 Feather Quest - http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/FeatherQuest/FeatherQuest.html Interactive quiz. Can you identify the birds from which these feathers come? |
 Mechanics of Respiration in Birds - http://education.vetmed.vt.edu/Curriculum/VM8054/Labs/Lab26/Notes/birdresp.htm Notes and diagrams explaining how birds ventilate their lungs. |
 Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center - http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/MigratoryBirds/ Ecological and land-management research, education, conservation policy, data on migration and fact sheets. |
 Ornithological Worldwide Literature - http://egizoosrv.zoo.ox.ac.uk/owl/default.htm OWL is a compilation of citations and abstracts from worldwide publications concerning the science of ornithology. |
 Birdnet - http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/ Ornithological Council's website with comprehensive data about North American ornithological resources. |
 Ornithology: Science of Birds - http://www.ornithology.com/ Includes data on the science of wild birds, with an emphasis on conservation and education. |
 Power Napping in Pigeons - http://www.orn.mpg.de/aktuelles/presse/tauben_en.pdf Max Planck scientists find evidence that pigeons prevented from taking naps in the afternoon sleep more intensely at night. |
 Vocal Functions - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Vocal_Functions.html Songs identify the species of the singing bird. The territorial song of males serves the dual purpose of territorial proclamation directed at other males and of mate attraction directed toward females. |
 Vocal Dialects - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Vocal_Dialects.html Article describing how the songs of many avian species show geographic variation. |
 Sexual Selection - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Sexual_Selection.html Female birds of some species tend to choose as mates those males holding the most desirable territories, but there is little evidence that females preferentially select males with different degrees of ornamentation. |
 Vocal Copying - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Vocal_Copying.html Article describing how birds learn their songs from adult tutors and may incorporate sounds from other species into their repertoire. |
 Incubation: Heating the Egg - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Incubation.html Most birds create the required temperature by sitting on their eggs but some transfer heat through their webbed feet, and the megapodes of Australia bury them in a mound of decaying vegetation. |
 Urban Birds - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Urban_Birds.html Article discussing how birds have adapted to urban foraging amid the artificial concrete and steel ecosystems of cities. |
 Bird Milk - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Bird_Milk.html Article describing how the young of some birds are fed on special secretions from their parents. |
 Territoriality - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Territoriality.html Article describing how birds try to exclude others of the same species from their home range. |
 Creches - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Creches.html Article describing how some birds adopt the strategy of grouping their young, leaving them with a guardian while both parents go off to forage. |
 Parental Care - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Parental_Care.html The young of passerines when first hatched are naked, blind, and helpless and require much care which involves feeding, training and protection from predators. |
 Polygyny - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Polygyny.html Most birds are monogamous, but in some species the occurrence of polygyny, where one male mates with more than one female, is related to high-quality territories with an abundance of resources. |
 Population Dynamics - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Population_Dynamics.html Essay discussing the factors behind the variation in the number of individuals in a bird population over time. |
 List of Essays - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/SUFRAME.html Many articles on every aspect of bird life. A comprehensive and useful resource. |
 Site Tenacity - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Site_Tenacity.html Many birds return to the same nesting site each season. This essay discusses why this should be so. |
 A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of the Lung of an Ostrich - http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/204/13/2313 The colossal body size, the relinquishment of flight and the extreme thermal stresses on the ground make the examination of an ostrich’s lungs rewarding. |
 Flapping Flight: Inertial Studies - http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/198/8/1655 Technical article by researchers at Bristol University who measured the wings of bats and birds and calculated their efficiency in flight. |
 Sense of Direction - http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/04/0503/1b.shtml Article from the Princeton Weekly Bulletin outlining how Biologist Martin Wikelski is helping to settle the long-standing debate over how migratory birds manage to navigate in darkness and bad weather. |
