RESOURCES on BIRDS (descriptions are taken from the particular sources)
Avibase is an extensive database information system about all birds of the world, containing over 1.9 million records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages and more. This site is managed by Denis Lepage and hosted by Bird Studies Canada, the Canadian copartner of Birdlife International. Avibase has been a work in progress for nearly 12 years and I am now pleased to offer it as a service to the bird-watching and scientific community. http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/avibase.jsp
SORA (Searchable Ornithological Research Archive) - The SORA project
(http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora) is an open access electronic journal archive and
is the product of a collaboration between the American Ornithologists Union, the
Cooper Ornithological Society, the Association of Field Ornithologists, the
Wilson Ornithological Society and the University of New Mexico libraries and IT
department. This archive provides access to an extensive Ornithological
literature of international scope, and detailed material documenting the history
of Ornithology in North America over the last 120 years. The content of this
site includes the following titles: The Auk (1884-1999), The Condor (1899-2000),
The Journal of Field Ornithology (1930-1999), North American Bird Bander
(1976-2000) The Wilson Bulletin (1889-1999), Pacific Coast Avifauna (1900-1974)
and Studies in Avian Biology (1978-1999). The California Birds/Western Birds
(1970-2004), Ornithological Monographs (1964-2005), and Ornitologia Neotrpical
(1990-2002) can be browsed but present can not be found using the site's search
boxes.
I had a chance to meet and talk with
Dr. Blair Wolf, the coordinator of SORA, in Sep 2006, and he indicated funds are
being solicited to bring all journals up-to-date online as well as bring other
journals into the fold. A number of people have indicated trouble with
searches and downloads. Dr. Wolf indicated that one needs to have all of
the appropriate programs up-to-date (JavaScript, Adobe, browsers, etc) in order
for things to work properly. Over 95% of the problems stem from these
issues.
OWL (Ornithological Worldwide Literature) - OWL is a compilation of citations and abstracts from the worldwide scientific literature that pertain to the science of ornithology. A major attraction is its coverage of the 'grey' literature, which are not abstracted by commercial databases such as Zoological Record or the Science Citation Index.
SORA covers American ornithological literature, while the OWL coverage is more international.
Internet Bird Collection - videos of birds of the world. There are clips of varying lengths and qualities of birds around the world. Some groups are well represented, while others are poorly represented (only two clips for Bower birds). It is a free-access online collection being put together by the Internet Bird Collection (IBC) with the aim of sharing knowledge of all species of the world's avifauna. An interesting part is that you can immediately rate each video clip you view for its quality and ornithological value. Many are simply good views of birds (for birders), while others show bird behavior. Some clips are of poorer quality not because of the video, but often because of the situation and/or the difficulty of filming the bird. http://www.hbw.com/ibc
Regional Bird Conservation Planning: Birds and land Uses - provides summaries of land cover and bird survey data for purposes of state and regional bird conservation planning across the continental U.S. An interactive map that allows you to visualize land uses for counties and summarize bird counts obtained through the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) for areas such as Federal lands, counties, states, and other geographic divisions. Select a specific location and calculate number of bird species observed on BBS routes adjacent to that location. Obtain info on amount of forest within a county and, e.g. number of Golden-winged Warblers counted by BBS within or near county. Can download displayed data for each state. Has help section for novice GIS users.
Updated: 06 May 2007