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 (Nov. 2008) New Fully Revised Account-- Western Bluebird, revised by Judith A. Guinan.Update (Nov. 2008) New Revised Account-- Arctic Warbler, revised by Peter Lowther and Susan Sharbaugh.
Are you an AOU member trying to login to BNA? Please read this first.
Update (Oct. 2008) New Fully Revised Account-- Gyrfalcon, revised by Travis L. Booms and Tom J. Cade.
Update (Oct. 2008) New Photos added-- Over 300 new photos added by Gerrit Vyn. Many stellar life history and habitat images. Highlighted galleries include: Greater Prairie-Chicken, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Parakeet Auklet, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Snowy Owl, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Magnificent Frigatebird and many others. Over 100 photos added from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's new Flickr group, Birdshare. Updated galleries include: California Condor, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Mountain Bluebird, plus many warbler species, sparrows and others.
Update (Oct. 2008) New Videos added-- Updated galleries include: Glaucous-winged Gull, Rock Ptarmigan, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Saw-whet Owl, and Red-shouldered Hawk.
