1832 in birding and ornithology

Prioniturus flavicans. The genus Prioniturus was erected by Johann Georg Wagler in this year

• William Henry Sykes publishes his catalogues of birds and mammals of the Deccan in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. This included fifty-six birds new to science, including the Indian pond heron.
• Édouard Ménétries describes Sylvia mystacea now known as Menetries's warbler
• René Primevère Lesson commences Illustrations de Zoologie (1832–35)
• Johann Georg Wagler moves the northern bald ibis to a new genus Geronticus (from the genus Upupa Carl Linnaeus, 1758)
• Death of Georges Cuvier
• Death of Karl Rudolphi
• Death of Louis Dufresne
• Charles Lucien Bonaparte commences Iconografia della Fauna Italica (1832–1841)
• The Reverend John Bachman, who presented study skins and descriptions to his friend and collaborator John James Audubon, discovers Bachman's warbler.
• Foundation of Muséum d'histoire naturelle de La Rochelle
• George Loddiges describes the mountain avocetbill, the Tyrian metaltail and the buff-tailed coronet