We believe that birds are extraordinary! We need to spread the word about them.
Birdzilla was started back in 1998. The website was developed as a central resource for anyone interested in the wild birds of the United States and Canada. The site included many unique features, such as animated range maps, mini-guides for each state, and custom-developed games designed to provide both fun and improved knowledge of birds. Some of the special features are inactive when JavaScript isn’t available anymore.
The main purpose of the blog is to be the go-to guide for birds, covering a wide range of topics.
Horned Puffin – how well do you know this bird?
Today, Birdzilla is your go-to guide for birds. Our primary purpose is to cover everything related to birds. Mainly in United States but we will be expanding to other continents too.
Here, you will find topics like:
– Bird profiles section: 500+ bird profiles, including identification, diet, nesting & eggs, vocalization, current status, and similar species.
– Identification: Which bird did you see? By color, size, behavior, or more.
– Questions: Many questions our readers ask us, like, do geese have teeth? Do owls have legs, etc.?
– Symbolism & Meaning: Though it might seem like a different topic, since we talk about birds, we should not exclude it. Throughout history, birds have carried many different symbols.
– Eggs, Nests: Which bird lays blue eggs? Which bird makes shaggy nests? You can find many similar topics to gain knowledge about birds.
– Gardening: Birds love gardens, and gardens love flowers. You can educate yourself about gardening, thanks to Howard “Dirt Doctor” Garrett and Holly Shimizu.
– State Section: Based on data: Do you know which birds are most common in which states? Thanks to ebird.org data, we’ve compiled a list of birds you should know. The same goes for woodpeckers, owls, hawks, etc.
– Educators: We have many topics, especially for educators (and kids).”
Is Birdzilla free?
Yes, Birdzilla is free. As you can see, we use display advertising (through Raptive) to cover our expenses for website hosting, writers, content manager, and so on. Without that, Birdzilla wouldn’t be of the quality it is now.
We rely solely on human-written content! We’ve come across many subpar sites and articles about birds and firmly believe that AI lacks the understanding of avian topics. We write for humans; AI-generated texts lack the personal touch. So, please meet our team, who have worked diligently to provide articles for you:
On this page
Meet The Team
To achieve where we are today, many birders and enthusiasts have contributed to the development of the Birdzilla site, including:
Sam Crowe
Sam is president of Nature Patrol LLC and Birdzilla.com. He has been birding for over 30 years and has a world list of over 2000 species. He has served as treasurer of the Texas Ornithological Society, Sanctuary Chair of Dallas Audubon, Editor of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “All About Birds” web site and as a contributing editor for Birding Business magazine. Many of his photographs and videos can be found on the site.
Mark and Becci Crowe
Mark and Becci Crowe with Jane Goodall
– Adventurers, artists, photographesr and videographers
Mark and Becci wear many hats for Birdzilla. They often lead the Birdzilla Adventures. Mark contributes images and is an accomplished videographer in addition to spending a little time at his dermatology practice. Becci is our staff artist.
She is a well know Pacific Northwest nature artists, travels extensively and has been a speaker at a TedX conference. Their 1-hour movie – Africa: As Close as You Dare has played on many PBS stations and is available on DVD.,
Patrick O’Donnell
Patrick O’Donnell has been focused on all things avian since the age of 7. Since then, he has helped with ornithological field work in the USA and Peru, and has guided many birding tours, especially in Costa Rica. He develops birding apps for BirdingFieldGuides and loves to write about birds, especially in his adopted country of Costa Rica.
Brianna Goulet
Brianna loves to get outdoors for everything creative and fun. She has a passion for birds and is a hobbyist wildlife photographer based in Central Florida. Her goal is to share everything you need to know about birds so you can get out there, explore, and identify confidently! Enjoy her writings!
Heleen Roos
Heleen has loved the outdoors and nature since childhood and has always been fascinated with birds, leading her to research more about them. She has accumulated a lot of knowledge about their behaviors and habits through birdwatching tours and her own explorations. Her goal is to share the most interesting and useful facts about them.
Howard Garrett – The Dirt Doctor
Howard is one of the countries leading proponents of organic gardening. His radio show is heard on over 200 stations across the United States. We are pleased to have his guidance and tips on safe, successful organic gardening and yard care.
Holly Smimizu
Holly H. Shimizu is a nationally recognized horticulturist, consultant, and educator living in Maryland. With a rich background in all aspects of public gardens, extensive experience leading garden tours and workshops, and a proven commitment to plant conservation and sustainability, she has been making plants and gardens more accessible and exciting to both professionals and amateurs for over four decades.
Dr. Robert Neil
– Senior Ornithologist
Dr. Neil is retired from the University of Texas at Arlington. He was trained in physiological plant ecology but has worked in ornithology for the past ten years. He is currently interested in the effects of 4-aminopyridine on development of birds. He is also studying shore bird migration in north central Texas.
Dan Reinking
Dan is the author of most of the species profiles.
Dan grew up birding in northwest Iowa after a December visit by his uncle, an active birder, left him with a passion for birds. He has since turned bird study into an occupation, having conducted or participated in research in South Dakota, Minnesota, California, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Venezuela. Employed with the George M. Sutton Avian Research Center in Oklahoma since 1992, he recently coordinated the Oklahoma Breeding Bird Atlas Project. He is also a member of the Oklahoma Bird Records Committee and past president of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society.
Glenn Bartley
– Staff Photographer
Glenn is an outstanding bird photographer that has contributed many photographs as well as bird photographer tips. He currently leads bird and nature photographer tips to Canada, Central and South America. You can see his photos on GlennBartley.com
Greg Lavaty
– Photographer
Greg is a wonderful Texas birder and photographer. You’ll find many of his photographs throughout the site. Greg also leads custom birding trips in Texas. If you want to pick up some Texas specialties of enjoy spring migration on the Texas coast, give Greg a call.
Steven Siegel
– Videographer
Steve is the owner of Raven On the Mountain Video. He provides our wonderful monthly bird videos. His company specializes in high quality, stock footage of birds from North and Central America.
George Petrides
– Consultant
George is a good friend and helps with any bird feeding questions we have. He is the founder if the Wild Bird Centers of America and takes an active role in bird conservation.
Ray David – Consultant
– Owner/Publisher of Birding Business Magazine
Ray is our go-to guy when we have questions about the business side of birding and bird feeding.
Photographs
All images have been licensed from their owners and can not be copied or used without written consent of the owner. Images have been licensed from about 30 different sources, including:
Jim Esten
Sam Crowe
Read More: Feature Bird Photographers
Video
Video presentations of over 200 species are included on the web site.
Video files have been licensed from:
Sam Crowe
Steven Siegel
Mark Crowe
Bird Songs
The bird songs used on the site have come from a variety of open source locations including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Web site and also Xeno-Canto.org
Special thanks to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and all the work they do in bird research and conservation and the use of some of their audio recordings.
Contact us at its (at) birdzilla (dothere) com