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Birds of North America, our authoritative database of species accounts for more than 700 birds nesting in the U.S. and Canada, has gone global as the newly-hatched Birds of the World.

This powerful new resource brings together scholarly content from four celebrated works of ornithology:

  • Birds of North America
  • Neotropical Birds (both originally published by the Cornell Lab)
  • Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive
  • Bird Families of the World (both originally published by Lynx Edicions)

With the integration of millions of bird observations from eBird and images from the Macaulay Library, Birds of the World is a rich, informative, and and engaging tour of avian fauna worldwide.

Birds of the World Home Page

Features of the new Birds of the World include

  • 10,721 Species Accounts
    The platform merges more than 10,000 Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive species accounts with 766 Birds of North America accounts and 4,205 Neotropical Birds accounts.
  • 249 Bird Family Accounts
    Explore taxonomies by browsing bird families.
  • Colorful, Engaging Maps
    In addition to the general range map for each species account, you’ll find a growing number of specialized and animated maps for abundance, migration, and more.
  • 21,000 Color Illustrations
    John James Audubon would be gobsmacked.
  • Rich Media
    Millions of images, audio, and video files from the Macaulay Library offer details on plumage, geographic variation, and behaviors.
  • Citations to Scientific Studies
    Birds of the World is packed with scholarly references for exploring the scientific literature in more depth.
  • Conservation Status
    Each species account displays a badge showing its IUCN Red List conservation status. When available, a full conservation status discussion is provided.
  • Flexible Search
    Search by full species name or its four-letter banding code or even common name.
  • Ongoing Updates
    Birds of the World is a living resource that will expand and grow in both functionality and content.

Birds are real.  See, hear, and understand them thanks to your University Libraries and Birds of the World.


A blue-gray gnatcatcher tends its nest in Arkansas. Video recorded by Timothy Barksdale/Macaulay Library/ http://macaulaylibrary.org/video/443424. Cornell Lab of Ornithology.