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List of birds of Cuyahoga Valley National Park facts for kids

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This is a list of all the different kinds of birds that have been seen in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. This list was put together by the National Park Service in August 2022.

The birds are listed in a special order, like how scientists group them, based on the Check-list of North and Middle American Birds. This list helps us understand which birds live in the park. There are 245 different bird species in total! Most of these birds are regularly found in the park, either living there all year, visiting in summer or winter, or just passing through.

Some birds are seen more often than others. Here's what the tags next to their names mean:

  • (R) Rare - These birds are usually seen only a few times each year (40 species).
  • (Unc) Uncommon - You might see these birds every month if you look in the right places at the right time of year (63 species).
  • (O) Occasional - These birds show up in the park at least once every few years, but not always every single year (32 species).
  • (Unk) Unknown - We don't know how often this bird is seen (one species).
  • (Hist) Historical - These birds were once seen in the park, but not anymore (four species).
  • (I) Introduced - These birds were brought to North America by people, not naturally (six species).

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anatidae

This family includes ducks, geese, and swans. These birds are great at living in water. They have webbed feet for swimming, flat bills, and special oily feathers that keep them dry.

New World Quail

Order: Galliformes   Family: Odontophoridae

New World quails are small, round birds that live on the ground. They are not closely related to the quails from other parts of the world, but they look and act similar.

Pheasants, Grouse, and Similar Birds

Order: Galliformes   Family: Phasianidae

This family includes pheasants and their relatives. These birds live on land and come in different sizes. They are usually plump with wide, short 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 that make them excellent swimmers and divers. However, their feet are set far back on their bodies, so they are clumsy on land.

Pigeons and Doves

Order: Columbiformes   Family: Columbidae

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

Cuckoos: Long-tailed Birds

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 Their Relatives

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Caprimulgidae

Nightjars are medium-sized birds that are active at night. They usually build their nests on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very small bills. Their soft feathers are colored to help them blend in with tree bark or leaves.

Swifts: Birds of the Air

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 or a boomerang.

Hummingbirds: Tiny 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

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Rallidae

This is a large family of small to medium-sized birds like rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. They often live in thick plants near lakes, swamps, or rivers. They are usually shy and hard to spot. Most have strong legs and long toes, which help them walk on soft, uneven ground. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are not strong flyers.

Cranes: Tall and Graceful Birds

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Gruidae

Cranes are large birds with long legs and long necks. Unlike herons, which look similar, cranes fly with their necks stretched out, not pulled back. Many cranes have amazing and loud dances they do when they are trying to find a mate.

Plovers and Lapwings

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, usually near water.

Sandpipers and Their Relatives

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Scolopacidae

This is a large and varied family of small to medium-sized shorebirds. It includes sandpipers, curlews, godwits, and snipes. Most of these birds eat small bugs they find in mud or soil. Different lengths of legs and bills allow many species to feed in the same places without competing for food.

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae

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

Loons: Diving Water Birds

Order: Gaviiformes   Family: Gaviidae

Loons are water birds about the size of a large duck, but they are not related to ducks. They are mostly gray or black and have bills shaped like spears. Loons swim well and fly okay, but they are very awkward on land because their legs are placed far back on their bodies.

Cormorants and Shags

Order: Suliformes   Family: Phalacrocoracidae

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

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Ardeidae

This family includes herons, egrets, and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large birds that wade in water. They have long necks and legs. Bitterns usually have shorter necks and are more secretive. When birds in this family fly, they pull their necks back, unlike other long-necked birds like storks.

Ibises and Spoonbills

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Threskiornithidae

This family includes ibises and spoonbills. They have long, wide wings and long bodies with long necks and legs. Their bills are also long; ibises have curved bills, while spoonbills have straight, flat bills that look like spoons.

New World Vultures

Order: Cathartiformes   Family: Cathartidae

New World vultures are not closely related to vultures from other parts of the world, but they look similar because they evolved in similar ways. Like other vultures, they eat dead animals. However, New World vultures can smell dead animals, while Old World vultures find them by sight.

Osprey: Fish-Eating Bird of Prey

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Pandionidae

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

  • Osprey, Pandion haliaetus (Unc)

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

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 claws, and sharp eyesight.

Barn-Owls: Heart-Faced Hunters

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Tytonidae

Barn-owls are medium to large owls with big heads and unique heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful claws.

Owls: Nighttime Hunters

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Strigidae

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

Kingfishers: Fisher Birds

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Alcedinidae

Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long pointed bills, short legs, and short tails. They are known for catching fish.

Woodpeckers: Tree Tappers

Order: Piciformes   Family: Picidae

Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks, short legs, stiff tails, and long tongues. They use their tongues to catch insects. Many woodpeckers have two toes pointing forward and two backward, which helps them climb trees. They often tap loudly on tree trunks with their beaks.

