The following is a timeline of ornithology events:
Until 1700
1500–800 BC – The Vedas mention the habit of brood parasitism in the Asian koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus). 4th century BC – Aristotle mentions over 170 sorts of birds in his work on animals. He recognises eight principal groups. 3rd century BC – The Erya, a Chinese encyclopedia comprising glosses on passages in ancient texts, notably the Book of Songs, features 79 entries in its chapter "Describing Birds" 1st century AD – Pliny the Elder's Historia Naturalis Book X is devoted to birds. Three groups based on characteristics of feet 2nd century AD – Aelian mentions a number of birds in his work on animals. Birds are listed alphabetically 1037 – Death of Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina (known as Avicenna in Latin) author of Abbreviatio de animalibus, a homage to Aristotle c 1100 Hugh of Fouilloy authors De avibus, a moral treatise on birds later incorporated into many versions of the popular medieval bestiary. 1220 – Books on birds and other animals by Aristotle and Avicenna translated into Latin for the first time by Michael Scot 1250 – Death of Frederick II von Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor, and author of De arte venandi cum avibus ("concerning the art of hunting with birds") that describes the first manipulative experiments in ornithology and the methods of falconry 1478 – De Animalibus by Albertus Magnus is printed, which mentions many bird names. It had been written between 1260 and 1280. 1485 – First dated copy of Ortus sanitatis by Johannes de Cuba 1544 – William Turner prints a commentary on the birds mentioned by Aristotle and Pliny. 1555 – Conrad Gessner's Historic Animalium qui est de Auium natura and Pierre Belon's (Bellonius) Histoire de la nature des Oyseaux. Belon lists birds according to a definite system. 1573 – Volcher Coiter publishes his first treatise on bird anatomy 1591 – Joris Hoefnagel starts to work for Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor and produces for him 90 oil-base paintings, of which one is of the dodo. 1596 – The Compendium of Chinese Materia Medica by Li Shizhen includes a total of 77 species of bird. 1599 – Beginning of the publication of the works of Ulisse Aldrovandi on birds. 1603 – Caspar Schwenckfeld publishes the first regional fauna of Europe: Therio-tropheum Silesiae. 1605 – Clusius publishes Exoticorum libri decem ("Ten books of exotics") in which he describes many new exotic species. 1609 – The illustrated Sancai Tuhui, a Chinese encyclopedia by Wang Qi & Wang Siyi, lists a total of 113 species of bird. 1638 – Georg Marcgraf begins a voyage to Brazil where he studies the fauna and flora. 1652 – Leopoldina founded in the Holy Roman Empire. It is the oldest continuously existing learned society in the world. 1655 – Ole Worm collects a famous cabinet of curiosities whose illustrated inventory appears in 1655, Museum Wormianum. This collection comprises many birds but the techniques of conservation are not successful and they are quickly destroyed by insects. 1657 – Publication of Historiae naturalis de avibus by John Jonston. 1667 – Christopher Merrett publishes the first fauna of Great Britain, followed two years later by that of Walter Charleton. 1676 – Publication of Francis Willughby's Ornithologia by his collaborator John Ray. This is considered the beginning of scientific ornithology in Europe, revolutionizing ornithological taxonomy by organizing species according to their physical characteristics. 1681 – The last dodo dies on the island of Mauritius
18th century 1702 – Ferdinand Johann Adam von Pernau publishes a popular pioneering essay on bird behaviour. 1710 – Osservatorio Ornitologico di Arosio established 1713 – Death of the collector Johan de la Faille 1715 – Levinus Vincent publishes Wondertooneel der Nature the Wonder Theater of Nature 1716 – Peter the Great purchases the natural history collection of Albertus Seba 1724–1726 – François Valentijn and George Eberhard Rumpf give the first accounts of birds-of-paradise in Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën ("Old and New East India") 1729–1747 – Mark Catesby publishes his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which included 220 plates of birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, mammals and plants. For the publication dates see: 1731–1738 Eleazar Albin publishes A Natural History of Birds. 1733 – Great Northern Expedition leaves Saint Petersburg 1735 – Carl Linnaeus publishes his Systema Naturae. The classification of birds follows that of Ray 1737 – Giuseppe Ginanni writes the first book entirely devoted to the eggs and nests of birds, Dell Uova Nidi e dei degli Uccelli published in Venice 1741 – Georg Steller studies the birds of the north Pacific on his voyage with Vitus Bering 1742–1743 – Johann Heinrich Zorn publishes Petino-Theologie oder Versuch, Die Menschen durch nähere Betrachtung Der Vögel Zur Bewunderung Liebe und Verehrung ihres mächtigsten, weissest- und gütigsten Schöpffers aufzumuntern. Ornithotheology, or an encouragement to humanity, through a careful observation of birds, towards admiration, love and respect for their powerful, of the wise and good Creator. 1743 – George Edwards begins publication of his bird plates. 1754 – Jean-Louis Alléon-Dulac publishes Mélange d'histoire naturelle 1756 – Wilhelm Heinrich Kramer publishes in Elenchus Vegetabilium et Animalium per Austriam inferiorem Observatorum 1756 – Louis Daniel Arnault de Nobleville publishes Histoire naturelle des animaux 1757 – Michel Adanson publishes Histoire naturelle du Senegal. 1758 – Carl Linnaeus publishes the first volume of the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, the first application of binomial nomenclature to birds. 1759–1771 – Peter Ascanius Icones rerum naturalium 1760 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson's six-volume Ornithologie improves upon Linnaeus' classification.
