Waterfowl Families (Ducks, Geese, Swans)

This group gathers taxon/Bird Families subcategory members that are themselves bird families belonging to the order Anseriformes, the waterfowl, ducks, geese and swans, familiar aquatic birds found on lakes, rivers, wetlands and coastal waters across every continent except Antarctica. Every family gathered here shares webbed feet suited to swimming and a broad, flattened bill, in most species lined internally with comb-like structures called lamellae used to filter food from water or mud, and most species molt all their flight feathers at once after breeding, leaving them briefly flightless during a vulnerable period they typically spend on open water away from land predators. Many waterfowl species undertake long seasonal migrations between separate breeding and wintering ranges, timed to track the seasonal opening and freezing of the wetlands they depend on.