Helpful Links

Regional Bird Clubs

Hampshire Bird Club     Serves birders in the Hampshire/Franklin County area with monthly meetings in Amherst.

Hoffman Bird Club     Serves birders in Berkshire County with monthly meetings in the Pittsfield Area.

Hartford Audubon Society     Serves birders in the Greater Hartford area with monthly meetings in West Hartford.

State and National Organizations

American Birding Association (ABA)     Supports birders through publications, conferences, workshops, tours, partnerships, and networks.

Connecticut Audubon Society     Operates nature facilities in Fairfield, Milford, Glastonbury and Pomfret, an EcoTravel office in Essex and an Environmental Advocacy program in Hartford.  Their work includes sanctuary management, advocacy, environmental education, scientific studies, and a Connecticut State of the Birds project.

Connecticut Ornithological Association     Supports Connecticut's birds, birders, and birding by providing a CTBirds list, workshops, publications, web services, and behind-the-scenes support for birds and habitat throughout the state.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology     The Lab is the home of scientists, conservationists, engineers, educators, and students all working together to interpret and conserve the biological diversity of birds through research, education, and citizen science.

Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA)     A membership-based organization committed to the conservation of raptors through the scientific study and appreciation of raptor migration.  They collect hawk migration data and make it available in journals and online at HawkCount, a database of hawk counts across the continent that is used to create the Raptor Population Index (RPI).

Manomet     A center for conservation sciences that aims to conserve natural resources for wildlife and people by building science-based, cooperative solutions to environmental problems.

Mass Audubon     Provides school, camp, and other educational programs for children and adults, and advocates for sound environmental policies at local, state, and federal levels.  Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton and Laughing Brook in Hampden serve the Pioneer Valley.   Pleasant Valley Sanctuary in Lenox serves Berkshire County.

National Audubon Society     Organizes citizen science projects such as the Christmas Bird Count.  They also work to conserve a network of over 2,500 Audubon-designated Important Bird Areas throughout the U.S., including many in Massachusetts.

Northeast Hawkwatch     Promotes hawk watching and the study of hawk migration in Maritime Canada, New England, eastern New York, and northeastern New Jersey.

Patuxent Wildlife Research Center     Conducts a wide variety of research projects, one example is the Atlantic Seaduck Project.  It also carries out long-term programs, including the Breeding Bird Survey.

Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge     Located within parts of four New England states: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, the only refuge of its kind to encompass an entire watershed.  The refuge provides environmental education and protects key habitats along the Connecticut River through acquisition of land, one of which is the recently opened Fort River Unit in Hadley.  Soon they will own, improve, and manage the Stebbins Unit in Longmeadow, a unique riverine forest and wetland that has been purchased and preserved by the members of the Allen Bird Club.

Bird Counts, Surveys and Censuses

Breeding Bird Survey     Following a rigorous protocol, BBS data are collected by thousands of dedicated participants along thousands of randomly established roadside routes throughout the continent.  These data are compiled, analyzed, and delivered by Patuxent online for use by conservation managers, scientists, and the general public.

Christmas Bird Count    A National Audubon event where tens of thousands of participants brave the snow, wind, or rain to count birds, and join in the longest running Citizen Science survey in the world.  Together, over 2,300 count circles provide critical data on population trends.

Great Backyard Bird Count     An annual four-day event sponsored by Cornell and National Audubon that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations.

Project FeederWatch     A winter-long survey sponsored by Cornell and National Audubon of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. Anyone interested in birds can participate!

Bird ID and Knowledge Base

All About Birds (Cornell)     A comprehensive online guide to birds and bird watching.

Alpha Codes for Bird Species     A list of 4-letter codes used as a shorthand for bird species names in accordance with the 63rd AOU Supplement (2022), sorted by English name.

eBird     A real-time, online checklist program, eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds.

Bird Observer    A New England-based bimonthly journal for birders that publishes original articles on birding locations, avian populations and natural history, and regional rarities, along with book reviews, field notes, photographs, and artwork.  It also includes a detailed and comprehensive list of bird sightings in Massachusetts over each two-month period and is the historical repository of all significant state records.

eNature Birds & Birding     A source of regional information about birds and an online key-driven field guide that is designed to be useful for beginners.

HawkCount     Provides count data and site profiles for over 275 North American Hawkwatch sites on an easy-to-navigate website.

Macauley Library (Cornell)     The world’s leading scientific collection of biodiversity media, with more than 175,000 audio and 60,000 video recordings documenting the behavioral diversity of birds and other animals.

Massbird email list     A mailing list dedicated to the interchange of wild bird and birding information relevant to Massachusetts and New England.  This list is intended for the discussion of local issues - such as birding locations, local conditions, reports of local rarities and unusual sightings, pelagic trip reports, legislative alerts, events and speakers in the area, and calls for volunteers in research and census activities. (Not associated with Massbird.org whose link is found on the homepage under Recent Sightings)

Xeno-Canto    A website dedicated to sharing bird sounds from all over the world.

Checklists

ABA Checklist     Includes birds of North America north of Mexico.

AOU Checklist of North American Birds     The official source on the taxonomy of birds found in North America, produced by the American Ornithologists' Union.

Avibase – Bird Checklists of the World     A source of over 10,000 regional checklists.

Checklist of the Birds of Connecticut     This list includes the 436 bird species recorded in Connecticut and accepted by the Avian Records Committee of Connecticut (ARCC).

Official Massachusetts State List [of birds]    This list includes the 499 bird species recorded in Massachusetts and accepted by the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee (MARC).