Songbirds are the main group of birds in the order Passeriformes. They are the suborder Passeri, sometimes called 'oscines' (Latin for songbird). They are a genuine clade.

There are about 4000 species of songbird. Their syrinx (vocal organ) is able to produce varied and beautiful singing. They are a very successful group of birds, in fact they are the dominant birds on Earth today.

It seems songbirds evolved 50 million years ago in the part of Gondwana which later became Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and Antarctica. They then spread around the world.

Song 
Their song is mainly territorial: it communicates the identity and whereabouts of an individual to other birds of the same species. It also signals sexual intentions. Female preference in some populations is based on the extent of a male's song repertoire. The larger a male's repertoire, the more females a male individual attracts. 

Bird calls are also used for alarms and contact. They are especially important in birds that feed or migrate in flocks. Although almost all birds give calls of some sort, well-developed songs are only given by a few lines outside the songbirds.

Families

Corvida 
This is now known to be a paraphyletic group and so it is not used in modern systematics.
Menuridae
 Menuridae: lyrebirds
Atrichornithidae:  scrub birds
Bowerbirds and Australian treecreepers
 Ptilonorhynchidae:  bowerbirds
 Climacteridae:  Australian treecreepers
 Meliphagoidea: honeyeaters and allies
 Maluridae:  fairy-wrens, emu-wrens and grasswrens
 Meliphagidae:  honeyeaters and chats
 Acanthizidae:  pardalotes, scrubwrens, thornbills, and gerygones
 Australopapuan babblers
 Pomatostomidae:  Australasian babblers
 Logrunners
 Orthonychidae: logrunners

 Other basal lines
 Cinclosomatidae:  whipbirds and allies
 Neosittidae:  sittellas
 Pachycephalidae:  whistlers, shrike-thrushes, pitohuis and allies
 Dicruridae:  monarch flycatchers and allies
 Campephagidae:  cuckoo shrikes and trillers
 Oriolidae:  orioles including figbird
 Artamidae:  woodswallows, butcherbirds, currawongs and Australian magpie
 Paradisaeidae:  birds of paradise
 Corvidae:  crows, rooks, ravens, magpies, and jays
 Corcoracidae:  white-winged chough and apostlebird
 Irenidae:  fairy-bluebirds
 Laniidae:  shrikes
 Vireonidae:  vireos

Passerida 
This is accepted as a clade.
 Petroicidae:  Australian robins
 Alaudidae: larks
 Chloropseidae:  leafbirds
 Aegithinidae:  ioras
 Picathartidae:  rockfowl
 Eupetidae: rail-babbler
 Bombycillidae:  waxwings and allies
 Ptilogonatidae:  silky flycatchers
 Cinclidae:  dippers
 Motacillidae:  wagtails and pipits
 Prunellidae:  accentor
 Melanocharitidae:  berrypeckers and longbills
 Paramythiidae:  tit berrypecker and crested berrypeckers
 Passeridae:  true sparrows
 Estrildidae:  estrildid finches (waxbills, munias, etc.)
 Parulidae:  New World warblers
 Thraupidae:  tanagers and allies
 Peucedramidae:  olive warbler
 Fringillidae:  true finches
 Cardinalidae: cardinals
 Drepanididae:  Hawaiian honeycreepers
 Emberizidae:  buntings and American sparrows
 Nectariniidae:  sunbirds
 Dicaeidae:  flowerpeckers
 Mimidae:  mockingbirds and thrashers
 Sittidae:  nuthatches
 Certhiidae:  treecreepers
 Troglodytidae:  wrens
 Polioptilidae:  gnatcatchers
 Paridae:  tits, chickadees and titmice
 Aegithalidae:  long-tailed tits
 Hirundinidae:  swallows and martins
 Regulidae:  kinglets
 Pycnonotidae:  bulbuls
 Phylloscopidae: leaf-warblers and allies. Recently split from Sylviidae.
 Sylviidae:  Old World warblers
 Hypocoliidae:  Hypocolius
 Cisticolidae:  cisticolas and allies
 Icteridae:  American blackbirds, New World orioles, grackles and cowbirds.
 Zosteropidae:  white-eyes
 Timaliidae:  babblers
 Muscicapidae:  Old World flycatchers and chats
 Turdidae:  thrushes and allies
 Sturnidae:  starlings

References

Other websites 

 Oscines Tree of Life web project article July 31, 2006
 Pictures of Songbirds

Birds of Oceania