Aviculture & Conservation networks

Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds and the culture that forms around it. Several non-profit organizations and associations engage in aviculture and bird conservation. Some of them are highlighted at this page.

Aviornis International

Aviornis International was formed in 1973 by a group of aviculturists to be an organisation that gathers bird fanciers who are occupied in aviculture and preserving non-domesticated birds. The Aviornis magazine helps to provide two of the main aims of Aviornis - to promote sound husbandry through captive breeding and to have closer co-operation between international breeders to promote their interests. The avicultural side cannot be emphasised enough, with one of our main aims to promote sound husbandry in captive breeding and establish captive breeding programmes.

• To support and co-operate with other organisations on scientific programs to preserve bird species that have become nearly extinct.
• To stimulate (inter)national exchange of young birds in order to keep genetically healthy stocks of each species.
• To help our members with advice and information on the husbandry and breeding management of the wide diversity of bird species.
• To contribute, together with other international organisations, to scientific programs, aimed at the re-introduction of bird species that have become (locally) extinct due to natural catastrophes or other reasons.

Under the wings of Aviornis International members of studygroups collaborate to exchange information about Avian populations in aviculture (ex-situ) of specific families and genera. The studygroups have participating members worldwide, from both private collections and zoological institutions.

More information about Aviornis International can be found here.

International Wild Waterfowl Association

The International Wild Waterfowl Association (IWWA) was established in 1958 by a group of farsighted aviculturists, conservationists, and ornithologists. Conservation pioneers - Dr. Jean DeLacour, Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, Mr. Randall Maybey, Dr. George Allen, and Sir Peter Scott - launched IWWA's early efforts to preserve the whooping crane (Grus americana) and trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator).

Currently, one-third of all wild waterfowl are considered threatened or endangered. Habitat loss and human population growth are the primary causes of waterfowl declines, and these factors are growing annually.

Today, the IWWA is a group of private aviculturists, students, researchers, conservationists, educators, zoo professionals, and waterfowl enthusiasts from around the world working to preserve all taxa of wild waterfowl, and with your help in meeting the challenge, much can be done.

More information about the International Wild Waterfowl Association can be found here. 

The Avicultural Society

Founded in 1894, the Avicultural Society is concerned with the keeping and breeding of all types of birds other than domesticated varieties. The society, based in the UK, has a world-wide membership which includes most top aviculturalists, as well as leading zoos, bird gardens, conservation organisations and research institutes around the world.

The Avicultural Society promotes the study of, and best practices in, keeping non-domesticated birds in captivity, publishing four 48-page issues of the Avicultural Magazine annually. The Society also sponsors Special Interest Groups dedicated to the captive propagation of non-domestic birds. The Society also encourages conservation in the wild. To this end amongst the various projects selected the Avicultural Society has assisted in the funding of Professor He Fen-Qui’s work with the Blue-crowned Laughing Thrush and hornbill research in Thailand, where villagers who previously earned money by taking chicks from their nests and selling them, now receive payments for protecting the nests and collecting nesting data.

More information about The Avicultural Society can be found here.