Beyond the Field: Identifying Bird Information

Oregon State University is home to a growing number of ornithologists. Researchers, graduate students and avid bird watchers need to identify and use informatoin. This listing of databases, books, journals and websites is a starting point for research on the birds in general and the Pacific Northwest in particular. Please contact Janet Webster, the librarian for this area, with questions, comments or suggestions.

	Databases & Indexes
	Journals
	Books
	Websites
©Frank Boyden, Otis, Oregon

Databases & Indexes

Some people just start browsing the journals or grab a field guide. Others make a more methodical search through the databases to find specific information. When starting research, the later is recommended.

Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA)

Provides good access to marine and estuarine bird material as well as bird/fish interactions.

Avibase

An extensive database information system about all birds of the world

Biosis

The standard index for general biology so covers the core literature and captures bird articles from journals in other fields suchs as genetics and behavior.

Birds of North America

An excellent resource for basic descriptions, images, calls and more.

Ornithological Literature Worldwide (OWL)

An interesting joint effort amongthe American Ornithologists' Union, the British Ornithologists' Union and Birds Australia to capture current and historic citation.

Wildlife and Ecology Worldwide

Good international coverage of more obscure ornithogy journals and reports as well indexing the core literature.

Zoological Record

Another classic index that remains an excellent source for taxonomy as well as more general queries.

 

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Journals

Articles on birds appear in a wide variety of journals. Be sure to browse others focused on animal conservation, ecology and behavior. The listings include the call number for print copies at the OSU Libraries and when available the links to electronic copies. Some electronic access is limited to OSU computers as the Libraries purchases the access. The records in the OSU Libraries catalog list all of our access points. SORA provides free access to older issues of several important journals.

These are some of the core journals.

These are specific to the Pacific Northwest and Oregon. Other regions have specialized journals as well.

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Books

The OSU Libraries have an excellent ornithology collection. You can find books and reports by searching the catalog. You can search by title, author, keyword or subject.

Gaunt, A.S. & L.W. Oring. Guidelines to the Use of Wild Birds in Research. 1999 (2nd ed.)

Available electronically.

Gill, F. B. Ornithology. 1995 (2nd ed.)

QL673 .G515 1995

Marshall, D.B., M.G. Hunter & A.L. Conteras. Bird of Oregon: a general reference. 2003

QL684.O6 B56 2003

Paulson, D. Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest. 1993

QL683.P36 P38 1993

Sibley, D.S. The Sibley Guide to Birds. 2000

QL681 .S497 2000

Websites

Obviously, there is a flock of web resources on birds. Here are a few of interest.

 

Audubon Society of Corvallis and Yaquina Birders

Local bird groups.

BirdNET

A service of the Ornithological Council with links to the major socieites and discussions of topics of concern.

Electronic Resources on Ornithology

An impressive list of links to resources throughout the world. Compiled by Canadian enthuasists.

NatureServe

Useful data, species profiles and maps buried in this site maintained by this non-profit conservation group.

Oregon Field Ornithologists

Of local interest with links to records, publications and general references.

Ornithological Societies of North America

Links to the major societies and online newsletter lists jobs and educational opportunities.

Ornithology Collections of Interest

A collection of collections compiled by the US National Biological Information Infrastructure)

SORA (Searchable Ornithological Research Archives)

An open access archives to some of the most used journals.

USGS Bird Banding Laboratory

A program co-sponsored by the Canadian Wildlife Service and the US Department of the Interior

 

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