Falcons and Caracaras

Order: Falconiformes   Family: Falconidae

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

Tyrant Flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Tyrannidae

Tyrant flycatchers are songbirds found across North and South America. They look a bit like flycatchers from other parts of the world but are stronger and have tougher bills. They don't sing as complex songs as other songbirds. Most of them are plain-looking, and they mainly eat insects.

Vireos, Shrike-Babblers, and Erpornis

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Vireonidae

Vireos are a group of small to medium-sized songbirds found only in the Americas. They are usually greenish and look like wood-warblers, but they have stronger bills.

Shrikes: Impaling Hunters

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Laniidae

Shrikes are songbirds known for catching other birds and small animals. They often stick the parts they don't eat onto thorns. A shrike's beak is hooked, similar to a bird of prey.

Crows, Jays, and Magpies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Corvidae

This family includes crows, ravens, jays, and magpies. Corvids are larger than most songbirds, and some of the bigger ones are very smart.

Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Paridae

The Paridae family includes small, sturdy woodland birds with short, strong bills. Some have crests on their heads. They are adaptable birds that eat a mix of seeds and insects.

Larks: Ground Birds with Songs

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Alaudidae

Larks are small birds that live on the ground. They often have amazing songs and special flights they do to show off. Most larks look quite plain. They eat insects and seeds.

Swallows: Aerial Feeders

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Hirundinidae

The swallow family is built for catching food while flying. They have slender, smooth bodies, long pointed wings, and short bills with wide mouths. Their feet are made for perching, not walking, and their front toes are partly joined at the base.

Kinglets: Tiny Crowned Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Regulidae

Kinglets are a small family of birds that look like titmice. They are very tiny birds that eat insects. Adult kinglets have colorful crowns on their heads, which is how they got their name.

Waxwings: Silky Feathered Birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Bombycillidae

Waxwings are a group of birds with soft, silky feathers and unique red tips on some of their wing feathers. These tips look like sealing wax, giving them their name. These birds 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 can't 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, downward-curved bills, which they use to pull insects out of tree bark. They have stiff tail feathers, like woodpeckers, that help them support themselves on vertical tree trunks.

Gnatcatchers: Tiny Insect Hunters

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Polioptilidae

These delicate birds look and act like Old World warblers, constantly moving through leaves to find insects. Gnatcatchers are mostly soft bluish-gray and have the typical long, sharp bill of an insect-eater. Many species have distinct black patterns on their heads (especially males) and long, black-and-white tails that they often hold upright.

Wrens: Small Birds with Loud Songs

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Troglodytidae

Wrens are small and often hard-to-see birds, except for their very loud songs. They have short wings and thin, downward-curved bills. Several species often hold their tails straight up. All wrens eat insects.

Mockingbirds and Thrashers: Mimic Masters

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Mimidae

This family includes thrashers, mockingbirds, and catbirds. These birds are famous for their amazing singing, especially their ability to copy many different bird calls and other sounds they hear outside. These species usually have dull gray and brown feathers.

Starlings: Metallic Sheen Birds

Common starling in london
European starling

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Sturnidae

Starlings are small to medium-sized songbirds 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 Their Relatives

Hylocichla mustelina (cropped)
Wood thrush

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Turdidae

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

Old World Sparrows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Passeridae

Old World sparrows are small songbirds. Generally, sparrows are small, plump, brownish or grayish birds with short tails and strong, short beaks. Sparrows eat seeds, but they also eat small insects.

Wagtails and Pipits

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Motacillidae

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

Finches, Euphonias, and Their Relatives

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Fringillidae

Finches are songbirds that eat seeds. They are small to medium-sized and have strong beaks, usually cone-shaped. All finches have twelve tail feathers and nine main wing feathers. These birds fly with a bouncing motion, flapping their wings and then gliding with them closed. Most finches sing well.

Longspurs and Snow Buntings

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Calcariidae

The Calcariidae are a group of songbirds that were once thought to be part of the New World sparrows. However, they are different in many ways and are usually found in open grassy areas.

New World Sparrows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Passerellidae

Until 2017, these birds were grouped with another family, but now they have their own. Most of these birds are called sparrows, but they are not closely related to the Old World sparrows. Many of them have unique patterns on their heads.

Yellow-breasted Chat

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Icteriidae

This bird was once thought to be a wood-warbler, but scientists weren't sure. In 2017, it was given its own family.

Troupials and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Icteridae

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

New World Warblers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Parulidae

Wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful songbirds found only in the Americas. Most live in trees, but some spend more time on the ground. Most birds in this family eat insects.

Cardinals and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Cardinalidae

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

See also

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List of birds of Cuyahoga Valley National Park Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.