~ Early Web Links ~

Created by Dick and Sandy Daniels, this site functions as a comprehensive online field guide covering over 10,000 bird species organized by genus and family, making it easy to compare related birds side by side. Entries span every major region of the world including North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, with links to additional information for each species.

Tim Tyler's essay from the Lotus Artificial Life site takes a critical look at the concept of the 'technological singularity,' arguing that exponential growth curves have no truly singular points and that futurists like Vinge and Kurzweil misuse the term. The piece is a thoughtful, technically grounded rebuttal complete with references to Kurzweil's graphs, Wikipedia, and related essays by other thinkers.

Operation RubyThroat is a comprehensive hummingbird research and education project run by Bill Hilton Jr. and the Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History in South Carolina. The site covers everything from attracting hummingbirds with feeders to scientific banding studies and student citizen-science projects, making it a rich hub for both casual enthusiasts and educators.

The Northern California Regional Chapter of SETAC serves students and professionals in environmental toxicology and chemistry, offering local networking, scholarships, and annual meeting opportunities. The site archives newsletters dating back to 2008 and provides information on board members, sustaining memberships, and a student-mentor lunch program.

Diptera.info is a comprehensive portal dedicated to the insect order Diptera, covering flies, midges, and gnats with galleries, checklists, catalogues, and an active identification forum for researchers and enthusiasts worldwide. With over 5,000 members, a larva gallery, downloadable articles, and curated web links to scientific collections and catalogues, it serves as a serious reference hub for dipterists at all levels.

Rod Crawford's Spider Collector's Journal chronicles decades of arachnid collecting expeditions from 1986 through the present, including trips to the Russian Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island. The site features year-by-year narrative accounts, photo albums, and detailed documentation of tools and techniques used in scientific spider collection.

Dr. Randall Whitaker's Observer Web is a comprehensive academic resource dedicated to autopoiesis and enaction, covering the cognitive biology theories of Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela. It offers a tutorial, study plan, bibliography, encyclopaedia, and internet guide for anyone exploring second-order cybernetics, radical constructivism, and enactive cognitive science.

Curated by the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Division, this digital archive spans 1890 to 1961 and brings together photographs, documents, and original materials tracing the history of salmon fishing and the roots of the Pacific Northwest salmon crisis. Visitors can browse topics ranging from Native American fishing practices and salmon canneries to hatcheries and the Columbia River salmon industry.

A comprehensive scientific reference on freshwater benthic ecology and aquatic entomology, covering macroinvertebrate taxa from mayflies and dragonflies to beetles and caddisflies across dozens of detailed chapters. Produced by the Soil and Water Conservation Society of Metro Halifax, this site offers taxa tolerance values, biological monitoring protocols, and research reports focused on freshwater ecosystems in Nova Scotia and beyond.