Ornithology is the science that focuses on birds. There are many areas of specialization in ornithology including anatomy (the science of structures), physiology (the science of functions), taxonomy (the classification of birds) and ecology (the role of birds in the environment). In addition to academic study, many citizen scientists participate in studies such as Project FeederWatch. Seasonal and regional bird counts provide information about the numbers and distributions of birds.

All birds are warm-blooded animals that have feathers, a beak, wings, and a unique avian-style foot. All birds lay hard-shelled eggs.

Birds are found throughout the world. They inhabit every type of habitat except those in the interior of Antarctica and the very deep ocean although some seabirds can dive to depths of over 200 feet. The Andean Hummingbird lives at 14,700 feet.

Ornithology, like all sciences, begins with observations. Ornithology is unique because citizen scientists contribute a large percentage of the information that is collected about birds. Field observations are made by individual birders who contribute their data to scientific studies such as Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project Feeder Watch. Project Feeder Watch studies bird populations from November through March. Children throughout the United States and Canada learn about the birds in their region by participating in Classroom Feeder Watch.

Citizens that watch birds can be divided into two groups: listers and watchers. All birders focus on seeing birds in the field. Bird watchers are interested in understanding why the bird chooses that habitat, where the bird nests, how birds interact with each other and their environment, etc. Like the listers, bird watchers keep a life list that records all of the bird species they have seen.

The lister's goal is to see as many bird species as possible. Many listers keep a variety of lists. For example: they might have a county list, a state list and a United States list as well as a variety of trip lists. The current official bird list for North America (north of Mexico) includes 757 species.

In addition to identifying birds, bird watchers are interested in understanding why birds do what they do, why birds live where they live, how the environment affects bird populations, etc.

The Washington Ornithological Society list, published in October 2005, includes 472 species that have been seen in Washington state.A printable version of this list is available at http://www.wos.org/WAList01.htm

Seattle Audubon's BirdWeb provides information about all of the bird species that have been observed in Washington.