunners, and anis. These birds vary in size but usually have slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs.

Nightjars and Allies: Nighttime Hunters

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Caprimulgidae

Nightjars are medium-sized birds that are active at night. They often nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very small bills. Their soft feathers are colored to blend in with bark or leaves, making them hard to spot.

Swifts: Masters of Flight

Order: Apodiformes   Family: Apodidae

Swifts are small birds that spend most of their lives flying. They have very short legs and almost never land on the ground. Instead, they perch on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long, swept-back wings that look like a crescent moon.

Hummingbirds: Tiny and Fast Flyers

Order: Apodiformes   Family: Trochilidae

Hummingbirds are tiny birds that can hover in the air by flapping their wings super fast. They are the only birds that can fly backward!

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots: Shy Water Birds

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Rallidae

This is a large family of small to medium-sized birds like rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. They usually live in thick plants near lakes, swamps, or rivers. They are often shy and hard to see. Most have strong legs and long toes, perfect for walking on soft, uneven ground.

Plovers and Lapwings: Open Country Birds

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Charadriidae

This family includes plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, pointed wings. You can find them in open areas all over the world, especially near water.

Sandpipers and Allies: Shoreline Foragers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Scolopacidae

This is a large family of shorebirds, including sandpipers, curlews, and snipes. Most of these birds eat small bugs they find in mud or soil. Different leg and bill lengths allow many species to feed in the same places without competing for food.

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers: Seabirds

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae

This family includes gulls, terns, and skimmers. They are medium to large seabirds, usually gray or white with black marks on their heads or wings. They have longish bills and webbed feet.

Loons: Excellent Swimmers

Order: Gaviiformes   Family: Gaviidae

Loons are aquatic birds, about the size of a large duck, but they are not related. They are mostly gray or black with spear-shaped bills. Loons swim very well and fly okay, but they are almost helpless on land because their legs are placed far back on their bodies.

Cormorants and Shags: Dark Water Birds

Order: Suliformes   Family: Phalacrocoracidae

Cormorants are medium to large water birds, usually dark-colored with patches of colored skin on their faces. Their bills are long, thin, and sharply hooked. They have four webbed toes on each foot.

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns: Wading Birds

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Ardeidae

This family includes herons, egrets, and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns have shorter necks and are more secretive. These birds fly with their necks pulled back, unlike other long-necked birds.

New World Vultures: Nature's Clean-Up Crew

Order: Cathartiformes   Family: Cathartidae

New World vultures look like Old World vultures, but they are not closely related. They look similar because they evolved to do the same job: eating dead animals. Unlike Old World vultures, which find food by sight, New World vultures have a great sense of smell to find carcasses.

Osprey: The Fish Hawk

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Pandionidae

The Osprey family has only one type of bird. Ospreys are fish-eating birds of prey. They have a very large, strong hooked beak for tearing meat, powerful legs, strong talons, and excellent eyesight.

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites: Powerful Hunters

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Accipitridae

This family includes hawks, eagles, kites, and harriers. These birds of prey have very large, strong hooked beaks for tearing meat from their prey. They also have strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight.

Owls: Nighttime Predators

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Strigidae

Typical owls are solitary birds of prey, active at night. They have large eyes that face forward and big ears. They also have a hawk-like beak and a circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.

Kingfishers: Big Heads, Pointed Bills

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Alcedinidae

Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails.

Woodpeckers: Tree Tappers

Order: Piciformes   Family: Picidae

Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks. They have short legs, stiff tails, and long tongues for catching insects. Many woodpeckers tap loudly on tree trunks with their beaks.

Falcons and Caracaras: Fast Hunters

Order: Falconiformes   Family: Falconidae

This family includes falcons and caracaras. They are birds of prey that hunt during the day. Unlike hawks and eagles, falcons kill their prey with their beaks instead of their talons.

Tyrant Flycatchers: Insect Eaters

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Tyrannidae

Tyrant flycatchers are found across North and South America. They look a bit like Old World flycatchers but are stronger with tougher bills. Most of them eat insects.

Vireos: Greenish Songbirds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Vireonidae

Vireos are small to medium-sized birds found only in the New World. They are usually greenish and look like wood warblers, but they have heavier bills.

