ornithology
/ˌɔːnɪˈθɒlədʒi
/noun [mass noun]
The scientific study of birds.This fresh autobiographical study in amateur ornithology may be one of the first birding romance novels!...
- What do you consider your most important contribution to ornithology?
- The German author is widely recognized for his work in ornithology.
Derivatives
ornithological
/ adjective ...- Recent ornithological events on the lower Bure marshes, near Yarmouth, have reminded me of my earliest bird-watching days.
- Lear's book of parrots was an immediate success and no doubt had he persevered with his ornithological studies he would have achieved immortality as a new Audubon.
- Among the many ornithological features observed along the Norfolk coast during the autumn of 1993 was a heavy and prolonged migration of siskins.
ornithologically
- His choice of the University of Greifswald for medical studies was because of its location in an ornithologically interesting area of Germany.
- At some of these ornithologically important sites, it will take the decimated bird population some 10 to 12 years to recover, he said.
- But then much of the use of birdsong in music has always been an anecdotal exercise, a way of deliberately conjuring up a mood or a location rather than any attempt to be ornithologically exact.
Origin
Late 17th century: from modern Latin ornithologia, from Greek ornithologos 'treating of birds'.