1763 – Erik Pontoppidan begins Den Danske atlas eller Konge-Riget Dannemark 1765 – Edme-Louis Daubenton engaged by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon to supervise the illustration of his Histoire naturelle 1766 – Publication of the 12th edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. This was the last edition published in Linnaeus's lifetime. It included the binomial names for 931 bird species. 1766–1769 French naturalist Philibert Commerçon accompanies Louis Antoine de Bougainville on a voyage of circumnavigation 1768–1780 – Voyages of James Cook to the Pacific and Australia during which many birds new to science are collected by Joseph Banks and Johann Reinhold Forster 1768 Ivan Lepyokhin explores the Volga region 1770–1783 – Buffon's Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux was the first work to take into account the geographical distribution of birds 1770 – Cornelius Nozeman begins work on Nederlandsche Vogelen 1774 – Jacob Christian Schäffer divides the birds into two families, Palmipedes (web-footed) and the much larger family Nudipedes (not web-footed) in Elementa Ornithologica. 1775 – Ashton Lever begins exhibiting his bird collection at a public museum called the Holophusikon 1776 – Francesco Cetti publishes Uccelli di Sardegna. 1776 – Saverio Manetti publishes the monumental Storia naturale degli uccelli 1776 – Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller publishes Des Ritters Carl von Linné Königlich Schwedischen Leibarztes .... 1776 – Peter Brown publishes New illustrations of Zoology. 1778 – Juan Ignacio Molina publishes Saggio sulla storia naturale del Chile which includes the first descriptions of many South American species 1778–1785 Félix Vicq-d'Azyr begins Mémoires pour servir à l'anatomie des oiseaux in Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences 1779–1780 Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Handbuch der Naturgeschichte; 12 editions and some translations. Published first in Göttingen by J. C. Dieterich 1780 Lazzaro Spallanzani Dissertationi di fisica animale e vegetale published. It includes investigations into bird physiology. 1782 – Pierre Joseph Buchoz Les dons merveilleux et diversement coloriés de la nature dans le règne animal, ou collection d’animaux précieusement coloriés (Paris : chez l'auteur) 1782 – Charles Joseph Panckoucke begins a publishing venture the Encyclopédie Méthodique 1782 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach publishes Handbuch der Naturgeschichte 1784 – Teyler's Museum founded 1784 – Joseph Franz von Jacquin Beyträge zur Geschichte der Vögel 1785 – John Latham completes his Synopsis of Birds, which describes many birds collected in Australia and the Pacific Ocean. Thomas Pennant publishes Arctic Zoology. 1786–1789 – Anders Erikson Sparrman publishes Catalogue of the Museum Carlsonianum in which he described many of the specimens he had collected in South Africa and the South Pacific, some of which were new to science. In 1806 he published an Ornithology of Sweden 1787 – Carl Peter Thunberg publishes Museum naturalium Academiæ Upsaliensis 1786–1789 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli describes birds collected by Pierre Sonnerat on his voyages. One is the black lory 1788 – Johann Friedrich Gmelin commences work on the 13th edition of Systema Naturae which includes the classification of many birds for the first time, especially those described by Latham 1788 – “de Arte Venandi cum Avibus” by Frederick II (d. 1250) published and compared favorably to contemporary science by Blasius Merrem and Johan Gottlobb Schneider 1789 – Publication of Gilbert White's Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. 1789–1813 – George Shaw commences The Naturalist's Miscellany or Coloured Figures Of Natural Objects; Drawn and Described Immediately From Nature
1790–1791 – Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre writes Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la nature, Ornithologie in Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique. Although the title page bears the date of 1823 the section (livraison) containing the description was published in 1791. See: Joachim Johann Nepomuk Spalowsky – Beytrag zur Naturgeschichte der Vögel 1793 Friedrich Albrecht Anton Meyer publishes Systematisch-summarische Uebersicht der neuesten zoologischen Entdeckungen in Neuholland und Afrika 1794–6 James Bolton publishes Harmonia ruralis, an "essay towards a natural history of British songbirds", issued in two volumes. 1796 – Johann Alois Senefelder invents the low cost printing technique of lithography. 1797 – François Le Vaillant begins publication of his Oiseaux d'Afrique giving details of species encountered on his exploration of South Africa. This work was translated into several languages and established his fame as a bird artist. 1797–1804 – Publication of Thomas Bewick's A History of British Birds 1799 – François Marie Daudin writes Traité élémentaire et complet d'Ornithologie (Natural History of Birds), one of the first "modern" handbooks of ornithology, combining Linnean binomial nomenclature with the anatomical and physiological descriptions of Buffon. Unfortunately it was never completed. 1799 – Philippe-Isidore Picot de Lapeyrouse publishes Tables méthodiques des mammifères et des oiseaux observés dans le département de la Haute-Garonne. Also Bernard Germain de Lacépède, in Discours d'ouverture et de clôture du cours d'histoire naturelle, places the birds in 130 genera in 39 orders. 1799 – Alexander von Humboldt journeys to South America where he finds the oilbird. He described it in 1817. Later in the trip he observed the behaviour of the Andean condor
19th century 1800–1804 – "Le Geographe" and "Le Naturaliste" leave France for the Pacific Ocean under the overall command of Nicolas Baudin. The naturalists on board made a collection of over 100,000 zoological specimens. Many bird species will be described by Louis Pierre Vieillot and published in Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle (1816–1819). 1800–1817 – Johann Conrad Susemihl publishes a 22-part survey of the birds of Germany, Teutsche Ornithologie oder Naturgeschichte aller Vögel Teutschlands in naturgetreuen Abbildungen und Beschreibungen.