Past events
Since its inception in the late 19th century, the Union, and its parent organization, the International Ornithological Committee, has held 26 International Ornithological Congresses in 19 countries on all livable continents, from Austria in 1884 to Canada in 2018.
- Click here to download a list of plenary speakers at past IOCongresses.
- Click here for a history of past IOCongresses
Location and Dates of IOCongresses 1884-2014 with Presidents and Secretaries-General/Congress Conveners
| # | Year | Location | President | Secretary-General | Documents |
| 1st | 1884 | Vienna, Austria | Dr. G.F.R. Radde | Dr. Gustav von Hayek | Congress Report |
| 2nd | 1891 | Budapest, Hungary | Prof. Victor Fatio, Otto Herman | none | |
| 3rd | 1900 | Paris, France | Dr. Émile Oustalet | Jean de Claybrooke | |
| 4th | 1905 | London, UK | R. Bowdler Sharpe | Dr. E.J.O. Hartert, J. Lewis Bonhote | |
| 5th | 1910 | Berlin, Germany | Prof. Dr. Anton Reichenow | Herman Schalow | |
| 6th | 1926 | Copenhagen, Denmark | Dr. E. J. O. Hartert | E. Lehn Schioler | |
| 7th | 1930 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Prof. A.J.E. Lönnberg | Prof. L.F. de Beaufort | |
| 8th | 1934 | Oxford, UK | Prof. Erwin Stresemann | Rev. F.C.R. Jourdain | |
| 9th | 1938 | Rouen, France | Prof. Alessandro Ghigi | Jean Delacour | |
| 10th | 1950 | Uppsala, Sweden | Dr. Alexander Wetmore | Prof. Sven Hörstadius | |
| 11th | 1954 | Basel, Switzerland | Sir Landsborough Thomson | Prof. Adolf Portmann | |
| 12th | 1958 | Helsinki, Finland | Prof. J. Berlioz | Dr. Lars von Haartman | |
| 13th | 1962 | Ithaca, NY, USA | Dr. Ernst Mayr | Dr. Charles G. Sibley | |
| 14th | 1966 | Oxford, UK | Dr. David Lack | Prof. Nikolaas Tinbergen | Congress Report |
| 15th | 1970 | Den Haag, The Netherlands | 1966-1969: Prof. Nikolaas Tinbergen | Prof. Karel H. Voous | |
| 1969-1970: Prof. Finn Salomonsen | |||||
| 16th | 1974 | Canberra, Australia | Prof. Jean Dorst | Dr. H. J. Frith | |
| 17th | 1978 | Berlin, Germany | Prof. D.S. Farner | Rolf Nöhring | |
| 18th | 1982 | Moscow, Russia | Prof. Lars von Haartman | Prof. V. Ilyichev | |
| 19th | 1986 | Ottawa, Canada | Prof. Dr. Klaus Immelmann | Dr. Henri Ouellet | |
| 20th | 1990 | Christchurch, New Zealand | Dr. Charles G. Sibley | Dr. Benjamin D. Bell | |
| 21st | 1994 | Vienna, Austria | Dr. Christopher Perrins | Dr. John Dittami | Congress Report |
| 22nd | 1998 | Durban, South Africa | Prof. Dr. Peter Berthold | Dr. Aldo Berruti | View Proceedings |
| 23rd | 2002 | Beijing, China | Prof. Walter Bock | Dr. Wei-shu Xu |
IOCongress report [pdf, 135 Kb] |
| 24th | 2006 | Hamburg, Germany | Prof. Dr. Jacques Blondel | Prof. Dr. Franz Bairlein |
View Proceedings I: Pleanry papers View Proceedings II: Symposia papers Abstract Book [pdf, 2.7 Mb] IOCongress report [pdf, 1.1 Mb] |
| 25th | 2010 | Campos de Jordão, Brazil | Prof. Dr. John C. Wingfield | Prof. Dr. Cristina Miyaki, Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Höfling |
Abstract book [pdf, 5.9 Mb] |
| 26th | 2014 | Tokyo, Japan | Prof. Dr. Franz Bairlein | Prof. Dr. Keisuke Ueda |
Abstract book [pdf, 10.0 Mb] |
| 27th | 2018 | Vancouver, Canada | Prof. Dr. Lucia Severinghaus | Prof. Dr. Robert W. Elner |