Nature lovers observe their surroundings more than an ordinary person. They are fascinated with even the little things like a cat lying curled up while a dog taking a nap. Me or you may not notice a crow eyeing a piece of bread lying at the corner of a road, but a nature lover will grasp every detail of his/her surrounding. So for nature lovers, especially bird lovers, here is a website called Wall of Birds — a site dedicated to birds found around the world presented in a cool interactive map from Cornell’s Bird Academy, New York based on an epic mural Found at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The site is a wonder in itself. It features species found around the world spanning 375 million years. What I and most of you would surely like about any website is how the homepage is created. So in this case, Wall of Birds has a lovely interactive homepage. As you enter the site, you will see the mural of a colourful world map depicting 243 birds, one from each taxonomic family, showing where to find each on the globe. And the good thing is they are all positioned at the place of their orgin. So this makes it more apealing than having a typical list of birds with their information.

To read the info of any bird from the mural, click on each bird picture and a window opens with its name, family name, natural history, a sound file of its call, and a map showing where to observe it. A social media aspect lets you vote for favourites and you can also check out a leader board.

Moreover, you can also find and read about the extinct species on the mural, which are shown in black-and-white. The site let’s you zoom in and out and pan to see the progression of evolution that led to modern birds. This enticing and engaging site will stimulate your interest more in birds.

So bird lovers, explore the mural as it gives you chance to meet an outstanding representative of each of the bird families of the world in a unique way at: https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/features/wallofbirds

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 4th, 2021