American Bird Conservancy
Sponsors "cats indoors" and pesticide-control campaigns, and has
developed a list of the world's 500 most important birding areas.
American Birding Association The nation's largest organization of birders. ABA Sales has capsule book
reviews. Other sections: conservation, education, events, membership.
Australian Birding Information
Covers tours, bird clubs, guide services, lodging, hotlines, references.
Organized by state. From Klaus Uhlenhut.
Backyard Birding Information and links on feeding, housing, and attracting wild birds, with
backyard reports. From the Baltimore Bird Club.
Beidaihe
Birding
A birding guide to Beidaihe, a resort on China's east coast and the place
to see east Asian migrants, according to the author, Martin Williams. The town
checklist has some 390 species.
Bird Families
Summaries, photos and references. Classification based on The Handbook of the
Birds of the World. From Don Roberson of Monterey County, CA.
Bird Feeders and Houses
Commercial site featuring birdhouses approved by the North American Bluebird
Society, feeders, seed, related books and accessories.
Bird Index
A site for listers. Enter your life list, yard list, etc. This free site accepts
lists of up to 500 species. Your data becomes part of the new World Bird Atlas
Project.
Bird Watching Electronic
Listening Device
Features a product that uses a parabolic microphone and headphones to let you
hear and briefly record bird sounds (and human voices) from a distance of over
100 yards.
Bird Watching Forum Share your knowledge and sightings; check forums on hummingbirds, bluebirds, wildlife
gardening, optics.
BirdCast Data on Neotropical migrants moving through the mid-Atlantic region.
BirdChat Archives Weekly archive of discussions on BirdChat, a mailing list with some 2,800
subscribers at all levels of experience.
BirdForum
Sections on worldwide birding, photography, reviews of hotspots and equipment,
and an illustrated database of nearly 10,000 species.
BirdGuides Online
Commercial U.K. site covers birding sites in Europe, North Africa and the Middle
East; British bird clubs; bird feeding; books; links; and sightings.
Birding America
Follow a birder as she travels to hotspots armed with a digital camera.
Birding in
Brazil Covers endemics, threatened species, hotspots (some with checklists),
selected families, worldwide links. Compiled by a judge in Sao Paulo.
Birding in China's
Qinling Mountains
A checklist and images of birds found in this east-to-west mountain range, which
separates northern and southern China. More than 200 species occur in the
range's temperate forests. The mission of the site's creators is to protect
nature reserves, stimulate the local economy, and provide environmental
education through ecotours to see birds and giant pandas.
Birding.com Covers books, equipment, hotspots, identification; has checklists, photos, links.
Birding Guide
Includes news, photos, trip reports, migration info, and sections on bird
families, optics, forums, clubs, feeding.
Birding in the Forest of Dean Area
(England)
To encourage birding and nature watching among disabled
and housebound people in the area of the Royal Forest of Dean, this site
compiles daily reports organized by observer and date.
Birding Israel
Field reports, birding tours, a checklist, and photos from an increasingly
popular birding destination.
Birding on the Net Links arranged geographically and by species/family, with sections on software, equipment, books,
trips, artists, recent bird-related articles.
BirdLife International
Alliance of conservation organizations in 100 countries. Listing authority for
birds on the IUCN Red List. Sections with data on species and habitat.
BirdNet Scientific information from 10 North American ornithological societies.
Bird of Manitoba
Ann Cook is a "digiscoper" of birds, a photographer who uses a digital
camera attached to a spotting scope. Her site has some stunning images.
Birds.com
Reproduces the Open Directory's birds and
birdwatching categories, which have recently narrowed their scope.
BirdSource - Cornell Lab of Ornithology Compilations of range, migration, population, and habitat data on American
birds, derived from an army of birdwatching participants.
Birdzilla - The Internet Birding Site Commercial
portal includes online life list and, in the Omnibus section, the text of Bent's Life
Histories (scanned from Dover Press editions).
Bluebird
Fact Sheet
Illustrated page includes nest-box plans and predator-guard recommendations,
with day-by-day summary of nestling development.
Bluebird Reference Guide
Links to resources on how to encourage bluebirds to nest and feed safely around
your home.
Cerulean Warbler
Protection
The Southern Environmental Law Center's case for placing the declining cerulean
warbler on the Endangered Species List.
eBird
Cornell Lab of Ornithology resource includes some state bird checklists, rare
bird reports and population data searchable by species and location.
Field Guide to
International Field Guides Annotated list of field guides to plants and animals occurring outside the
United States, arranged by subject and by region.
Field
Guide to North American Birds
Includes portraits, songs, and range maps for many species. From Percevia, which
also offers commercial bird databases, including Pocket-PC software for field
identification.
Fotosearch Stock
Photos
Searchable library of some 1,900 bird-related images that are available for
licensing from a stock photo agency in Wisconsin.
Fuertes Image Database
Search Cornell University's collection of bird art by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.
GORP Birding Articles, guides, species information, books, trips; commercially oriented.
Dear Web Surfer:
There’s a great wilderness in America. It’s not in Alaska or in the national
parks of the West. Most people don’t know about it because it hasn’t
received a lot of press. It’s a wilderness many of us can get to in minutes, a
place where we can experience wildlife drama first-hand. Read
more about it.
HawkWatch International Dedicated to protecting raptors and their environment through research, education, conservation.
Publishes seasonal count results.
Humabout
Includes zoo and feeder photos of Costa's, Anna's and rufous hummingbirds; poems
on hummingbirds by Emily Dickinson, D.H. Lawrence and others; screen savers;
links.
Hummingbirds.net Information on attracting, watching, feeding, and studying North American
hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds,
World of
Obviously a labor of love, this site aims to provide "any information about
hummingbirds you would ever want," including feeding tips and how hummers
migrate, interact, and sleep. Although the approach is generic, the
"types" section gives an overview of the 300+ species.
