Dunnock
Prunella modularis
Accentors (Prunellidae) · Passeriformes (Passeriformes)
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Often mixed up with
In quizzes, players most often confuse Dunnock with these birds— either this species was picked by mistake, or the other way around.
| Species | Mix-ups |
|---|---|
| House Sparrow Passer domesticus | 28 |
| Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus | 21 |
| Alpine Accentor Prunella collaris | 20 |
| Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe | 9 |
| Siberian Accentor Prunella montanella | 7 |
Family
The accentors are a genus of birds in the family Prunellidae, which is endemic to the Old World. This small group of closely related passerines are all in the genus Prunella. All but the dunnock and the Japanese accentor are inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia; these two also occur in lowland areas, as does the Siberian accentor in the far north of Siberia.
Order
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin passer 'sparrow' and formis '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest order of birds and one of the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of …