The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a consortium of natural history and botanical libraries that cooperate to digitize and make accessible the legacy literature of biodiversity held in their collections and to make that literature available for open access and responsible use as a part of a global “biodiversity commons.” The BHL consortium works with the international taxonomic community, rights holders, and other interested parties to ensure that this biodiversity heritage is made available to a global audience through open access principles. In partnership with the Internet Archive and through local digitization efforts , the BHL has digitized millions of pages of taxonomic literature , representing tens of thousands of titles and over 100,000 volumes.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis).Illustration by F.C. Hennessey.Birds of Canada(1934) by Percy Algernon Taverner. Digitized in BHL by Canadian Museum of Nature Library.

Did someone say Spring?!

In Ottawa, we start to see the Canada Geese returning to their summer nesting grounds around this time of year. Large flocks of them fly overhead in the same v-shaped formations we saw months ago when they left in the late fall.

Various subspecies of the Canada Goose(Branta canadensis).Birds of Canada(1934) by Percy Algernon Taverner. Digitized in BHL by Canadian Museum of Nature Library.

Aren’t migratory birds fascinating? Along with so many other Canadian bird species.

Birds of Canadaby Percy Algernon Taverner remains one of the best accounts of the kinds of birds that occur in Canada. And the first thirty-six pages holds just the right amount of information to open the science of ornithology to bird lovers, yet still enough information to satisfy research needs.

The pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator).Illustration by Allan Brooks.Birds of Canada(1934) by Percy Algernon Taverner. Digitized in BHL by Canadian Museum of Nature Library.

Further on, the book is beautifully illustrated with the works of Allan Brooks, a distinguished bird artist, and there is an abundance of illustrations imbedded throughout, contributing visual explanations. A well-illustrated book was still a rarer occurrence in 1934 when this title was published. This was undoubtedly a key factor in its popularity at the time.

The upland plover or sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda).Illustration by Allan Brooks.Birds of Canada(1934) by Percy Algernon Taverner. Digitized in BHL by Canadian Museum of Nature Library.

Percy Algernon Taverner compiled over 330 publications about birds, butBirds of Canadawas amongst his three best-sellers. Thanks to the Canadian Museum of Nature Library, you can read a copy ofBirds of Canadaon BHL.

The rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus).Illustration by Allan Brooks.Birds of Canada(1934) by Percy Algernon Taverner. Digitized in BHL by Canadian Museum of Nature Library.

Taverner built from scratch the Ornithology department of the National Museum of Canada (nowCanadian Museum of Nature). Fast forward from then to now (1911 to 2018), a publicBird Galleryat the Canadian Museum of Nature's Victoria Memorial Museum Building in downtown Ottawa is the largest and most modern bird gallery in Canada with nearly 500 specimens of Canadian birds.

Percy Algernon Taverner.

In 2015,Percy Taverner Parkwas named in his honour. This park is at Woodbine Place, in Ottawa Ontario, where three imaginative bike racks border the entrance to the park. They are stylized Northern Cardinals and reputed to be Percy Taverner’s favourite birds.

Bike racks stylized as Northern Cardinals at the entrance to Percy Taverner Park. Image source:Old Ottawa South Community Association.

Northern Cardinal(Cardinalis cardinalis).Birds of Canada(1934) by Percy Algernon Taverner. Digitized in BHL by Canadian Museum of Nature Library.

For a thoughtfully and nicely written biography,A Life with Birds: Percy A. Taverner, Canadian Ornithologist, 1875-1947by John L. Cranmer-Byng, a special issue of theCanadian Field-Naturalist, 1996, volume 110, number 1, is also available to read on BHL.

The hairy woodpecker (Picoides villosusorLeuconotopicus villosus). Taxonomy varies by taxonomic authority.Illustration by Allan Brooks.Birds of Canada(1934) by Percy Algernon Taverner. Digitized in BHL by Canadian Museum of Nature Library.

In the words of Taverner himself,“ornithology is one of the problems of nature that may be successfully attacked from so many points of view and in so many ways that there is interesting and valuable work for all to accomplish according to individual taste or opportunity”.

Quote from theintroduction ofBirds of Canada(1934) by Percy Algernon Taverner. Digitized in BHL by Canadian Museum of Nature Library.

The eastern screech owl (Megascops asio).Illustration by Allan Brooks.Birds of Canada(1934) by Percy Algernon Taverner. Digitized in BHL by Canadian Museum of Nature Library.

Post by:
Elizabeth Smith
Acquisitions and Cataloguing Officer
Canadian Museum of Nature Library

Elizabeth Smith joined the Canadian Museum of Nature in 2014 as Acquisitions and Cataloguing Officer. She is responsible for the library’s daily operations, including the selection and purchase of materials and resources as well as providing access to resources and reference services. She also plays a lead role in the library’s digitization initiatives. Prior to this Elizabeth served as Document Delivery& Research Services Technician at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa.