1887 in birding and ornithology

• Birds described in 1887 include African grey flycatcher, crested tit-warbler, scaly-breasted illadopsis, vega gull, Okinawa woodpecker, Ecuadorian cacique, Bornean leafbird, Whitehead's spiderhunter, grey-sided thrush, Slender-tailed woodstar.

• Death of Wilhelm von Wright

• Fernando Ferrari-Pérez Catalogue of Animals collected by the Geographical and Exploring commission of the Republic of Mexico
• George Ernest Shelley A Review of the Species of the Family Ploceidae of the Ethiopian Region. Ibis 1887 1-47 continuation
• Edward William Nelson Report upon Natural History Collections Made in Alaska between the Years 1877–1881 online
• Montague Chamberlain A Catalogue of Canadian Birds

Ongoing events

• Osbert Salvin and Frederick DuCane Godman 1879–1904. Biologia Centrali-Americana
• Richard Bowdler Sharpe Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum London, 1874–98.
• Anton Reichenow, Jean Cabanis, and other members of the German Ornithologists' Society in Journal für Ornithologie online BHL
• Ornis; internationale Zeitschrift für die gesammte Ornithologie.Vienna 1885-1905 online BHL
• The Auk online BHL
• The Ibis