A bird observatory is a centre for the study of

bird migration Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting b ...

and bird populations. They are usually focused on local birds, but may also include interest in far-flung areas. Most bird observatories are small operations with a limited staff, many volunteers and a not-for-profit educational status. Many bird observatories conduct

bird ringing Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...

or bird banding (term in the United States).

Australia

* Barren Grounds Bird Observatory, New South Wales *

Broome Bird Observatory The Broome Bird Observatory is an educational, scientific and recreational facility located 24 km from Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It began operating in 1988 under the auspices of the non-profit organisation Birds Austr ...

, Western Australia *

Eyre Bird Observatory Eyre Bird Observatory is an educational, scientific and recreational facility in the Nuytsland Nature Reserve, Western Australia. Cocklebiddy is the nearest locality on the Eyre Highway, to the north. It is in the Hampton bioregion, which ...

, Western Australia *

Rotamah Island Bird Observatory Rotamah Island Bird Observatory was established in 1979 on Rotamah Island in the Gippsland Lakes National Park in eastern Victoria, Australia, by Birds Australia as Australia's second bird observatory, in order to provide a base for the study an ...

, Victoria

Brazil

* Mantiqueira Bird Observator
(Observatório de Aves da Mantiqueira)

Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom's first bird observatory was established in 1933 by

Ronald Lockley Ronald Mathias Lockley (8 November 1903 – 12 April 2000) was a Welsh ornithologist and naturalist. He wrote over fifty books on natural history, including a major study of shearwaters, and many articles. He is perhaps best known for his book ...

in the Welsh island of

Skokholm Skokholm () or Skokholm Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, south of the neighbouring island of Skomer. The surrounding waters are a marine reserve and all are part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Both islands a ...

. This is a list of members of the Bird Observatories Council of Britain and Ireland. *Alderney Bird Observatory,

Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest ...

* Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory, Bardsey Island *Calf of Man Bird Observatory,

Calf of Man Calf of Man ( gv, Yn Cholloo ) is a island, off the southwest coast of the Isle of Man. It is separated from the Isle of Man by a narrow stretch of water called the Calf Sound. Like the nearby rocky islets of Chicken Rock and Kitterland, it i ...

*Cape Clear Bird Observatory, Cape Clear *Copeland Bird Observatory, Copeland *Dungeness Bird Observatory,

Dungeness Dungeness () is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the ha ...

*Fair Isle Bird Observatory,

Fair Isle Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...

*Filey Bird Observatory, Filey *Flamborough Bird Observatory, Flamborough Head *Gibraltar Point Bird Observatory, Gibraltar Point *Hilbre Bird Observatory,

Hilbre Islands The Hilbre Islands ( ) are an archipelago consisting of three islands at the mouth of the estuary of the River Dee, the border between England and Wales at this point. The islands are administratively part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirr ...

Holme Bird Observatory Holme Bird Observatory is a nature reserve near Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, adjoining the Norfolk Wildlife Trust Holme Dunes reserve. It is 5 ha (13 acres) in extent, with Corsican pines and scrubby sand dunes as its main habitats. It ...

Holme next the Sea Holme-next-the-Sea is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the north Norfolk coast some 5 km north-east of the seaside resort of Hunstanton, 30 km north of the town of King's Lynn a ...

*Isle of May Bird Observatory & Field Station,

Isle of May The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is about long and wide. The island is owned and managed by NatureScot as a national nature reserve. There are now no ...

*Landguard Bird Observatory, Landguard *North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory,

North Ronaldsay North Ronaldsay (, also , sco, North Ronalshee) is the northernmost island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. With an area of , it is the fourteenth-largest.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 334 It is mentioned in the '' Orkneyinga saga''; in modern ...

*Portland Bird Observatory and Field Centre, Portland *SBBOT Field Centre, Sandwich Bay *Skokholm Bird Observatory,

*Spurn Bird Observatory,

Spurn Spurn is a narrow sand tidal island located off the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber Estuary. It was a spit with a semi-permanent con ...

* Walney Bird Observatory,

Walney Island Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned b ...

