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. Brown booby, Sula leucogaster (A) Anhingas Order: SuliformesFamily: Anhingidae Anhingas are cormorant-like water birds with very long necks and long, straight beaks. They are fish eaters which often swim with only their neck above the water. Anhinga, Anhinga anhinga Cormorants and shags Order: SuliformesFamily: Phalacrocoracidae Cormorants are medium-to-large aquatic birds, usually with mainly dark plumage and areas of colored skin on the face. The bill is long, thin and sharply hooked. Their feet are four-toed and webbed. Double-crested cormorant, Nannopterum auritum Neotropic cormorant, Nannopterum brasilianum 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 Brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis (C) 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 Great blue heron, Ardea herodias Great egret, Ardea alba Snowy egret, Egretta thula Little blue heron, Egretta caerulea Tricolored heron, Egretta tricolor Reddish egret, Egretta rufescens (P) Cattle egret, Bubulcus ibis Green heron, Butorides virescens Black-crowned night-heron, Nycticorax nycticorax Yellow-crowned night-heron, Nyctanassa violacea 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. White ibis, Eudocimus albus Glossy ibis, Plegadis falcinellus White-faced ibis, Plegadis chihi Roseate spoonbill, Platalea ajaja (C) New World vultures Order: CathartiformesFamily: Cathartidae The New World vultures are not closely related to Old World vultures, but superficially resemble them because of convergent evolution. Like the Old World vultures, they are scavengers. However, unlike Old World vultures, which find carcasses by sight, New World vultures have a good sense of smell with