Birds Resources

Avian Science Center at the University of Montana: The mission of the Avian Science Center is to promote ecological awareness and informed decision making through the collection, synthesis, and dissemination of science-based information on western birds. The Center provides numerous outdoor workshops and educational events in Montana in the warm seasons.

All About Birds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Includes a Bird Guide to identify birds, learn about their life history, listen to the sounds, and watch bird behavior on video. Very comprehensive.

The Internet Bird Collection: The Internet Bird Collection (IBC) is a non-profit endeavor with the ultimate goal of disseminating knowledge about the world’s avifauna. It is an on-line audiovisual library of the world’s birds that is available to the general public free of charge. While the initial aim is to post at least one video or photo per species, the long-term objective is to eventually include material showing a variety of biological aspects (e.g. feeding, breeding, etc.) for every species.

Education from the National Audubon Society: Includes a wide variety of information for kids, educators, and families.

Table of the Orders and Families of Passerine Birds at earthlife.net: Detailed classification info for passerines.

Table of the Orders and Families of Non-Passerine Birds at earthlife.net: Detailed classification info for non-passerines.

Flight Lab at the University of Montana: Info on avian science research from the University of Montana.

The Wonder of Bird Feathers from Earthlife.net: Contains detailed info about bird feathers.

Bird Sounds from Earthlife.net: Extensive information about the science behind bird sounds.

Vocal Communication from Eastern Kentucky University: Numerous examples and extensive discussion of bird vocal communication. (Note: This page contains lots of embedded YouTube videos which may not play if YouTube is blocked from your computer.)

Enature.com Field Guide to Birds: Another broad field guide to birds, including some examples of bird vocalizations and songs.

Avian Reproduction: Anatomy & the Bird Egg from Eastern Kentucky University: This is an outstanding, comprehensive website for a deeper dive into reproduction in birds.

“Nests and eggs that may show up in bluebird nestboxes” from Sialis: This is a great site for looking at eggs and nestbox inhabitants. It is an east coast website, but many of the birds can be found in Montana and the west as well.

North American Bird Egg Set from Bone Clones: This page shows a set of eggs from a variety of North American birds, along with a key. To view a larger version of the egg set, click here.

These are some great websites with dynamic links to migrating bird activity:

For more on the evolution of birds and Archaeopteryx, refer to the following websites:

There are amazing resources available for figuring out the identity of an unknown bird:

How to Attract Birds to Your Yard: From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a brief introduction to some techniques used to attract birds to your local environment.

There are some great websites that provide plans for building bird boxes for specific birds:

Zoom Birds page from Enchanted Learning: Contains many examples of “bird extremes.”

Eggs & Nest by Rosamond Purcell, Linnea S. Hall,  and René Corado: An excellent reference book on nesting.

The following gadgets can help to identify bird sounds: BirdSong IdentiFlyer, BirdSong IdentiFlyer Ultimate Kit.

 

Video Resources

Red-capped Mannikin mating “moonwalking” (YouTube)

Lyrebird – unbelievable vocalizations (YouTube)

These are all from National Geographic and they ALL start with commercials:

Here are some great videos of nesting and nest-building birds (all are from YouTube):

Videos of migrating snow geese at Freezeout Lake:

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The MSP project is funded by an ESEA, Title II Part B Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant through the Montana Office of Public Instruction. MSP was developed by the Clark Fork Watershed Education Program and faculty from Montana Tech of The University of Montana and Montana State University, with support from other Montana University System Faculty.