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 American birds. Following in the footsteps of Wilson, Audubon, and Bent, BNA makes a quantum leap in information beyond what these historic figures were able to provide. The print version of BNA was completed in 2002, 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 poised to become a living resource. Account contents are updated frequently, with online-coordinated contributions from researchers, citizen scientists, and designated reviewers and editors. In addition, BNA Online contains image and video galleries showing behaviors, habitat, nests, eggs and nestlings, and more. And each online species account contains recordings of that bird's songs and calls, selected from the extensive collection in Cornell's Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds.

News & Updates

Update (Sept. 2008)--New Photos Added--The Powdermill Nature Reserve generously donates photos from its Bird Banding project to BNA, providing important images that emphasize species molt changes.  Updated galleries include: Tree Swallow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-winged Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Connecticut Warbler, American Woodcock and others.
New Sooty Tern life history photos added by E. A. Schreiber.

Brand new species account added to BNA (Sept. 2008)--Black-crested Titmouse, written by Michael A. Patten and Brenda D. Smith-Patten.

Are you an AOU member trying to login to BNA? Please read this first.

Update (Sept. 2008)--Figure Galleries Updated-- Nearly 50 new illustrations from the 1879-1886 publication of the Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of the Birds of Ohio, long considered an important collection in the history of early ornithology.  Updated species galleries include: Yellow Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, Cedar Waxwing, Dickcissel, White-eyed Vireo, Kentucky Warbler and many others. See our complete News & Updates  page for a full list of updated galleries.

Update (Sept. 2008)--New Fully Revised Account-- Least Sandpiper, revised by Nebel Silke.

Update (Sept. 2008)--New Systematics Revisions by Michael Patten-- Fully revised Systematics articles for Least Grebe, Western Grebe, Clarke's Grebe, Wandering Tattler, and Le Conte's Thrasher.

Update (Sept. 2008)--New Tools for Scholars-- EndNote Download of selected bibliographies now available. Please read more about this new feature in our FAQ item here.


Complete Archives of News & Updates