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About the IBC 
The Internet Bird Collection (IBC) is a non-profit endeavour with the ultimate goal of disseminating knowledge about the world's avifauna. It is an on-line audiovisual library of footage of the world's birds that is available to the general public free of charge. While the initial aim is to post at least one video per species, the long-term objective is to eventually include several videos showing a variety of biological aspects (e.g. feeding, breeding, etc.) for every species.
The idea to create the IBC came about through the contact its creators have had with other bird watchers who use video recorders during their trips. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the current trend is for birdwatchers with varying degrees of dedication to videotape the species -both common and rare- that they see during their trips to all corners of the world. This material is obviously not of much use to the global birding community if it is kept at home. Yet, if it is gathered and made accessible to the public via the Internet, it could surely constitute a valuable source of information for birders, ornithologists, conservationists, etc. In short, the essential goal of the IBC is to initiate a collective project that will only be of use if it is truly just that. In other words, the key to the success of the IBC lies in the hands of yourselves, the users. The advantage of this medium, the Internet, is that it enables the information provided to be accessed from anywhere in the world, thus making it possible for bird lovers across the globe to see species they might not have had the opportunity to observe had the IBC not been created. Those ornithologists who travel extensively will also find this a useful tool, as it will allow them to get a preview of the birds they plan to see before they begin their travels. Given that the aim is for the website to be as dynamic as possible, the intention is to up-date it with new videos on a daily basis (save weekends). This of course depends on the participation of the IBC users. The quality of one's video should not act as determent from sending in footage; no video is "not good enough" and no species is "not interesting enough" for this website - any and all information is valuable and helps to attain a greater understanding and knowledge of these interesting animals. Finally, we would like to point out that the IBC is sponsored by the Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW), which covers all of the initial costs of designing and setting up the site including the dedicated server, high speed connection and the staff required for running the site. Therefore, if the results are positive, and the site expands as we hope, it will be necessary to hire additional staff and the involvement of another sponsor will most likely become essential. To learn more about IBC co-sponsorship, click on the "IBC Co-sponsor". General Information about the IBC Videos All videos are protected by copyright and are the sole property of the person who has recorded them, or the legal owner. Lynx only shares the copyright with the owner when the video has been obtained with Lynx's help, which usually only applies to its staff members. No part of this material can be used in any way without written permission by the copyright holders. Contributors receive full credit and, if they wish, their details are included on the Contributors Page. All of the videos are shown on the website free of charge to the viewer. Likewise, remuneration is not offered to those who provide footage. This is a non-profit project and the funding provided by any other sponsors will cover the running and maintenance of the site as well as any improvements made to it. Hence, the project does not yield a profit. Video and Information Searches We thought it would make IBC browsing more convenient if users could modify the site according to their specifications, which is why we have created a section entitled "Customize", where the user can select the species to be viewed and in which format. It is possible to determine whether the list of species appears according to scientific name, common name or both. In addition, it is possible to specify which zoogeographical regions the user is interested in. It can also be decided whether to view videos or simply take a look at videograbs taken from the footage available. To search for videos of a specific species by consulting a general list of all of the bird families of the world according to taxonomic order, go to the page titled "Mainlist". Click on the name of any given family to view a complete list of all of the relevant species and the links to the footage available. The taxonomic sequence used is that of del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. (1992-2002). