Type of site | Wildlife database |
|---|---|
| Available in | English, with bird names in 96 languages[1] |
| Created by | Cornell Lab of Ornithology |
| URL | birdsoftheworld |
| Launched | March 2020 |
| Current status | Active |
Birds of the World (BoW) is anonline database ofornithological data adapted from theHandbook of the Birds of the World and contemporary reference works, includingBirds of North America,Neotropical Birds Online, and Bird Families of the World.[2] The database is published and maintained by theCornell Lab of Ornithology and collects data on bird observations through integration witheBird.[3] 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 theNational Information Standards Organization's Shared E-Resource Understanding practice as a publisher.[4]
The database is frequently cited in regionalchecklists anddistribution map studies, either as a point of comparison[5] or a source of data.[6][7][8]
Birds of the World was originally developed in the early 1990s through collaboration between the American Ornithologists' Union, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and theAcademy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.[9] 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 byLynx 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,[10] the online database was launched in March of 2020.
A significant portion of the audiovisual content available in Birds of the World is collected throughcitizen science data collection as provided by eBird.[3] Content is also included from theMacaulay 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.[11]
Birds of the World is a subscription-access database that aims to describe comprehensivelife history information onbirds. This includes:[1]
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 theHBW 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 variousscientific names of birds.[12] TheHBW Alive Key has been the underpinning for developments between the Cornell Lab andBirdLife International to produce a unified checklist of the birds of the world, and is currently used to form the list of bird species on theIUCN Red List.[13]