World Database of Bird Species

BirdLife International has a database of birds with over 250,000 records. It's available at http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/index.html ; use the nav on the left to search. The database seems to be more about providing the endangered status of species and less on providing general information about all birds.

There are several different ways to search; you can search by: species, sites, or EBAs (Endemic Bird Areas). I searched by species. Within a species search you can search by family, genus, species, common name, region, or country territory. I searched for red-shouldered hawks -- we have a few very loud ones in my neighborhood (and they're great!).

I got one result with the species name and common name as well as a link. Clicking on the link takes me to a page with information about the species' range, its global population, and its risk for endangerment over the next ten years/three generations.

In this case the risk is LC (Least Concern) but you can also look up something like the Siberian Crane, which is considered to be "critically endangered." Its page has maps of its habitat, world population estimates (less than 4,000), ecology, threats, conservation measures underway and proposed, and offsite links to more information about the bird.

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