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vols. 1-9. Lynx Edicions. The passerine species not yet covered by HBW follow the order established by Clements, J.F. (2000). Birds of the World. A Checklist. Ibis Publishing Company. The sequence will be updated as each new volume of HBW is released, although at any rate the two lists are currently fairly convergent. A search engine has bee incorporated to expedite the search for the videos of a given species or family the user wishes to view. The search engine can be used in the following manner: The result of the search is presented as a list of all of the families or species matching the criteria indicated for the search. By clicking on the results, the user accesses the page that is devoted to the family or species. For further details, click on the "Help" icon in the Search Box. Viewing IBC Videos The videos posted on the IBC contain footage lasting an average of 20 to 30 seconds and most of them show some biological aspect of the bird portrayed. The videos are played on Windows Media Player (which comes with the Windows Operating System basic program package) and can usually be viewed in either of two following qualities: high quality for those equipped with a high speed Internet connection (at least DSL) and a lower quality for those using 56 kbps modems. For high quality the image is comprised of 360x288 pixels and for low quality 176x144, in most videos. We recommend viewers to use Windows Media Player 9, or a superior version, which includes Windows Media Video 8 decoder (required for viewing the IBC videos) and takes up to 10 MB. It can be obtained on the Internet free of charge. For more information about the program and how to update previous versions, visit the following sites: IBC Video Troubleshooting Should you have any difficulties playing the videos, make sure you are using the 7.1 version of Windows Media Player or superior; it can be obtained free of charge at the websites listed under "Viewing IBC Videos", above. The program configuration could also cause problems, so you should check the setting for the storage in the buffer. One other possible source of problems is the configuration of the temporary Internet files of your computer. Cookies This website stores a cookie on the user's hard disk. The sole purpose of the cookie is to record the configuration selected during the user's visit so the page does not have to be re-customized each time it is visited. The cookie does not store any personal information, nor is it used to trace the user's Internet activities. Should the user have a program which blocks the storage of cookies, the options selected for customizing the IBC will not be saved. This does not impede the user from navigating on the site, it simply means that the default options will be applied. In other words, all of the species of the world will be listed according to scientific name followed by the common name in English. Should you wish to know more about cookies and what they are used for, you might like to
visit the website http://www.cookiecentral.com/
and select the menu options "Cookies" and read the page "The Cookie Concept". More examples
are provided on the Netscape website:
http://www.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html. Some other pages of interest are: How to Submit Videos It is preferable for videos to be submitted on CD-Rom or on a miniDV tape. They can be in either AVI, wmv or mpeg format and we will convert them into Windows Media Player prior to posting them. Videos can also be sent in on VHS, High8 and SuperHigh8 video tape. We recommend that the videos be edited prior to submission using those videos which have already been posted as a guideline. Should non-edited footage be sent in, we will do our best to edit it according to our criteria for the website prior to posting, though whether or not we manage to do this with all of the videos depends on our resources. Please submit your videos to:
Montseny, 8 E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona Spain. Recommendations for Filming In order to obtain the best footage possible, you might like to try following these suggestions: Video Capture Cards A video capture card is the hardware required for capturing (storing on hard-disk) the images recorded on video and subsequently digitalizing them. There are currently few video cameras available that allow the images to be captured without video capture cards. There is, on the other hand, a considerable range of video capture cards on the market. Cards for home use can cost anywhere from 150 to 900 euros (the decision as to which card to purchase should be based on the individual's needs and budget). Most lower price-range cards have a single input and output which are strictly digital or analogical. However, there are a few cards available which can be used for both digital and analogical input and output, amongst which are Matrox TR2500 and Pinnacle DV 500, which cost roughly 900 euros. These cards are best for those who have a digital camera but wish to also capture images filmed in analogical format on High8 or VHS tapes. The main problem with these cards is the installation, as hardware incompatibility often occurs. It is therefore important to make inquiries and be well informed prior to deciding which card to purchase. The different types of S-Video, analogical and DV (IEEE-1394) inputs determine the quality of the capture. The best quality is obtained with digital input, followed by S-Video and then analogical input. Digital inputs have FireWire input/output and the latest generation is DV-IN, with which bi-directional transfer is possible. For more information about video capture cards, visit the following websites: Editing Software There are several programs for editing digitalized video and creating the final product. They are usually sold together with the video capture cards as part of the package. The program we use is Adobe Premiere. Once the video has been edited, the final step is to export the video to the hard disk or on to tape. |
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