For readers enamored with birds all around the world, the Internet Bird Collection (IBC) is an excellent place to spend some time. This nonprofit project describes itself as "an online audiovisual library of videos, photos and sound recordings of the world's birds" created "with the ultimate goal of disseminating knowledge about the world's avifauna." Visitors to the IBC can explore multimedia materials and recordings of thousands of bird species crowdsourced by birdwatchers around the world, with their species identifications cross-checked by trained ornithologists. This vast collection can be searched and filtered by family name (common or scientific), country, keyword, date, and more, and each media entry includes a location map and shows other media recorded nearby. The IBC also has several quizzes for those who enjoy testing their ornithology skills. Begun in 2002, the IBC was created by Lynx Edicons, the publishing house behind the 17-volume Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive, whose staff were inspired by their conversations with other birdwatchers to create a collective repository for multimedia collected by avid birders worldwide. Those interested can contribute their own bird photos, videos, and sound recordings to the IBC by creating a free account.
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