Birding Resources

-a partial list, in no particular order-

Hi all! Links below - feel free to suggest others

Apps

• Merlin (EN) / Merlin (ES) - ID via live audio or photos; download data pack for your region

• eBird Mobile / ebird Móvil / eBird pour appareils mobiles / 이버드 모바일 / eBird para dispositivos móveis - log birds you see/hear in checklists; limited interface with Merlin

Books & Articles

• Noah Strycker - Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World (2017) - shoestring & sustainable global big year

• Jennifer Ackerman - The Genius of Birds (2017), The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think (2021), What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds (2024) - top pop sci writer on all things birds

• Jon Young, What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World (2013) - learning bird communication

• David Sibley - What It’s Like To Be a Bird (2020) - self-explanatory

• Amy Tan, The Backyard Bird Chronicles (2024) - Joy Luck Club author

• Animal Language Processing (ALP) - recent article on AI approach to unraveling non-human speech

• Olivia Gentile, Life List: A Woman’s Quest for the World’s Most Amazing Birds (2010) - Bio of Phoebe Snetsinger; 1-yr-to-live turned into birding obsession

• Kenn Kaufman, Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder (2006) - most iconic US big year tale

• Roger Tory Peterson, A Field Guide to the Birds (1st edition in 1934, many editions since)

Websites

• ABA Code of Birding Ethics - American Birding Association

• eBird (18 languages, 10,983 species, 253 countries+territories, 1.34 million users

• Birds of the World (CornellLab, subscription) - authoritative guide to 11,167 species + 99 million audio/video resources from the Macaulay Library

• All About Birds (CornellLab, free) - online guide to birds and birding

• National Audubon Society - numerous educational & conservation resources

• Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds (CornellLab Bird Academy) - Verified calls/songs of US birds; use to verify Merlin IDs

• BirdCast (CornellLab) - weather radar used to track migratory bird movements (US)

• xeno-canto - ‘sharing wildlife sounds from around the world’

• iNaturalist - naturalist community; upload photos-get IDs-give IDs; via app

Videos

• The Big Year (2011, trailer) - only major studio film on birding, with Jack Black, Steve Martin, & Owen Wilson

• After 20 Years, This Scientist Proved Birds Can Talk and Use Grammar (A Curious Birb)

• Listers : A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching (Owen Reiser, 2025) - hands-down best docu on birding (rated M for Mature)

• How Honeyguide Birds Talk To People - glimpse into co-evolved language between wild birds and people