Favorite Bird Information Web Sites

Although I’ve said it before, it’s worth saying again … I LOVE this forum. Everyone is so friendly, the pictures are absolutely wonderful, and the information sharing is fantastic.

If I live to be 100, I won’t know half as much as Resin, Ned, Pelle and everyone else when it comes to identifying birds. I’ve got about a dozen books … some better than others … with bird pictures and identification information. Sometimes they help; and other times, they just confuse me more.

As a good example, my “Birds of New Mexico” field guide shows the Curve-Billed Thrasher; but it doesn’t even mention the Crissal Thrasher. I didn’t even know the Crissal Thrasher existed until Angele just posted a picture of one. When I saw her post, I went back through my photos (ones I thought were Curve-Billed Thrashers) and discovered that I actually have both types here. Thank your Angele for your post!

There has been some talk of trying to get Dave to start up a bird files. I think this would be great to have; but also a huge undertaking. Plus, there are some really good bird information web sites out on the Internet already.

That brings me to the reason for starting this new thread. I know we all have some favorite sites that we use to help us with identifying different birds. I thought it would be nice to have a new thread to share these sites with each other.

For starters, here a link to the Cornell Bird Guide:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide

Pros: The information here is really good and pretty comprehensive for American Birds.

Cons: Unless you already know what type of bird you’re dealing with, it can be difficult to find the information you’re looking for.

This is an invitation to everyone … Please post links to your favorite bird information sites here. And, tell us the pros and cons about the site. I’ll be adding a few more sites of my own soon.

Here's another site I've found helpful.

http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/ThumbnailGallery.html

Pros: Excellent photos, nicely organized by type of bird (waterfowl, seabirds, warblers, etc.)

Cons: Not much information ... just photos. (Note: If you can make a positive id by the photos here, you can then use Cornell web site to find more information.)

Another useful web site ...

http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/Sampler.htm

Pros: Lots and lots of bird photos ... world-wide, not just US. Also, very good for side-by-side comparison of similar birds (e.g. birds within the same family, order, etc.)

Cons: Like the Cornell web site, you have to already know the type of bird before you can find it on this web site.

The one I use most is the rare bird alert at birdguides.com (subscription only, and only carries UK bird news though).

Resin

This one is mostly Austrailian birds; but we have a lot of the same birds here in the US.

http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au

(Note: This link is the site's photo gallery. If you go up to their home, there is a lot of other information and links to other Austrailian bird info sites.)

Pros: Lots of good photos. Good for side-by-side comparison of similar sparrows, finches, raptors, etc.

Cons: Photos only. Not additional information.

Here are two of my favorites. I have a whole folder with bookmarks but these are the ones I use the most along with the Cornell site

http://identify.whatbird.com/mwg/_/0/attrs.aspx - when I don’t have a clue as to id this one is a particular favorite. Sometimes I only put in the information about colors & New Mexico for location and I am able to find my bird. I’m afraid it only covers Canada, Mexico & the USA.

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/infocenter.html
this one has a simple list of North American birds but when you click on the link the information you find for each bird is outstanding.

I'll take a look at all these and see about adding some to the "Sticky" thread.

This is a great thread! Thanks for posting!

"Sialis" is a site full of information about Bluebirds, how to attract them to your feeders and how to set up nestboxes:

http://www.sialis.org/handout.htm

This message was edited Feb 21, 2008 5:51 PM

I updated the Sticky; look in the first post. :-)



This message was edited Feb 21, 2008 5:37 PM