Ornithology Websites

Includes data on the science of wild birds, with an emphasis on conservation and education.

Annotated links and ornithological articles by Christopher Majka.

Images and data about skulls of western Palearctic and Tropical species, with complete skeletons of some species.

Many articles on every aspect of bird life. A comprehensive and useful resource.

Notes on the bird reproductive system and the development of the embryo, with explanatory drawings and photographs.

Notes on clutch size optimization in birds, reproductive success, embryo development, incubation and the hatching process, with links to other similar articles.

Article explaining how air sacs play an important part in the gaseous exchange in birds, with many diagrams.

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.

Essay discussing the factors behind the variation in the number of individuals in a bird population over time.

Many birds return to the same nesting site each season. This essay discusses why this should be so.

Technical article by researchers at Bristol University who measured the wings of bats and birds and calculated their efficiency in flight.

How do birds fly? An introduction to flight in birds examining wing shape, airflows, flapping flight and gliding.

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.

Article describing how birds try to exclude others of the same species from their home range.

Article describing how the songs of many avian species show geographic variation.

Article describing how birds learn their songs from adult tutors and may incorporate sounds from other species into their repertoire.

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.

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.

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.

The young of passerines when first hatched are naked, blind, and helpless and require much care which involves feeding, training and protection from predators.

Article describing how some birds adopt the strategy of grouping their young, leaving them with a guardian while both parents go off to forage.

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.

Article describing how the young of some birds are fed on special secretions from their parents.

Article discussing how birds have adapted to urban foraging amid the artificial concrete and steel ecosystems of cities.

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.

Article discussing the varying strategies adopted by birds in finding their way when taking part in their long distance journeys.

A number of fine photographs of the development of a chick inside the egg.

Examples of avian intelligence are reviewed for many different bird species, based upon scientific and anecdotal evidence.

The Slater Museum of Natural History provides a comprehensive selection of photographs of bird wings.