Birds of the World (BoW) is an

online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD). Online databases are hosted on websites, made available as s ...

of ornithological data adapted from the

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

and contemporary reference works, including Birds of North America,

Neotropical Birds Online The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

, and Bird Families of the World. The database is published and maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and collects data on bird observations through integration with eBird. The database requires a subscription to access the majority of its entries, but offers institutional access to many libraries and birding-related organizations, participating in the

National Information Standards Organization The National Information Standards Organization (NISO; ) is a United States non-profit standards organization that develops, maintains and publishes technical standards related to publishing, bibliographic and library applications. It was found ...

's Shared E-Resource Understanding practice as a publisher. The database is frequently cited in regional

checklists A checklist is a type of job aid used in repetitive tasks to reduce failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. It helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task. A basic example is the "to do ...

and distribution map studies, either as a point of comparison or a source of data.

History

Birds of the World was originally developed in the early 1990s through collaboration between the American Ornithologists' Union, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. The goal of the project was to produce an illustrated guide to all of the birds of the world; its first iteration was in the 17-volume Handbook of the Birds of the World, published by Lynx Edicions over the course of 22 years, from 1992 to 2014. After the Cornell Lab of Ornithology acquired the rights to the contents of the Handbook of the Birds of the World, the online database was launched in March of 2020. A significant portion of the audiovisual content available in Birds of the World is collected through

citizen science Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...

data collection as provided by eBird, but content is also included from the Macaulay Library, as it was gathered in the Internet Bird Collection by Josep del Hoyo, the initial founder of Lynx Edicions, and his colleagues in 2002.

Description

Birds of the World is a subscription-access database that aims to describe comprehensive life history information on

birds 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 lightweigh ...

. This includes: *

Species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

accounts ** Details on

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

, habitat, breeding, diet, and behaviors *

Family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

accounts *

Hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

and

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

descriptions and photos * Migration and range maps * IUCN Conservation Status * Literature cited * Common names in multiple languages

Free resources

Birds of the World provides various resources other than those provided with an institutional or individual subscription to the service. James A. Jobling's Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names, which would be published by Lynx Edicions as the ''HBW Alive Key to Scientific Names In Ornithology'', is accessible as a searchable database on the Birds of the World website, allowing for free access to the definitions of the various scientific names of birds. The ''HBW Alive Key'' has been the underpinning for developments between the Cornell Lab and

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

to produce a unified checklist of the birds of the world, and is currently used to form the list of bird species on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Birds of the World website

The Key to Scientific Names
on Birds of the World 2020 introductions Biodiversity databases Birdwatching Citizen science Cornell University Ornithological citizen science