Partners

Birds of the World has an ambitious goal: Be the definitive resource for the collected knowledge of every bird species in the world. This scholarly, expansive resource is made possible by a collective of global ornithology experts that have joined forces to create the world’s leading dynamic and participatory platform for curating and publishing avian life histories and data resources. By consolidating the world’s expertise into a single species account and referencing primary sources, Birds of the World helps advance the field of ornithology and galvanize conservation action. 

As you might expect, regional expertise, born via ­­deep observation of birds in their native habitats and strengthened through painstaking research, fuels the content of these pages.  And though hosted at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY, USA, Birds of the World is the work of many. 

On this page, we will introduce you to the people and partners involved in this project. Expect this partner network to grow, as we are actively engaged in expanding this ornithology collective. 

Scientific Authors:  We deeply appreciate the expertise of more than 2,100 scientific authors who have contributed to one or more species accounts. Their biographies are listed on each account. We encourage you to get to know them and to follow their work.

Partners: 

• American Bird Conservancy
• American Ornithological Society (founding partner, Birds of North America and Neotropical Birds)
• A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (West Africa)
• Asociación Civil Armonía – Bolivia
• Audubon Panama
• Aves Argentinas
• Aves Uruguay
• BirdsCaribbean
• Bird Count India
• BirdLife International
• Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad (Peru)
• Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas (Mexico)
• Fundación Ñankulafkén – Centro de Aves Rapaces Ñankulafkén (Chile)
• Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (Colombia)
• Malaysian Bird Report
• Museo de Zoología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
• Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge 
• Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia
• Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile
• Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, The John Voelcker Bird Book Fund
• Search for Lost Birds Project
• Sociedad Ornitológica de Córdoba (Colombia)
• Sociedade para a Conservação das Aves do Brasil
• Sociedad para el Estudio y Conservación de las Aves en México A.C. (CIPAMEX)
• Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute
• Unión Venezolana de Ornitólogos
• Universidad de San Francisco de Quito

Free Access in Partner Countries

Many of our partnership arrangements result in free access to constituents or entire countries. Currently, Birds of the World is freely accessible to anyone residing in the list of countries below. To take advantage of this free access, all you need is to create an account on our website or sign in with an existing Cornell Lab Account username (e.g. your eBird username). When you see “Access provided by [partner name]” in the upper right part of the page, you know access has begun! If you have any questions, please contact our support desk. If you live in one of the countries below and already have a paid subscription to Birds of the World, be sure to cancel future renewals to avoid additional charges. You can cancel your paid subscription from the account management page.

Below is a list of countries where access to BOW is complimentary, thanks to partner collaborations. Check back often, as it is frequently updated.

*updated 22 July 2024