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BIRD COLUMN FOR May 15, 2005
By Benjamin P. Burtt TOPICS: SECTION 1.
A Reader’s question: Can you tell me something about the nest
and eggs of the cardinal? This question and the answer also appeared in the
Post Standard today, May 15. SECTION 2. The
new “All About Birds” website from the
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology that
provides for the public and school teachers everywhere, the Life
History of 585 North American birds as well as material on attracting birds.
There is no charge to look up information there. SECTION 3. “The Birds of North America” This is a very detailed and complete life
history of all 716 North American Birds. It is designed for scientists and
for libraries at universities. To see
any of the 18,000 pages of information you must be a subscriber. SECTION 1. The material here was
published in Stars Magazine of the Post Standard on May 15. It answers a
reader’s question about the nest and eggs of the cardinal. Mr. Burtt: I see cardinals around my home nearly every
day. Can you tell me something about the nest and eggs of the cardinal? My book only covers the identification of
birds. L.D. Cazenovia.
Caption: The male and female cardinal are shown here in
this painting from Peterson’s “Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central
North America” (Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co.) Dear L.D.: The cardinal’s nest is generally well hidden
and you do have to search for it. The male was probably singing near the nest
earlier. That may help you locate it. Usually it will be hidden in any of the
following locations: dense shrubbery, a tangle of vines, a briar tangle or a
small coniferous tree where the branches are close together. The nest is
generally 4 to 5 feet above the ground.
CAPTION:This photograph of the nest of a cardinal by Hal
Harrison is from his book, “A Field Guide to Bird’s Nests of the Eastern
United States”. Although published in 1975, this excellent book is up to date
and still in print. ( Courtesy of
Houghton Mifflin Co. ) The nest itself is made of twigs and grasses and put
together rather loosely. Fine grasses are placed in the center to produce a
soft lining and to provide insulation.
The photograph by Hal Harrison shows this loose construction. The
inside of the shallow bowl is just under 3 inches in diameter. The eggs are a
shiny white with brownish spots. SECTION 2 “ALL ABOUT BIRDS” Where can a person
look up the answers to a question about the details of the life of a particular
bird such as the cardinals nest and eggs discussed above? Written material that deals with such
matters is referred to as the “Life History” of the bird. In the past a
scientist or an interested lay person had to refer to a set of books. One excellent such 21 volume set which I have used for
years is called, “The Life Histories of North American Birds”. These were authored by Arthur Cleveland
Bent and many collaborators. The 21 volumes were published over the years
1919 to 1968. That is where I have always searched for information about any
of the 716 species we have in North America. Now, I would like
to tell you about a wonderful new web site prepared by the Cornell Laboratory
of Ornithology where you can look up the answers to many such questions about
birds. It is almost like having your own private library without having to
buy a single book! It is called “All About Birds”. If you have a
question like the one above concerning the cardinals nest and eggs, or you
have a question about attracting birds, you can go to this site where a lot
of information is available. I am
always willing to answer questions for you, but having a place for you to
look up answers yourself may speed things up for you. What is this “All About Birds”? It is a web
site which is a sort of Bird
Encyclopedia prepared by the The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. There you will find information about 585 North American
birds. Given for each bird is its
description, other birds that resemble it, the sounds it makes, where to find
it, what it eats, its behavior, reproduction, conservation status and other
names that is has been called. The songs of each bird are available and you can hear them
if you have the proper software.
There are also video clips that can be viewed. In addition to information about each bird, there are
sections on attracting and feeding birds, building and placing nest boxes and
landscaping for birds. This is a web
site that is indeed, “All About Birds”. It is available on line and it is free and Cornell has
made this available to the public. If you had to purchase a set of books that
contained all this information, it would be too expensive for most of us to
buy. I don’t have exact figures, but I would estimate that if you had to
print this, you would have about 3000 pages of material. Continually
updated. One of the great advantages of having something like this
online is that it will be updated as new things are learned about each bird.
Imagine having a reference book on your shelf that automatically revises
itself and is always up to date with the latest information! School teachers and their students will find this to be a
great source of information. The species accounts were assembled by Dr. Kevin
McGowan and the other parts of the document were prepared by Maria Read and
Anne James. You can see “All About Birds” on the internet at once ttere, you click on AllAboutBirds. Readers note: The web address that I listed in the
newspaper was not working on Sunday the 15th when the newspaper came out. The
one shown here seems more reliable and takes you to the same place. How to
use “All About Birds”. When you get to that site you will have a list of
choices. If you wish to read about
the life history of a particular bird, click first on the tab at the top
called, “Bird Guide” and then you are
presented a list of species and you select the one that you want. On the other hand, if you wish to learn about such things
as binoculars or attracting birds or making nest boxes, click on the desired
topic in the Table on the left side of the page. SECTION 3. Now I wish to tell you about
another web site that has even more information about birds. It is called, “The Birds of North America”
web site. If you are a scientist or a serious birder and wish to read almost
everything known about a particular species, this is for you. This web site
was also produced by The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. It is designed
for the scientist doing research and for scientific libraries and universities
about the country and the world. It is devoted entirely to the life history
of the birds of North America. It does not deal with birdwatching or
attracting birds. Some 700 ornithologists contributed to it and it took over
10 years to put it together. It is the most comprehensive reference to the
continent’s birdlife ever published. During the rest of this discussion below I will often
refer to Birds of North America as BNA. How does it compare in its coverage of individual species to
the “All About Birds” site discussed above in Section 2? Whereas “All About Birds” contains about 3000 pages and
covers 585 species, BNA has 18,000 pages and covers all 716 species. For comparison, the discussion of the cardinal uses 5
pages in All About Birds, 15 pages in the old Bent series and 49 pages in
BNA. However, for most people, “All About Birds” will give you all the
information that you need. “All About Birds” is free and available to the public
while the BNA is accessible only if your have a paid subscription. Individual
subscriptions are $40 per year. Institutions such as colleges, schools and
libraries pay more depending on the number of people served by the
institution. This was an expensive project and paying for a subscription is a
reasonable thing to ask us to do. I subscribe for I often need all the help I can get in
answering questions and in preparing the bird column. A Free Tour of Birds of North AmericaYou can visit BNA and inspect the complete life history of six different species without charge. These are called “demos”( demonstrations).
They are “free samples” that show you what information you can get if you
become a subscriber. . The one I think you would be most interested in inspecting
right now is the discussion of the ivory-billed woodpecker. This includes the
recent discovery that it is not extinct after all! To visit BNA, go to Once there you will see the following species listed as “DEMOS” ivory-billed woodpecker peregrine falcon common goldeneye semi-palmated sandpiper yellow warbler fox sparrow Just single click on the name of the species on the web
site that you wish to inspect and you will be taken to the life history just
as if you had a paid subscription. These six are free, but if you wish to
read the life history of any other of the 716 species you will need to
subscribe. However, there are a number of other links there that you
can see without charge. These include recent bird news, species that have
been recently revised and how to subscribe if you are an individual or a
school or library. Remember that there is no charge for using the “All About
Birds” web site and you can look up any of the 585 species listed there as
well as get information on birding, attracting birds, building nest boxes,
planting for birds, etc. Everyone can use “All About Birds” and that will be
a place to get the information that most people need. As I explained in Section 2 above, you can go to that free web site by clicking on Once you are there, click on “AllAboutBirds” This is a wonderful gift to us all from the Laboratory of Ornithology
and I am sure that you will wish to use it again and again. |
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