 Bird Respiratory System - http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/RITCHISO/birdrespiration.html Article explaining how air sacs play an important part in the gaseous exchange in birds, with many diagrams. |
 Avian Reproduction: Clutch Size, Incubation and Hatching - http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/avianreproduction2.html Notes on clutch size optimization in birds, reproductive success, embryo development, incubation and the hatching process, with links to other similar articles. |
 Avian Reproduction: Anatomy and the Bird Egg - http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/avianreproduction.html Notes on the bird reproductive system and the development of the embryo, with explanatory drawings and photographs. |
 The Making of an Egg - http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0021.html Describes the development of the egg of a bird from the release of a mature ovum to the completed egg with shell being laid. |
 When and How do Birds Migrate - http://www.earthlife.net/birds/migration2.html Article discussing the varying strategies adopted by birds in finding their way when taking part in their long distance journeys. |
 Flight in Birds - http://www.earthlife.net/birds/flight.html How do birds fly? An introduction to flight in birds examining wing shape, airflows, flapping flight and gliding. |
 The Normal Moulting Process in Birds - http://www.parrotpassionsuk.com/Advice/Moulting.htm Talk given by Avian Vet A. K. Jones to a conference of the Association of Avian Veterinarians in August 1998. |
 Chicken Embryo - http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov04macro/mlchicken.html A number of fine photographs of the development of a chick inside the egg. |
 BirdMinds: Exploring Bird Intelligence - http://www.birdminds.com Examples of avian intelligence are reviewed for many different bird species, based upon scientific and anecdotal evidence. |
 ABCD: Avian Brain Circuitry Database - http://www.behav.org/abcd/abcd.php?proc=ares Searchable database of the regions of a bird’s brain. |
 The Mystery of Migration - http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/migration.htm Article that tries to answer the question of how and why birds migrate. |
 Electronic Resources on Ornithology - http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/NHR/bird.html Annotated links and ornithological articles by Christopher Majka. |
 A Tale of Two Boobies - http://www.pugetsound.edu/x13725.xml Biological examination and dissection at the Slater Museum of a booby that strayed to the Pacific Northwest. |
 Wing Image Collection - http://www.pugetsound.edu/x5662.xml The Slater Museum of Natural History provides a comprehensive selection of photographs of bird wings. |
 Bird Banding Laboratory - http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/ Based at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, issues permits to researchers in the United States who place uniquely numbered bands (rings) on birds' legs. Site features the history of banding and reporting of bird band observations. |
 Feathers - http://www.nurseminerva.co.uk/adapt/feathers.htm Illustrated article describing how feathers may have evolved and how they develop from a cylindrical feather follicles. |
 Teachers' Domain: Bird Beak Gallery - http://www.teachersdomain.org/resources/tdc02/sci/life/stru/beakgallery/index.html Provides an essay on beaks, and photographs of birds heads and beaks. |
 Bird Skull Collection - http://www.skullsite.co.uk/ Images and data about skulls of western Palearctic and Tropical species, with complete skeletons of some species. |
 Development and Uses of Avian Skeleton Collections - http://www.boc-online.org/PDF/vol124/Storrs%20Olson.pdf Skeletons are essential for the identification of fossils, bones from archaeological sites and food items taken by predators as well as histological and physiological studies. |
 Beak - http://www.ipedia.net/information/Beak Article describing the anatomy of this distinctive feature of birds which, in addition to eating, can be used for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, probing for food, courtship, and feeding the young. |
 Birdcall synthesis - http://www.obiwannabe.co.uk/tutorials/html/tutorial_birds.html Article describing how birds use their syrinx, throat and beak to make a wide range of tones without the sophisticated muscle structure possessed by humans. |
 The Atlas of Bird Migration - http://www.brownreference.com/php/PDFS/AN_Title_Information/457---Sample_Spreads.pdf Comprehensive article on the great challenge faced by long distance migrants which have to find their way to winter quarters and return to their breeding grounds in the spring. |
 Raptor Information System - http://ris.wr.usgs.gov The RIS is a free searchable catalog of over 38,000 references about the biology and management of birds of prey. |
 EcoBirds Behaviour - http://birds.ecoport.org/Behaviour/EBbehaviour.htm Provides a series of bird articles covering nesting, song, migration and the curious habit of anting. |