A vast study investigating bird genetics managed to uncover several new facts about the flyers evolutionary tree. Many rather surprising discoveries pointed out that similar studies in other areas or for other species might bring out new data about their past.

"One of the lessons we've learned is appearances seem to be very deceiving," said Sushma Reddy of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, according to Reuters, referring to the birds with many similar characteristics which evolved on completely different tracks and the ones with no apparent resemblance that turned out to be related.

The study is the largest one ever attempted on bird genetics and it is fully presented in the journal Science. The researchers closely observed 169 bird species in order to provide reliable facts and the process demanded five years of intense work.

Some of the conclusions refer to the hawks and eagles, which are not directly related to falcons, as believed; on the other hand, parrots and songbirds are way closer cousins than once thought, while the hummingbirds get their features from a nocturnal bird called nightjar. Flamingos and other aquatic birds had a different evolution path, without any connection to water birds and some ground-stuck birds share the genetics of birds that fly.

Also, hawks, owls, woodpeckers, hornbills and a few others are closely related to perching birds.

The three main categories set by the researchers are land birds, shore birds and water birds.

Referring to the huge amount of tests and verifications that the current discoveries now demand, Mrs. Reddy concluded: "I think a good study brings up as many questions as it answers," as quoted by Reuters.