Ornithology

May 4th 2003 is International Dawn Chorus Day. From their frequent hilariousness on foot to their wondrous grace and agility on the wing, birds are an endless pleasure to observe. Colourful, muted, outrageous, majestic, enduring and fragile, they continually inspire writers, artists and composers, and enrich the days of anyone who bothers to look and listen.

The collections this month demonstrate the appeal of birds to scientist and amateur alike. Indeed, 'amateurs' may be amongst some of the keenest and best contributors to the understanding of and appreciation for bird-life. The army of individuals worldwide who welcome and monitor the seasonal migrants to their areas add invaluably to the body of ornithological knowledge and therefore to the conservation of habitat and preservation of species in decline.
- Mandy Marvin, University of Exeter

Images from the Bird Book, courtesy of the University of Exeter Library (Special Collections)

Collections

• Bird Book: sketches of Devon and Cornwall's birdlife from the early 19th century
• Sir William Jardine (1800-1874): naturalist whose publications include The natural history of humming-birds (1833)
• Henry Seebohm (1832-95): ornithologist and steel-manufacturer; his notebooks include watercolour sketches
• Frank Evers Beddard zoologist; author of Structure and classification of birds (1898)
• Richard Meinertzhagen (1878-1967): naturalist and intelligence officer, who used his studies of birds as "cover" for observing international politics; publications include Birds of Arabia (1954)
• Reginald Ernest Moreau (1897-1970): distinguished amateur ornithologist, author of The Palaearctic-African bird migration systems (1972)
• Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907-1988): a founder of ethology (the science of animal behaviour) and Nobel Prize winner for studies concerning social behaviour; author of "Kliew the seagull" children's books, and of studies of autism
• David Lambert Lack (1910-1973): studied bird behaviour in the Galapagos Islands; during the Second World War, also became in involved in operational research and the development of radar; Lack was Director of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, 1945-1973
• George M. Dunnet (1928 - 1995): a leading international figure in nature conservation; researched fulmar petrels in the Orkney islands
• LNG Ramsay: co-author of Ornithology of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1913)
• Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1886-1959): Antarctic explorer; took part in the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1913 (leader Robert Falcon Scott), in order to to collect emperor penguin embryos
• George Levick (1876-1956): Surgeon Commander with the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1913 (leader Robert Falcon Scott); author of Antarctic penguins: a study of their social habits (1914)

Images © Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge

Links

• International Dawn Chorus Day [Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country]
• Dawn Chorus: resources include links to sound recordings of birdsong [BBC Radio 4]
• Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology: founded in 1938 at Oxford University for research in ornithology and ecology
• Scott Polar Research Institute web galleries: Bird images, and Penguins images
• Wildlife Trusts: the UK's leading conservation charity exclusively dedicated to wildlife
• Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust: the UK's largest international wetland conservation charity
• British Ornithologists' Union: aims to encourage the study of birds in Britain and throughout the world
• British Trust for Ornithology: independent, scientific research trust, investigating wild birds and their ecology in the British Isles
• Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
• Natural History Museum: Bird Gallery

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