WELCOME
    Students, Teachers, Nature Lovers, Biologists, Conservationist. There is no substitute for the experience of seeing marvels of nature up close and in their natural settings. So when you can't get out and about to visit those places, or to frequent the parks, zoos, and aviaries, check out "the Bird Zoo" This site provides information on where birds live, on the world's ecological biomes. It will touch upon conservation issues within habitats. The arrangement of pages is biogeographical, species are grouped by the habitat or the biome they live in. Additional focus pages and interactive pages are included, such as the Hawk-Heads section of macro photos, and general country pages. Again, check back from time to time as new exhibits are opened in The Bird Zoo!

A VIRTUAL ZOO ?
In a virtual zoo of birds, many of the challenges presented to a physical zoo are absent. The labor and cost of expeditions, biologists, maintenance and construction, veterinarians, are gone--and so too, sadly, are the birds. But in a house of ones and zeroes, of .jpeg image files, mp3 sound files and text, truly the sky is the limit. The truth is that the inspiration, for this project, as well as quite a few of the photos found within, have been made in physical aviaries. So a huge thank you is due to many of the unsung heroes in the real aviaries around the world. Other photos have been made in the wild "in situ". This is a line that can be as easily crossed as walking from one building to the next. This will hopefully keep your monitor and mouse active, and you linked to those things wild.

SURVIVAL NEEDS
We are cohabitants of the earth with the rest of God's creatures. Basic human needs are food, clothing, and shelter. Wild birds, possessing of their defining feathers, also need food, and shelter. These are provided for by the habitat in which an organism exists. To state the obvious, all of the world's 8600 or so birds species are not found within one type of habitat, or region. Many species of birds are highly specialized. They've adapted over thousands of years to the type of forest, dessert, wetland, or tundra, in which they themselves are now an integral part. The qualities of a habitat and the type of environment an organism lives in are determined by many factors. Some abiotic (non-living) factors that have been used to categorize types of habitat, are rainfall and temperature. Little or no rain, will result in deserts, a little more precipitation will result in grasslands, over a hundred inches a year for thousands of years will produce rainforest. Visit the representative BIOMES and habitats found within "The Bird Zoo". Try some of the links to get a start on learning more about the species, about the issues they face in your physical world.

LEGAL STUFF
This zoo is at your fingertips, and free to visit. The text, images, sounds and other files are however the copyrighted property of David Ross unless otherwise credited. Please do not re-post these files on the web. Permission for a variety of uses may be available by contacting the WEBMASTER.