Birds are involved in numerous important ecosystem functions that help sustain Earth’s diverse ecosystems, yet few of these functions have been quantified or even studied from an ecosystem service perspective. The current challenge is to obtain meaningful calculations of ecosystem services that can be used to incorporate biodiversity conservation into land use management and policy. Recent work on birds’ ecosystem services has made progress towards this goal, but much remains to be done. Our objectives in this session are to fully describe several main ecosystem services provided by birds, highlight recent progress towards quantifying them, and, finally, to suggest directions for future research. Global efforts to conserve bird populations and sustain avian biodiversity also preserve the diverse ecosystem services provided by birds, thus contributing to human well-being.