DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — An update on the story I blogged yesterday: One male Whooping Crane survived the carnage and was discovered with two Sandhill Cranes today. More from Operation Migration.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — I got back from a great day of birding to see sad news on the Texas birding list. Eighteen Whooping Cranes that were supposed to be the start a new migratory flock have been killed by the storms in Florida this week.

This sort of disaster is precisely the reason conservationists are trying to establish a second migratory flock. Whooping Crane numbers are increasing, but with so few birds in so few geographic locations, one or two natural disasters could mean extinction for these magnificent birds.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — How do you find photos, videos, or sound files of a particular bird species? I used to get frustrated when Google Images turned up nothing and search engines spat back hundreds of pages of bird lists but no results with media files.

Times are changing now, but you do have to know where to look. Several sites and online projects have set out to collect multimedia resources on as many birds as possible, and some are doing a very impressive job. Of course, nobody will ever be able to collect pictures of every bird in the world, but it will be exciting to see how close some of these projects may come in the years ahead.

• The Bird Database at BirdForum is a huge and very active database with photographs of 4,923 species* at the time I wrote this post. You can browse alphabetically by English name or do a simple search. I can’t find a way to search or browse by taxa higher than genus. Registered BirdForum members can submit photos for possible inclusion in the database, pending review by a moderator.
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• The Mango Verde World Bird Guide has collected photos, sounds, and video for 5,043 species so far. You can browse species by families or do a search. Photographers can contribute still images by emailing William, the webmaster. All the videos are William’s and he doesn’t say whether he accepts contributions. The sound files are mostly links he’s collected to other sites.
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• The World Bird Gallery contains photographs of 5,089 species. You can browse alphabetically by English name or by families. Unfortunately, the photographs are quite small and often badly pixellated, and there is no option to view a larger image. The site has not been updated in quite some time, which makes me wonder whether the webmasters are still accepting new submissions or not.
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• The Internet Bird Collection holds video footage of 3,292 species and boasts better search capabilities than any other site in this list. The project leaders accept video footage from the public but prefer it be physically mailed to Spain.
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• The Field Guide: Birds of the World group on Flickr is another attempt to build a library of world bird photographs. Over 2600 species are currently represented in the pool. The low barrier to entry means that the pool is flooded with images of common species (e.g., 320 photos of Great Blue Herons) and improperly tagged images, though the moderators try their best to stay on top of things. [UPDATE: I just discovered Alastair Rae's interface for the Flickr Field Guide, which lets you browse in taxonomic order by families. Thanks, Alastair!]
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• The Guide to Animal Sounds on the Net has collected links to bird sounds hosted on sites around the world. Navigation can be a little challenging, but it sure beats trying to find the sound files you need on Google.
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• And finally, I elected to include Birds of the World on Postage Stamps, which hosts a huge collection of world postage stamps featuring birds. You can browse by order and family or do a search, and Chris includes range maps on the species pages where the stamps are displayed. If a photograph isn’t available, perhaps you can find your bird on a stamp!
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• * Because each site uses a different taxonomy and because collections are growing all the time, precise numbers are not especially useful for comparing sites. That said, I’m listing whatever numbers the sites gave at the time I compiled this post. [top]

There are, of course, many other sites that host bird pictures, but as far as I know, these are the serious efforts at building world bird databases organized by species. If I’ve missed some, please let me know.

Now, what if you’ve gone through all the sites and still can’t find your bird? Well, even the top sites have only about half of the world’s approximately 10,000 species. Unfortunately, that means your bird might not be in any of the databases.

The positive side, though, is that each of us can help to help build these databases. I was thrilled to discover that I could contribute photos of as-yet unrepresented species, subspecies, and plumages.

You may think that you can’t possibly have any photographs that the databases need, but you’d be surprised. As of tonight, the Flickr Field Guide does not have a single photograph of a Chimney Swift! Olive Warbler and Rose-throated Becard are also missing. And that’s right here in North America. Those of you in other parts of the world have an even greater opportunity to contribute.

Enjoy these resources … and consider doing your part to make them as comprehensive as they can possibly be.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — I don’t put a lot of stock in claims about the size of birds. There are two reasons for this: I’ve screwed up too often (”Ooo, kestrel … or … ahh … Barn Swallow.”) and I’ve seen others screw up too often (”That’s way to big to be a mockingbird.”). Yes, both examples are true stories. Size can be extraordinarily deceptive, and relying on your impressions can get you in trouble — it certainly has me.

So, when I saw Jim Stevenson’s photo of two Common Loons this evening, I exclaimed out loud. Have a look at the size difference between those birds! The bird on the left is tiny.

The photo prompted much discussion on Texbirds today, and I’m shamelessly collating the high points here, after others did all the research.

A paper published in The Auk in 1921 proposed that Gavia immer elasson be recognized as a subspecies of Gavia immer. “Elasson,” a footnote explained, was from a Greek word meaning “smaller.” Rejecting the name “Common Loon,” the author proposed that these remarkably small loons be called Lesser Black-billed Loons. (Read the full paper: Description of a New Loon.)

The birds’ subspecific status was fairly short-lived, however. Just over 30 years later, a paper in The Condor argued that a wide range of measurements taken from birds all across North America present “a patently impossible distributional pattern” for the alleged elasson and that Gavia immer should again be considered monotypic. (Read the full paper: Status of the Lesser Common Loon.)

And with that, the Lesser Common Loon faded back into relative obscurity. I for one hadn’t heard of it until today.

I’ll be looking at loons a little more carefully from now on, that’s for sure.

GREENE CO., MO. — There’s lots to see over at I and the Bird #39, so check it out (and have a look at some of Kevin’s gorgeous photos while you’re at it).