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Information about Waterfowl

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Falcated Duck at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre, Gloucestershire, England
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Ducks at Narrabeen Lake, Sydney, Australia


Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans.

They are strong swimmers with medium to large bodies. They have historically been an important food source, and continue to be hunted as game, or raised as poultry for meat and eggs. The domestic duck is sometimes kept as a pet.

Some definitions of the term 'waterfowl' include the saltwater shorebirds or waders, gulls, pelicans, and herons, as well as seabirds such as the albatross, and even the penguin, but generally 'fowl' refers to birds used by humans.

Waterfowl families

The following are groups of birds traditionally classed as waterfowl ; all but the rails are in the Anseriformes order.

See also

References

  • Madge and Burn, Wildfowl ISBN 0-7470-2201-1
  • Taylor and van Perlo, Rails SBN 90-74345-20-4
Anseriformes
Wagler, 1831

Families
  • Anhimidae
  • Anseranatidae
  • Anatidae
  • †Dromornithidae
  • †Presbyornithidae
  • †Gastornidae(?)


The order Anseriformes
..... Click the link for more information.
Waterbird redirects here. See also shorebirds and seabirds.

Ducks, geese and swans

Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)


Scientific classification
..... Click the link for more information.
Duck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. The ducks are divided between several subfamilies listed in full in the Anatidae article. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, mostly smaller than their relatives the swans and geese, and may be found in
..... Click the link for more information.
Goose (plural geese, male gander(s)) is the English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than geese, and ducks, which are smaller.
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Swans can refer to:
  • Swan, the bird.
  • Swans, the band.
  • Sydney Swans, Australian rules football club
  • Swansea City F.C., a football club nicknamed the Swans.

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Poultry is the category of domesticated birds kept for meat, eggs, and feathers. These most typically are members of the order Galliformes (which includes chickens and turkeys) and the family Anatidae (in order Anseriformes), commonly known as "waterfowl" (e.g.
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Domesticated ducks are ducks that are raised for meat, eggs and down. Many ducks are also kept for show, as pets or for their ornamental value. Almost all of the varieties of domesticated ducks are descended from the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos
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Charadrii

Families
  • Ibidorhynchidae
  • Recurvirostridae
  • Haematopodidae
  • Charadriidae
Waders, called shorebirds in North America (where "wader" is used to refer to long-legged wading birds such as storks and herons), are members
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Laridae
Vigors, 1825

Genera

Larus
Rissa
Pagophila
Rhodostethia
Xema
Creagus

Gulls are birds in the family Laridae.
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Ardeidae
Leach, 1820

Genera

See text.

The herons are wading birds in the Ardeidae family. Some are called egrets or bitterns instead of herons.
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Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar
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Diomedeidae
G.R. Gray, 1840

Genera

Diomedea
Thalassarche
Phoebastria
Phoebetria

Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae
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Sphenisciformes
Sharpe, 1891

Family: Spheniscidae
Bonaparte, 1831

Modern genera
  • Aptenodytes
  • Eudyptes
  • Eudyptula
  • Megadyptes
  • Pygoscelis

..... Click the link for more information.
Galloanserae
Sibley, Ahlquist & Monroe, 1988

Orders
  • Galliformes
  • Anseriformes


The birds referred to as "fowl" belong to one of two orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl (Galliformes) and the waterfowl (Anseriformes).
..... Click the link for more information.
Anseriformes
Wagler, 1831

Families
  • Anhimidae
  • Anseranatidae
  • Anatidae
  • †Dromornithidae
  • †Presbyornithidae
  • †Gastornidae(?)


The order Anseriformes
..... Click the link for more information.
Waterbird redirects here. See also shorebirds and seabirds.

Ducks, geese and swans

Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)


Scientific classification
..... Click the link for more information.
Duck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. The ducks are divided between several subfamilies listed in full in the Anatidae article. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, mostly smaller than their relatives the swans and geese, and may be found in
..... Click the link for more information.
Goose (plural geese, male gander(s)) is the English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than geese, and ducks, which are smaller.
..... Click the link for more information.
Cygnus
Bechstein, 1803

Species

6-7 living, see text.
Synonyms

Cygnanser Kretzoi, 1957

Swans are large water birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks.
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Anseranatidae
Sclater, 1880

Genus: Anseranas
Lesson, 1828

Species: A.
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Rallidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera

some 40 living, and see text.

The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small to medium-sized birds.
..... Click the link for more information.

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Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust is a wildfowl and wetland conservation charity in the United Kingdom. Its patron is Queen Elizabeth II.

It was founded in 1946 by the ornithologist and artist Sir Peter Scott, initially as the Severn Wildfowl Trust.
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Ducks Unlimited

Founder Joseph Knapp

Type Wildlife Conservation
Founded 1936
Headquarters Memphis, Tennessee
Key people Jim Hulbert, M.D. President
Don A.
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