BIRD SPECIES, BIRDING AND NATURE

This website is about birds, nature, conservation and the passion for nature. But before I continue, let me tell you a bit about myself.

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On this website, you can find the bird checklists of all countries of the world: Just go to http://www.birdlist.org/site/regions.htm. In many of them you can find the bird names in its native language as well. But there is much more. There are pictures of nature, great tools for conservation, information on national parks and other nature reserves, an on-line book on ecology and nature conservation, free software for downloading, technical reports for those who want it. In order to find your way through the 2000 interlinked web pages on nature and conservation, please go to the site map. On this page we help you find the way to the worldwide list of birds and the bird names in other languages.

How many bird species?

We have composed a list of bird species originally based on the bird list of Sibley and Monroe of 9702, 1993. Since then, some new species have been discovered and a larger number of subspecies have been given the species status. Some claim as many as 13 000 bird species and several numbers in between.  Why is that? The answer is that there are several "species concepts" and those who adhere to one typically fight vigorously against those who adhere to another, and there is no real end in sight to the argument. In this issue there is no real right of wrong. 

However, what matters to you, the birdwatcher is what you find in the field at the place where you are birding. Let's say you are birding in Kenya. Recently, the scientific community has decided to raise two bird subspecies to the bird species level, and gave each a different scientific name. However, your bird guide does not list those names, nor has the country's bird species committee yet listed those names. If we were to list the new bird names in stead of the old bird names, you would not be able to check it off on our bird checklist, simply because the old bird name is no longer listed. So we are rather conservative with listing new bird names, because being progressive would only confuse you, the real user. We only add a bird species when it appears on the list of a national bird species committee. That way, we gradually will expand the number of bird species, as they are actually being used by active birding communities. When that happens, we will also compose a new name in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and German. Currently our list has 10 031 bird species.

If you want to read a bit more about the species concept, you may find some conceptual discussions here: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species

Another discussion is at: http://research.amnh.org/ornithology/crossbills/species.html

After all, we're trying to fit millions of years of evolution into a series of nice, tidily organized list of bird species, and the world is not now nor has it ever been nice or tidy. So, if you find a longer or shorter list elsewhere, those lists are just slightly different from our bird list, but not better or worse.

There are some major international taxonomic platforms with powerful databases on species that collaborate on the "Catalogue of Life", which you may want to look at:

1. http://www.zoonomen.net/ 

2. http://www.ice.ucdavis.edu/bioinventory/bioinventory.html 
3. GBIF: http://www.gbif.org/
4. Species 2000: www.sp2000.org.
5. ITIS: http://www.itis.gov/  
6. All Species Foundation www.all-species.org

NON-ENGLISH BIRD NAMES

We are providing non-English bird names for 20 languages. 

For lists that by far exceed national bird names, we offer lists in this section:

1. English
2. Français
3. Español
4. Nederlands
5. Deutsch
6. Português

For your convenience and rapid page loading, they are cut up into ten pages each.

We have the following native language bird lists for the relevant language region only:

7. Bird list in Norwegian, 
8. Bird list in Finish, 
9. Bird list in Swedish, 
10. Bird list in Danish, 
11. Bird list in Icelandic, 
12. Bird list in Estonian, 
13. Bird list in Latvian, 
14. Bird list in Polish, 
15. Bird list in Hungarian, 
16. Bird list in Serbian, 
17. Bird list in Turkish, 
18. Bird list in Japanese, 
19. Bird list in Italian,
20. Bird list in Zuidafrikaans;
21. Bird list in Esperanto
22. Bird list in Russian.

Non-English bird names used to be available from a variety of European websites, but recent testing of links revealed that the majority has disappeared. Most bird names are either for the country or for palearctic birds. 

Multilingual North European Bird Dictionary
This is the largest and most extensive bird names database that we are aware of:
http://www.megabytedata1.co.uk/MB064u/index.asp

NATURE WORLDWIDE is the official website of the World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE. It is an integrated network of web sites dealing with different topics on nature, nature conservation and natural resources management. Read here why we created Nature Worldwide. Our Methodology explains how we produced our information. Our Site Map helps you find your way in the website. We made this website out of passion for conservation. We spent our own salaries and free time to gather the information and publish it on these websites, in total valuing hundreds of thousands of dollars of professional time. Nobody pays us to do this. We simply want to contribute to conservation. If you appreciate our work, PLEASE visit our site Adopt A Ranger and see how you can make a difference for conservation most effectively: By paying one day of the salary of a ranger, you will make a difference in conserving the lives of thousands of birds, other critters and entire forests. Enjoy!

NATURE DU MONDE est le site Web officiel du World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE, C'est une collection intégrée de sites web qui traitent avec des sujets différents sur nature, conservation de la nature et gestion des ressources naturelles. Lisez ici pourquoi nous avons créé Nature de Monde. Notre Methodologie explique comme nous avons produit nos renseignements. Notre Site Map vous aide trouver votre entrée dans le site web. Beaucoup de plaisir!

NATURALEZA DEL MUNDO es la página Web oficial del World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE, Es una red de páginas Web tratando de temas diferentes relacionados a la naturaleza, la conservación el manejo de recursos naturales, parques nacionales y áreas protegidas. Lea aqui porqué hicimos Naturaleza del Mundo. Nuestra Methodología explica como produjimos la información. Nuestro Mapa del sitio le ayuda encontrar su información en nuestra página web. Disfrute! 

NATUREZA DO MUNDO é o Web site oficial do World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE, Es uma red de páginas Web tratando de temas diferentes relacionados à natureza, la conservação el manejo de recursos naturaleiss, parques nacionais y áreas protegidas. Lea aqui porqué creamos Natureza do Mundo. Nossa Methodología explica como produjimos a informação. Nosso Mapa do sitio le ayuda encontrar sua informação no web site. Desfrute!

NATUR DER GANZEN WELT ist, die offiziellen Website der World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE. Es ist ein einheitliches Netzwerk von Web Sites, über Themen wie Natur, Natur-Schutz und natürlichem Ressourcen Quellen Hege. Lesen Sie hier warum wir Natur der ganzen Welt gemacht haben. Un

sere Verfahrensweise erklärt, wie wir unsere Informationen produziert würde. Unsere Site Map  hilft Ihnen Ihren Weg im Website zu finden. Viel Spaß!

NATUUR UIT ALLE STREKEN is, de officiële Website van het World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE. Het is een geïntegreerd Netwerk van websites, over Natuur, Natuurbescherming en het beheer van natuurlijke hulpbronnen. Lesen Sie hier warum wir Natuur uit alle Streken gemacht haben. Onze pagina Methode legt uit, hoe we onze informatie vergaarden. Onze Site Map helpt u op weg door onze website. 

WICE is a worldwide non-government non-profit organization that contributes to the conservation of nature. While it works on a many issues related to the conservation of nature and the protection of the environment, it is particularly committed to the conservation of national parks and other protected areas.

WICE - USA office:                            

1639 Steamboat Run Road

Shepherdstown, WV25443, USA

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