wings and deeply forked tails. The males have coloured inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week. Magnificent frigatebird (), Fregata magnificens (A) Boobies and gannets Order: SuliformesFamily: Sulidae The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish. Northern gannet (), Morus bassanus Cormorants and shags Order: SuliformesFamily: Phalacrocoracidae Cormorants are medium-to-large aquatic birds, usually with mainly dark plumage and areas of coloured skin on the face. The bill is long, thin, and sharply hooked. Their feet are four-toed and webbed. Great cormorant (), Phalacrocorax carbo Double-crested cormorant (), Nannopterum auritum Pelicans Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Pelecanidae Pelicans are very large water birds with a distinctive pouch under their beak. Like other birds in the order Pelecaniformes, they have four webbed toes. American white pelican (), Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (A) Herons, egrets, and bitterns Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Ardeidae The family Ardeidae contains the herons, egrets, and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more secretive. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises, and spoonbills. American bittern (), Botaurus lentiginosus Least bittern (), Ixobrychus exilis (A) Great blue heron (), Ardea herodias Great egret (), Ardea alba (A) Little egret (), Egretta garzetta (A) Snowy egret (), Egretta thula (A) Little blue heron (), Egretta caerulea (A) Tricoloured heron (), Egretta tricolor (A) Cattle egret (), Bubulcus ibis (A) Green heron (), Butorides virescens (A) Black-crowned night-heron (), Nycticorax nycticorax (A) Yellow-crowned night-heron (), Nyctanassa violacea (A) Ibises and spoonbills Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Threskiornithidae The family Threskiornithidae includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings. Their bodies tend to be elongated, the neck more so, with rather long legs. The bill is also long, decurved in the case of the ibises, straight and distinctively flattened in the spoonbills. Glossy ibis (), Plegadis falcinellus (A) Osprey Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Pandionidae Pandionidae is a family of fish-eating birds of prey possessing a very large, powerful hooked beak for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight. The family is monotypic. Osprey (), Pandion haliaetus Hawks, eagles, and kites Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Accipitridae