Canada

Observatories belonging to the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network: * Holiday Beach Migration Observatory * Rocky Point Bird Observatory * Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory * Mackenzie, British Columbia, Mackenzie Nature Observatory (www.MackenzieNatureObservatory.ca) * Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory * Beaverhill Bird Observatory * Inglewood Bird Sanctuary * Last Mountain Bird Observatory * Delta Marsh Bird Observatory * Thunder Cape Bird Observatory * Whitefish Point Bird Observatory * Long Point Bird Observatory * Haldimand County, Ontario, Haldimand Bird Observatory * Toronto Bird Observatory * Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory * Innis Point Bird Observatory * Observatoire d'oiseaux de Tadoussac * Point Lepreau * Brier Island Bird Migration Research Station * Atlantic Bird Observatory * Gros Morne National Migration Monitoring Station * Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory * St. Andrews Banding Station * McGill Bird Observatory / Observatoire d'Oiseaux de McGill

Costa Rica

* Costa Rica Bird Observatories

Czech Republic

* Červenohorské sedlo in

Hrubý Jeseník Hrubý Jeseník (, , ) is a mountain range of Eastern Sudetes in northern Moravia and Czech Silesia. It is the second highest mountain range in the Czech Republic. Its best known natural sights include: * Praděd, its highest mountain *A power ...

Estonia

* Kabli Bird Observatory * Vaibla Bird Observatory

France

* Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux

Germany

* Randecker Maar Observatory for Bird and Insect Migration,

Swabian Jura The Swabian Jura (german: Schwäbische Alb , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Heligoland Bird Observatory The Heligoland Bird Observatory (''Vogelwarte Helgoland'' in German), one of the world's first ornithological observatories, is operated by the Ornithologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Helgoland e.V., a non-profit organization which was founded in 1 ...

Rossitten Bird Observatory The Rossitten Bird Observatory (''Vogelwarte Rossitten'' in German) was the world's first ornithological observatory. It was sited at Rossitten, East Prussia (now Rybachy, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia), on the Curonian Spit on the south-eastern ...

(the world's first, now in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

's Kaliningrad Oblast)

Greece

Antikythira Bird Observatory The Antikythera Bird Observatory, ABO (Greek ''Ορνιθολογικός Σταθμός Αντικυθήρων, ΟΣΑ'') in Antikythira is the only bird observatory in Greece, developing a constant effort ringing activity during bird migration pe ...

Hungary

* Ócsa Bird Ringing Station

Israel

* Jerusalem Bird Observatory

Jordan

* Aqaba Bird Observatory

Nepal

Kosi Bird Observatory Kosi Bird Observatory (KBO) and field education center (26°46’57"N/087°08’21"E) is the first and the sole bird observatory in Nepal established by Himalayan Nature (HN : a not-for-profit research and conservation organization). KBO lies in Sun ...

Peru

* Manu Bird Observatory

Sweden

* Falsterbo Bird Observatory * Ottenby Bird Observatory

Switzerland

* Swiss Ornithological Institute

United States

* Alaska Bird Observatory, Alaska * Biocore Prairie Bird Observatory, Wisconsin * Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Ohio * Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, New York * Cape May Bird Observatory, New Jersey * Cape Romain Bird Observatory, South Carolina * Chipper Woods Bird Observatory, Indiana *

Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

, Virginia * Derby Hill Bird Observatory, New York * Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, California * Great Basin Bird Observatory, Nevada * Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, Texas *

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is a wild bird sanctuary in Albany Township and East Brunswick Township, located along the Appalachian flyway in eastern Pennsylvania. The sanctuary is a prime location for the viewing of kettling and migrating raptors ...

, Pennsylvania * Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Minnesota * Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory, Texas * Humboldt Bay Bird Observatory, California * Intermountain Bird Observatory(formerly Idaho Bird Observatory), Idaho * Klamath Bird Observatory, Oregon * Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Massachusetts * Missouri River Bird Observatory, Missouri * Norman Bird Sanctuary, Rhode Island *

Audubon Society of Rhode Island The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

, Rhode Island *

Point Reyes Bird Observatory Point Blue Conservation Science, founded as and formerly named the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO), is a California-based wildlife conservation and research non-profit organization. Overview Point Blue was founded in 1965 to study bird migr ...

, California * Powdermill Avian Research Center, Pennsylvania * Rio Grande Valley Bird Observatory, Texas * Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, Colorado * Rouge River Bird Observatory, Michigan * San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, California * Sand Bluff Bird Observatory, Illinois * Sandy Hook Bird Observatory, New Jersey * Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory, Arizona * The Institute for Bird Populations, California *

Whitefish Point Bird Observatory The Whitefish Point Bird Observatory (WPBO) is located in Chippewa County, Michigan, USA, adjacent to the Whitefish Point Unit of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. It operates as a non-profit, affiliate education and research facility of the ...

, Michigan

References

External links

Canadian Migration Monitoring Network

The Bird Observatories Council of Britain and Ireland
{{Authority control * Observatory