Welcome
In two centuries of American ornithology, The Birds of North America
(BNA) is only the fourth comprehensive reference covering the life
histories of North America’s breeding birds. Following in the footsteps
of Wilson, Audubon, and Bent, BNA provides a quantum leap in
information beyond what those historic figures were able to assemble.
The print version of BNA was completed in 2002 – 18 volumes, 18,000
pages -- a joint 10 year project of the American Ornithologists' Union, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
and the Academy of Natural Sciences.
Now as an online project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, BNA is
becoming a living resource. Account contents are updated frequently,
with contributions from researchers, citizen scientists, and designated
reviewers and editors. In addition, BNA Online contains image and video
galleries showing plumages, behaviors, habitat, nests and eggs, and
more. And most online BNA accounts now feature recordings of the songs
and calls of their species, recordings selected from the extensive
collection of Cornell's Macaulay Library
of Natural Sounds. Future work will enhance BNA’s audio and video
contributions, speed revisions via efforts coordinated online, and
provide a significant boost to the number of photos available to
subscribers. Stay tuned!
News & Updates
Update (Dec. 2008) New Fully Revised Account-- Field Sparrow, revised by Michael Carey.News (Nov. 2008) BNA now has an e-store and makes a perfect gift for the holidays, birthdays, or just-because occasions! For more information, or to place an order, please visit our e-store.
Update (Dec. 2008) New Fully Revised Account-- Western Meadowlark, revised by Stephen K. Davis.
Are you an AOU member trying to login to BNA? Please read this first.
Update (Nov. 2008) New Photos Added--new life history and habitat images by Gerrit Vyn. Highlighted galleries include: Heerman's Gull, Elegant Tern and Sanderling. New life history images for Gyrfalcon by species account author Travis Booms and field assistant Josh Spice. Nearly 100 new photos added from the CLO Flickr Birdshare Pool, highlighted galleries include: Swallow-tailed Kite, Western Scrub-Jay, Barn Swallow, Red-tailed Hawk, Steller's Jay, Anna's Hummingbird, many warbler and hummingbird galleries updated and dozens of others.
