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http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/ - http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/
Ornithological Council's website with comprehensive data about North American ornithological resources. |
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Electronic Resources on Ornithology - http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/NHR/bird.html
Annotated links and ornithological articles by Christopher Majka. |
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Bird Banding Laboratory - http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/
Based at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, issues permits to researchers in the United States who place uniquely numbered bands (rings) on birds' legs. Site features the history of banding and reporting of bird band observations. |
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Raptor Information System - http://ris.wr.usgs.gov
The RIS is a free searchable catalog of over 38,000 references about the biology and management of birds of prey. |
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Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center - http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/MigratoryBirds/
Ecological and land-management research, education, conservation policy, data on migration and fact sheets. |
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Feather Quest - http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/FeatherQuest/FeatherQuest.html
Interactive quiz. Can you identify the birds from which these feathers come? |
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Population Dynamics - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Population_Dynamics.html
Essay discussing the factors behind the variation in the number of individuals in a bird population over time. |
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Parental Care - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Parental_Care.html
The young of passerines when first hatched are naked, blind, and helpless and require much care which involves feeding, training and protection from predators. |
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Teachers' Domain: Bird Beak Gallery - http://www.teachersdomain.org/resources/tdc02/sci/life/stru/beakgallery/index.html
Provides an essay on beaks, and photographs of birds heads and beaks. |
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ABCD: Avian Brain Circuitry Database - http://www.behav.org/abcd/abcd.php?proc=ares
Searchable database of the regions of a bird’s brain. |
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Site Tenacity - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Site_Tenacity.html
Many birds return to the same nesting site each season. This essay discusses why this should be so. |
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Polygyny - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Polygyny.html
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. |
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Sense of Direction - http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/04/0503/1b.shtml
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. |
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Avian Reproduction: Anatomy and the Bird Egg - http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/avianreproduction.html
Notes on the bird reproductive system and the development of the embryo, with explanatory drawings and photographs. |
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Flapping Flight: Inertial Studies - http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/198/8/1655
Technical article by researchers at Bristol University who measured the wings of bats and birds and calculated their efficiency in flight. |
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A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of the Lung of an Ostrich - http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/204/13/2313
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. |
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Chicken Embryo - http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov04macro/mlchicken.html
A number of fine photographs of the development of a chick inside the egg. |
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http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Creches.html - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Creches.html
Article describing how some birds adopt the strategy of grouping their young, leaving them with a guardian while both parents go off to forage. |
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Flight in Birds - http://www.earthlife.net/birds/flight.html
How do birds fly? An introduction to flight in birds examining wing shape, airflows, flapping flight and gliding. |
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Avian Reproduction: Clutch Size, Incubation and Hatching - http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/avianreproduction2.html
Notes on clutch size optimization in birds, reproductive success, embryo development, incubation and the hatching process, with links to other similar articles. |
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The Normal Moulting Process in Birds - http://www.parrotpassionsuk.com/Advice/Moulting.htm
Talk given by Avian Vet A. K. Jones to a conference of the Association of Avian Veterinarians in August 1998. |
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Bird Respiratory System - http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/RITCHISO/birdrespiration.html
Article explaining how air sacs play an important part in the gaseous exchange in birds, with many diagrams. |
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A Tale of Two Boobies - http://www.ups.edu/x13725.xml
Biological examination and dissection at the Slater Museum of a booby that strayed to the Pacific Northwest. |
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Development and Uses of Avian Skeleton Collections - http://www.boc-online.org/PDF/vol124/Storrs%20Olson.pdf
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. |
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http://www.ipedia.net/information/Beak - http://www.ipedia.net/information/Beak
Article describing the anatomy of this distinctive feature of birds which, in addition to eating, can be used for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, probing for food, courtship, and feeding the young. |
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Mechanics of Respiration in Birds - http://education.vetmed.vt.edu/Curriculum/VM8054/Labs/Lab26/Notes/birdresp.htm
Notes and diagrams explaining how birds ventilate their lungs. |
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List of Essays - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/SUFRAME.html
Many articles on every aspect of bird life. A comprehensive and useful resource. |
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Power Napping in Pigeons - http://www.orn.mpg.de/aktuelles/presse/tauben_en.pdf
Max Planck scientists find evidence that pigeons prevented from taking naps in the afternoon sleep more intensely at night. |
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Index of Lectures - http://www.ornithology.com/lectures/Introduction.html
A series of articles on different aspects of bird biology such as feathers, flight, respiration, territoriality, reproduction and metabolism. |
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Vocal Dialects - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Vocal_Dialects.html
Article describing how the songs of many avian species show geographic variation. |
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Vocal Copying - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Vocal_Copying.html
Article describing how birds learn their songs from adult tutors and may incorporate sounds from other species into their repertoire. |
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Vocal Functions - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Vocal_Functions.html
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. |
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EcoBirds Behaviour - http://birds.ecoport.org/Behaviour/EBbehaviour.htm
Provides a series of bird articles covering nesting, song, migration and the curious habit of anting. |
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Sexual Selection - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Sexual_Selection.html
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. |
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Incubation: Heating the Egg - http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Incubation.html
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. |