Info Service - Birding Scores of unannotated links relating mainly to birding in North
America.
Ivory-Billed Woodpecker - He's
Back!
A compilation of reports on the February 2004 rediscovery of the ivory-billed
woodpecker in Arkansas. This species had been presumed extinct in the U.S. since
1944.
Life of Birds
Companion site to the PBS series hosted by David Attenborough.
Lists
Hosted at listserve.arizona.edu Mailing lists hosted by the University of Arizona,
including BirdBand, BirdHawk, and regional lists of the National Birding
Hotline Cooperative.
Mexican
Birds English, Spanish, scientific names; links to photos.
Migratory Bird Management,
USFWS Includes population status reports for various bird species, published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
National Wildlife
Health Center Assesses the impact of disease on wildlife, including birds, and identifies the role of
pathogens in contributing to wildlife losses.
NatureServe
Conservation database on plants, animals, and ecosystems of the United
States, Canada, and Latin America, searchable by species and ecological
unit. Provides access to the Global Amphibian Assessment and to
assessments of the impact of invasive non-native plants. Data drawn from
local natural heritage programs and other sources, such as the IUCN.
Nature's
Wonderland Safaris
Nairobi-based tour operator offers wildlife-viewing packages to destinations
in East Africa, including six Kenya birding safaris.
Neotropical Bird Club For birders and ornithologists interested in Neotropical birds and their conservation.
Nesting Bald Eagles Follow the progress of a pair of bald eagles nesting on the Connecticut
River in Massachusetts.
New Zealand Birds Includes a checklist, the electronic "New Zealand Birds Journal,"
a picture gallery and sections covering songs, birding trips, local bird
mythology and trivia.
Ornithology Scientific information on wild birds, emphasizing conservation and education.
Owl Pages Detailed descriptions of species, with photos and sounds. Also covers owls
in mythology, art, books.
Pale Male - The Movie
Who would think that Central Park could be the setting for a superb
wildlife documentary? Belgian filmmaker Frederic Lilien proves as
much with Pale Male, which has high drama and stunning photography.
Photos, credits, video clips.
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center Portal to bird conservation programs and other wildlife-related activities
of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Peregrine Fund Has programs to save peregrine (4,000 releases in 28 states) and Aplomado
falcons, California condors, bald and Harpy eagles, Hawaiian forest birds.
Peterson Online About birds, birding and nature, covering rare bird alerts, books
(including references), CD-ROMs, links.
Raptor Center Aims to preserve diversity of raptors and other birds through
medical treatment, scientific investigation, education, management.
Rarebirds.com Compilation of rare, unusual, and interesting bird sightings.
Rec.birds Read postings to the Usenet newsgroup through Deja.com.
Red-tailed
Hawk Decline
August 2001 article from National Geographic on the Craighead family's
documented 50-year decline in the red-tails of Jackson Valley, WY.
Shakespeare's Birds
Illustrated, hyperlinked version of The Birds of Shakespeare (1916) by
Sir Archibald Geikie.
Sibley's
Classification of Birds
Eric Salzman's 1993 discussion of the re-classification of birds, based on DNA
analysis, of Sibley, Ahlquist and Monroe. Reprinted from Birding.
Sibley/Monroe World List of
Bird Names
From Sibley/Monroe's Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World and
its Supplement (combined in S/M's 1993 World Checklist of Birds).
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center Ecological, land-management, and conservation policy information on
Neotropical birds and biodiversity in the Neotropics.
Species Management
Abstracts Habitat management information from The Nature Conservancy on bird species that are important to protect, manage, or control.
Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder
The makers of the Rollerfeeder, designed to roll off squirrels harmlessly while
catering to small and medium songbirds, present their wares.
Surfbirds.com
Feature and ID articles, trip reports, photos, rarity and pelagic sections,
booklists, daily bird-related news, links. By British and American birders.
Taxonomic Changes Since
Sibley/Monroe 1993 Overview of changes in avian taxonomy, including species newly described, since
the 1993 publication of Sibley/Monroe's world checklist.
UK.rec.birdwatching Read postings to the United Kingdom birdwatching newsgroup.
Wild India
Info on wildlife sanctuaries in India, organized by location and season, with
sections on species, conservation, habitat and tour packages, including birding
trips.
Where Do You Want to
Go Birding Today? Information on birding in 179 countries, 10 provinces and 3 territories of Canada,
the 50 U.S. states; more than 500 images, thousands of links.
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership
Describes alliance of government and private organizations working to
reintroduce migratory whooping cranes to the eastern United States.
Whooping Crane - Operation
Migration
Group that has used ultralight planes to lead Canada Geese and, recently,
whooping cranes from northern breeding to southern wintering grounds.
Wildbirds.com
Commercial site that covers attracting, identifying, feeding, photographing,
protecting backyard birds.
A message from Robert Winkler
Jeff Brush/Connecticut Post (used with permission)
If you enjoyed this essay, I know you'll enjoy my critically
acclaimed book, Going Wild:
Adventures with Birds in the Suburban Wilderness (National
Geographic), which expands on many
of the short pieces I've posted here. Why do I write about birds? Because they represent the
wild in all its glory. They're numerous, diverse, intelligent, talkative, and
beautiful; their power of flight never ceases to amaze; and they're the most
conspicuous class of wild animal—even in the suburb, they're just about
everywhere. Whether you're a beginning or advanced birder, a fan of
nature writing, a curious suburbanite, or a reader in search of that rare
bird known as a good book, Going Wild could very well change how you
view your world. So get your copy now,
or buy one for your favorite birder or nature lover. Best deal on the Web: brand new, perfect copies $5 each (69% off) at National Geographic Books.
