What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
Gavin Ailes says he created his first bird website to solve a specific problem: identifying non-native ducks he saw in London parks. The bird books he had available did not cover those ducks well, so he wondered whether he could make a website that would help people like him identify them. That project became worldwildfowl.com.
How a birding interest took shape
In his May 16, 2022, AvianLife post, “Build it and they will come,” Ailes describes his interest in birds as something that grew over time, with a family interest in nature and books as part of its background. He identifies a trip to Namibia in 2002 as a major spark: he wrote down the birds he saw and later labeled them in a photo album.
After returning to London, he visited parks and bird sanctuaries. There, he encountered non-native ducks that were difficult to identify using the books he had. The gap was practical and local: the species he was seeing did not fit neatly into the coverage available to him.
Why he made the website
Ailes wondered whether a website about ducks could help people facing the same identification problem. He built a simple resource called worldwildfowl.com, which he describes as his first bird website. He says he made it with what he calls a “prehistoric” version of Microsoft FrontPage. Although the site was basic, he enjoyed creating it and occasionally received email questions from visitors.
#1 Best Overall
The motivation was not simply to publish a site about a hobby. It began with a mismatch between birds encountered in London parks and the identification information in the books Ailes had at hand. Making a focused resource offered a way to address that gap.
From a bird list database to eBird
The website was one part of Ailes’s broader effort to organize his birding. He also built Birdbase in Microsoft Access to manage his bird lists. In 2016, he found it difficult to keep the database current as bird names and taxonomy changed, and he created an eBird account.
His later web work included a role at a WordPress website design and build company and creating a school website in Myanmar. Those experiences add context to his interest in making websites, but his account does not present them as a recommendation of any current website-building tool.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Which “Why I created a bird website” story is documented?
The exact title appears in a DEV Community Show DEV listing under Adenola Adefemi’s name, but that listing does not show the post itself. The substantive first-person account summarized here is by Gavin Ailes on AvianLife. The available information does not establish whether the two are connected, so Ailes’s experiences should not be attributed to Adefemi.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
