BirdLife International was founded in 1922 as the International Council for Bird Preservation by American ornithologists T. Gilbert Pearson and Jean Theodore Delacour under the name International Committee for Bird Protection.
BirdLife International pokrenut je 1922. godine kada su američki ornitolozi T. Gilbert Pearson i Jean Theodore Delacour osnovali Međunarodno vijeće za zaštitu ptica (International Council for Bird Preservation).