Soccer Dad

Taxonomy

My 11 year old went on a bike ride today. He said that a cardinal flew in front of him. He joked that it was jay-walking. That led to his question: Are blue jays and cardinals of the same family? (He pointed out that their "crowns" tilted backwards look similar.)
Well the answer is no and yes. Jays and Cardinals are of the same order - Passeriformes; but Jays are of the family Corvidae and Cardinals are of the family Cardinalidae.
Blue Jays are apparently more closely related to Magpies, Crows and Ravens who are also of the family Corvidae.
What's the difference between an order and a family? Apparently orders are typically made up of six or seven families.
For all of you baseball fans, Orioles are also of the order Passeriformes (or perching bird) but of the family Icteridae. UPDATE:According to the taxonomy article Orioles are of the Emberizidae family. The orchard oriole is of the Icteridae family; perhaps, despite its name, its not really an Oriole.
And if you're really a baseball fan, I believe that Pat Hentgen is the only player to play for all three of the bird teams. I guess he's certainly of the Passeriformes order; though I'd be hard pressed to identify his family.
Incidentally the Cornell Lab of Ornithology appears to have a tremendously informative website. Other websites that helped have been the Dictionary of Animals and Forestry Images.

Posted by SoccerDad at July 8, 2004 10:29 PM