- John Latham publishes A General Synopsis of Birds (1781–1801)
- Jacques Barraband is commissioned to produce a series of watercolours of birds by Napoleon Bonaparte.
- Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent spends two years exploring Réunion and other islands in the Indian Ocean.
- Birds described in 1801 include the Norfolk Island ground-dove, the Puerto Rican emerald, the bell miner the pallid cuckoo and the purple swamphen
- The green mango hummingbird described by Louis Pierre Vieillot and Jean Baptiste Audebert in Oiseaux dorés, ou à reflets métalliques
- Naturhistorische Gesellschaft Nürnberg (Natural History Society of Nuremberg founded. The society's museum is Naturhistorische Gesellschaft Nürnberg e. V.