Shrikes: The Butcher Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Laniidae

Shrikes are known for catching other birds and small animals. They sometimes impale the uneaten parts on thorns, like a butcher! A shrike's beak is hooked, similar to a bird of prey.

Crows, Jays, and Magpies: Smart Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Corvidae

This family includes crows, ravens, and jays. Corvids are larger than many other songbirds, and some of the bigger ones are very intelligent.

Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice: Woodland Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Paridae

The Paridae family includes small, sturdy woodland birds with short, strong bills. They can adapt well to different environments and eat a mix of seeds and insects.

Larks: Ground Birds with Songs

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Alaudidae

Larks are small ground birds often known for their fancy songs and display flights. Most larks are not very colorful. They eat insects and seeds.

Swallows: Aerial Acrobats

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Hirundinidae

The swallow family is built for catching food while flying. They have slender bodies, long pointed wings, and short bills with wide mouths. Their feet are good for perching, not walking.

Kinglets: Tiny Crowned Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Regulidae

Kinglets are a small family of birds that look a bit like titmice. They are very tiny insect-eating birds. Adult kinglets have colorful crowns, which is how they got their name.

Waxwings: Berries and Insects

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Bombycillidae

Waxwings have soft, silky feathers and unique red tips on some of their wing feathers. These tips look like sealing wax, giving them their name. They live in northern forests, eating insects in summer and berries in winter.

Nuthatches: Head-First Climbers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Sittidae

Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have a special ability to climb down trees headfirst, which most other birds cannot do. Nuthatches have big heads, short tails, and strong bills and feet.

Treecreepers: Bark Explorers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Certhiidae

Treecreepers are small woodland birds, brown on top and white underneath. They have thin, pointed, down-curved bills. They use their bills to pull insects out of tree bark. Like woodpeckers, they use their stiff tail feathers to support themselves on vertical trees.

Wrens: Small but Loud Singers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Troglodytidae

Wrens are small and often hard to see, but they have very loud songs! They have short wings and thin, down-curved bills. Many species hold their tails straight up. All wrens eat insects.

Mockingbirds and Thrashers: Amazing Mimics

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Mimidae

This family includes thrashers, mockingbirds, and catbirds. These birds are famous for their voices, especially their amazing ability to copy the sounds of many other birds and outdoor noises. They usually have dull gray and brown feathers.

Starlings: Social Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Sturnidae

Starlings are small to medium-sized birds from the Old World with strong feet. They fly strongly and directly, and most live in large groups. They prefer open areas and eat insects and fruit. Many species have dark feathers with a shiny, metallic look.

Thrushes and Allies: Ground Feeders with Songs

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Turdidae

Thrushes are a group of birds mostly found in the Old World. They are plump, soft-feathered, and small to medium-sized. They eat insects or sometimes everything, often feeding on the ground. Many thrushes have beautiful songs.

Wagtails and Pipits: Slender Ground Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Motacillidae

This family includes wagtails and pipits. They are small birds with medium to long tails. They are slender, eat insects from the ground, and live in open areas.

Finches, Euphonias, and Allies: Seed Eaters

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Fringillidae

Finches are seed-eating birds, small to medium-large, with strong, usually cone-shaped beaks. They have a bouncy flight, flapping their wings and then gliding with them closed. Most finches sing well.

Longspurs and Snow Buntings: Open Grassland Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Calcariidae

This group of birds used to be considered part of the New World sparrows. However, they are different in many ways and are usually found in open grassy areas.

New World Sparrows: Distinctive Head Patterns

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Passerellidae

Most birds in this family are called sparrows, but they are not closely related to the Old World sparrows. Many of these birds have unique patterns on their heads.

Troupials and Allies: Colorful New World Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Icteridae

The icterids are a group of small to medium-sized, often colorful birds found only in the New World. This family includes grackles, New World blackbirds, and orioles. Most species are mainly black, often with bright yellow, orange, or red colors.

New World Warblers: Small and Bright

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Parulidae

The wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful birds found only in the New World. Most live in trees, but some spend more time on the ground. Most members of this family eat insects.

Cardinals and Allies: Strong-Billed Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Cardinalidae

Cardinals are a family of strong, seed-eating birds with powerful bills. They usually live in open woodlands. Male and female birds often have different colored feathers.

See also

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List of birds of Baxter State Park Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.