Internet Bird Collection has videos and information on birds. I like birds.

January 3, 2009 8:01 PM

The Internet Bird Collectionhas over 28000 videos of birds from all over the world. The brain-child of Josep del Hoyo (who also started the Handbook of the Birds of the World) it contains footage of more than half of all the bird species in the world, which number around 10000. Just browsing randomly I found such charming clips as a pair of gang gang cockatoos, a pair of preening and feeding Siberian cranes, a hoatzin displaying, Temnick's tragopan displaying, Kerguelen petrel swooping between waves, green hermit feeding on heliconia flowers, in flight, a pair of hamerkops mating display and American avocets mating. Or you can just go look up your favorite bird species and see if they have videos of it. Happily they had plenty of videos of my favorite bird, sterna paradisaea, the arctic tern, and I like this one best. Each bird has taxonomic and distribution information.
posted by Kattullus (25 comments total)

Since I reference the songs, I might as well link to The Eels playing I Like Birds live with Jon Brion back in 1999. Oh hell, now that I've started, here's a more rocking version of the song.
posted by Kattullus at 8:07 PM on January 3

a pair of hamerkops mating display

I see that both like to be on top.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:36 PM on January 3

This old birder says yay! How does this compare to Birdpost? My first impression is that Birdpost seems to have more web-savvy checklist and community features but not nearly the amount of data. But perhaps they aren't really attempting to serve the same purpose.
posted by Typographica at 8:36 PM on January 3

looking forward to checking this out at length...awesome.
posted by Stewriffic at 8:37 PM on January 3

Somebody likes birds.
posted by flipyourwig at 8:38 PM on January 3

Fabulous post! What a feast of natural beauty. What a wonderful treat Kattullus. Thanks.

It even has my favorite bird in the world,Blue Whistling-thrush (Myophonus caeruleus), usually by running water. Like other thrushes, it has a lovely, complex, interesting song style.

And even a whole pile of videos of this rare bird from the Western Himalayas, the Monal, a really pretty pheasant with a cute heine dance of his own. Incredible.

That Temnick's tragopan dance, at the end when he stands up tall, is hilarious as he was standing behind the log, where he, presumably, could not be seen doing his thang, by the babe he was attempting to seduce.
posted by nickyskye at 8:44 PM on January 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

Awesome! Thank you!
posted by rtha at 9:46 PM on January 3

birds are pretty much the most awesome thing ever
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:10 PM on January 3

Today's Mystery Bird for you to Identify
posted by homunculus at 10:47 PM on January 3

I just found IBC recently when looking up something for my mom, a bird enthusiast... it's just an amazing collection and a really well-done site.
posted by taz at 10:52 PM on January 3

Heh. I have photos of a couple of the birds they don't have documented yet. BAD photos, mind you, but I'll upload them, I guess.
posted by Stewriffic at 7:40 AM on January 4

Which birds, Stewriffic?
posted by Kattullus at 7:51 AM on January 4

Cool. I uploaded six photos. Three of the species were previously undocumented.
posted by Stewriffic at 8:24 AM on January 4 [2 favorites has favorites]

So the new ones are the Antillean Crested Hummingbird, the Green-throated Carib, and the Lesser Antillean Bullfinch. All the photos SUCK, but at least they're up, right?

I need a camera.
posted by Stewriffic at 8:27 AM on January 4

Hilarious. I'm feeling kind of offended that the photos are getting rated so low. Even though I know they suck suck such. Losers. :-)
posted by Stewriffic at 8:40 AM on January 4

Terrific resource. Thanks for posting this. Some great quality clips.
posted by binturong at 9:55 AM on January 4

I don't care if you act like a bird 'cos I like... doot doot doo... turds.

Couldn't help myself.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 10:48 AM on January 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

A great website and I, too, am looking forward to browsing.

A couple of months back, we noticed a huge increase in the number of hawks in the area. From the porch we (NOT birderers) were counting 50 and upwards in the sky at one time. A more savvy neighbor with both binoculars AND a birding book identified them as Turkey Vultures. and for some reason they have decided to stay in our small town (NC) this winter. At first they were roosting on the house next door, but now they have moved over one block and are hanging out around the water tower. At times the sky is filled with them (so far the only decent picture I've been able to get.) They always look a little ominous as though they were portents of the apocalypse-- judst waiting for us to be felled by the plague so they can feast on our bodies..
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:24 AM on January 4

On the Wings of Love: At Temple's Aviary, Problem Birds Find Feathered 'Friends'
posted by homunculus at 1:27 PM on January 4

Dude, I can't believe you didn't link to puffins!
posted by QIbHom at 3:00 PM on January 4

Puffins are fine and dandy but they're no arctic tern.
posted by Kattullus at 3:50 PM on January 4

Oh man, puffins are amazing! They look unreal, painted. And that vid is cute, the bird opens its mouth, just looks so odd somehow.

Ok, a few of my favorite odd birds: the exquisite Ruby Throated Hummingbird l the hoopoe l Cock of the rock (Rupicola peruvianus) l Quetzal (another view) l Greater bird of paradise l the brain fever bird with its annoying crescendo song l the kingfisher, fishing l the Rock Ptarmigan.
posted by nickyskye at 6:04 PM on January 4

wait, I forgot the incredible vultures that are so cool, the Lammergeier, blond and enormous, a sort of feathery Viking of the sky. And this one, the Black Kite. I had one as a pet, called Raja (Prince) a wonderful, soulful, elegant bird, who allowed me to nurse him back to health after a storm. Such good manners in spite of its incredible strength and terrifyingly sharp talons. I fed him by hand, pinched that razor-sharp beak open when he was shy, and still have all my fingers.

Question for birders. I always wanted to know this. What are the best birding binoculars? What's the right lens strength to buy? Light, strong, compact, easy to carry, good for distance and detail. Any ideas?
posted by nickyskye at 6:19 PM on January 4

Having been stopped in my tracks by the following description: A bird interrupting briefly its foraging to defecate. I realized that there are all kinds of behaviors one can search for, seeing how different species go about things. Besides the aforementioned defecating there's fight-ing, sleep-ing, running and countless other behaviors I haven't thought to search for. There's a whole other way to use the site I hadn't thought of before!
posted by Kattullus at 3:29 AM on January 5

nicky, "best" is a huge and complicated question wrt binoculars. General consensus among my hawkwatching buddies is that Swarovski EL models are awesome...and they are. And they run $1200-1800. Eeeek.

I use a discontinued model similar to this Eagle Optics Ranger model and love them, but they might be a little big for carrying around all the time (not that I mind). We have a smaller, "travel" pair that are 8x32, and I think are these, or similar (they're in the car, so I can't look at them right now).

I've tried a bunch of other brands, and liked Audubon as well. Eagle Optics gives great service, and you should look over their very helpful Product Guide. You're in New York, so you have actual camera/bino stores where you can go and hold different models, which is key. You might find one that by its description, would be perfect, but in the hand, you hate.

10x42s are, IMO best for something like hawkwatching, or any distance birding. There isn't too much shake, and there's enough resolution that you can see field marks even from far away. But if you're mostly going to be looking at closer birds, or birds that are still (floating ducks, etc.), you can go smaller. Go hang out with some Pale Male watchers (are they still around?), or go on an Audubon walk in Central Park (not a great time of year, I know), and ask people about binos. Most of us love to talk about them!
posted by rtha at 7:18 AM on January 5