Ornithology Resources for Spring (Talkin' Springtime Birdsong Blues)

Down here in Spartanburg we are lucky to be able to observe a large variety of winged beasties. But North America itself is a very rich bird habitat - as the blooms come out, you'll hear the spring soundtrack of birdsong (and bird-shrieks!). With the help of my colleague Tim Brown I've assembled a few good resources for learning more about birds, their songs, their habitats, and their behavior.

But first things first:

"Ornithology" briefly (and variously) defined by Google's "define:" function.

The etymology (linguistic origin) of the word "ornithology," from the Online Etymology Dictionary.


Some juicer stuff:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a great (free!) resource on the web from Cornell U., this site has some excellent features, most notably birdsong audio, pictures, videos(!) along with identification tips, maps indicating birds' ranges, and well, lots of good stuff. Prepare to get lost - in a good way - in this resource.


Scholarly resources (search our catalog for these titles):

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Ornithology (hard copy only).

Journal of Ornithology (electronic journal).

The Wilson Journal of Ornithology (electronic journal).

The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology (electronic journal).

Journal of Avian Biology (electronic journal).


And there are several more. Search in our catalog for "ornithology."



Or maybe a book about the history of ornithology? Try searching our catalog for "A passion for birds : American ornithology after Audubon." Just a hint.

You may also want to search our catalog using terms like "birds," "bird watching," and so on. Use the links (just about any blue text, really) in the catalog to refine your searches. Go ahead and fiddle with the "facets" on the right side of the results page to find different types of resources - not to brag, but we've got lots.


But you ask: How about an 1893 illustration of the Red-Tailed Hawk in the Public Domain that I can download? Funny you should mention....

Or perhaps over 350,000 digital images of birds assembled by the masses? Done:



Chirp, chirp and gobble, gobble - thanks to Tim B. for helping with this post.

Foreign-language encyclopedias and atlases online

Ever need an online encyclopedia in Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, or Korean? How about an atlas in one of these languages? You will find them all in the new Britannica Global Reference Center.

Access to the Britannica Global Reference Center is automatic from anywhere on the Wofford College campus.

To access the Reference Center from anywhere off campus--from downtown Spartanburg to Paris to Beijing to Madrid--you will need a username and password. Simply type in your first and last names as your username, and then type in your Wofford library-card number as your password.