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The ducks, geese, and swans are small- to large-sized birds with a broad and elongated general body plan. [2] Diving species vary from this in being rounder. Extant species range in size from the cotton pygmy goose , at as little as 26.5 cm (10.5 in) and 164 g (5.8 oz), to the trumpeter swan , at as much as 183 cm (6 ft) and 17.2 kg (38 lb).
The avian family Anatidae, commonly called waterfowl, comprise the ducks, geese, and swans. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 174 Anatidae species distributed among 53 genera, 32 of which have only one species. Eight species on the list are extinct; they are marked (E). [1]
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the ...
The Anserinae are a subfamily in the waterfowl family Anatidae.It includes the swans and the true geese.Under alternative systematical concepts (see e.g., Terres & NAS, 1991), it is split into two subfamilies, the Anserinae contain the geese and the ducks, while the Cygninae contain the swans.
The word duck comes from Old English dūce 'diver', a derivative of the verb *dūcan 'to duck, bend down low as if to get under something, or dive', because of the way many species in the dabbling duck group feed by upending; compare with Dutch duiken and German tauchen 'to dive'.
The word "goose" is a direct descendant of Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns.In Germanic languages, the root gave Old English gōs with the plural gēs and gandra (becoming Modern English goose, geese, gander, respectively), West Frisian goes, gies and guoske, Dutch: gans, ganzen, ganzerik, New High German Gans, Gänse, and Ganter, and Old Norse gās and gæslingr, whence English gosling.
Anser is a waterfowl genus that includes the grey geese and the white geese.It belongs to the true goose and swan subfamily of Anserinae under the family of Anatidae. [2] The genus has a Holarctic distribution, with at least one species breeding in any open, wet habitats in the subarctic and cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in summer.
Geese and ducks are just two types of water birds, which include seabirds, shorebirds, waterfowl, and numerous other forms of birds. Video of gulls, ducks, and swans feeding on the Danube River in Vienna (2014) A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water.