Cornell Lab of Ornithology#Information science

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology was founded by Arthur A. Allen, who had lobbied for the creation of the country's first graduate program in ornithology; the Lab was established at Cornell University in 1915. Initially, the Lab of Ornithology was housed in the university’s entomology and limnology department.[http://www.sapsuckerwoods.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WBUASW&Product_Code=2896&Category_Code=4140 For the Birds] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716004842/http://www.sapsuckerwoods.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WBUASW&Product_Code=2896&Category_Code=4140 |date=July 16, 2011 }}, by Randolph Scott Little, 2003

Birder/businessman Lyman Stuart, donors, and landowners purchased or donated farmland in 1954, which was to be set aside for the sanctuary. Stuart helped finance the construction of the first Lab building in 1957. Lab founder Arthur Allen (along with colleagues Louis Agassiz Fuertes, James Gutsell, and Francis Harper) had dubbed the area “Sapsucker Woods” after discovering the first breeding pair of yellow-bellied sapsuckers ever reported in the Cayuga Lake Basin; this species of woodpecker is now common in the area and is part of the Cornell Lab's logo.

Today, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity, which opened in the summer of 2003.

File:Cornell Lab of Ornithology interior.JPG

The 300-acre Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary contains more than 5 miles of trails winding around Sapsucker Pond, on boardwalks, through wetlands and forest. More than 230 species of birds have been recorded in the sanctuary.{{cite web|url=https://ebird.org/hotspot/L97555/media?yr=all&m= |title=Sapsucker Woods - eBird Hotspots |publisher=ebird.org |access-date=March 2, 2019 }} Approximately 55,000 people visit the sanctuary and public areas of the Cornell Lab each year.{{cite web |date=September 29, 2011 |title=Visit the Lab, Hours, Directions, Sapsucker Woods, Cornell Lab of Ornithology |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/visit/ |access-date=July 17, 2024 |publisher=Birds.cornell.edu}}

In fall 2023, the [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/visit/ Visitor Center] underwent a multimillion-dollar redesign. It reopened in June 2024 with all new interactive exhibits. The Visitor Center is free to visit and accessible to all.{{Cite web |title=Cornell Lab of Ornithology Visitor Center reopens {{!}} Cornell Chronicle |url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/06/cornell-lab-ornithology-visitor-center-reopens |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=news.cornell.edu |language=en}} The Visitor Center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and closed on Mondays.

The Lab is an administrative unit within Cornell University. It has a separate 30-member Administrative Board that is appointed by the Cornell Board of Trustees. As of fiscal year 2023, the Lab has an annual budget of $45.4 million and income of $45.8 million.{{cite web |title=2023 Annual Report |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/annual-report/ |access-date=July 17, 2024 |publisher=Cornell University |page=23}} It has 18 senior staff, which includes eight holding Cornell faculty appointments.{{cite web |title=2023 Annual Report |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/annual-report/ |access-date=July 17, 2024 |publisher=Cornell University |page=}}

Collecting the observations of everyday birders for scientific use is a hallmark of the Lab. Birdwatchers of all ages and skill levels help gather the data needed to capture the big picture about the distribution and abundance of birds. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide participate in the Lab's projects in the [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/engagement-in-science-and-nature/ Center for Engagement in Science and Nature]. The [https://ebird.org/home eBird] project allows birders to report any of the Earth's more than 10,585 bird species to a single scientific database. As of July 2024, 127.5 million checklists have been recorded, reporting 10,826 species, from more than a million eBirders.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-16 |title=World - eBird |url=https://ebird.org/region/world |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=ebird.org}} eBird data and ground-breaking tools have formed the foundation for hundreds of scientific studies of birds.{{Cite web |title=eBird Science |url=https://science.ebird.org/en |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=science.ebird.org}}

The Cornell Lab's other participatory-science projects take place in all seasons and include Project FeederWatch,{{cite web |title=Project FeederWatch |url=http://www.feederwatch.org |access-date=July 17, 2024 |publisher=Feederwatch.org}} NestWatch,{{cite web|url=http://www.nestwatch.org |title=NestWatch |publisher=NestWatch |access-date=October 18, 2011}} and Celebrate Urban Birds.{{cite web |url=http://www.celebrateurbanbirds.org |title=Celebrate – Celebrate Urban Birds |publisher=Celebrateurbanbirds.org |access-date=October 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110122749/http://celebrateurbanbirds.org/ |archive-date=November 10, 2012 |url-status=dead }} Every February, the Lab, the Audubon Society, and Birds Canada host the 4-day Great Backyard Bird Count. which takes place all over the world. The Cornell Lab also operates many Bird Cams{{cite web |title=All Cams |url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/all-cams/ |website=Cornell Lab Bird Cams |access-date=2025-03-22}} which stream live video of nesting birds in the spring.

The Lab's [https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/?__hstc=161696355.559593f16e91791baf68d21d2d2f84df.1670523932952.1721227094074.1721237329021.473&__hssc=161696355.12.1721237329021&__hsfp=3741967887&_gl=1*w6t891*_gcl_au*MTMwODcwMDAyNy4xNzE4MTk2NzI1*_ga*MjIzODkxMzM2LjE2NzA2MDc1NTA.*_ga_QR4NVXZ8BM*MTcyMTIzNzMwNi40NDYuMS4xNzIxMjQwMTg2LjU3LjAuMA..&_ga=2.119692488.1159094186.1721223142-223891336.1670607550 Bird Academy] and [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/k12/ K-12 curricula] take education about birds and nature to students of all ages. Bird Academy is home to a series of self-paced online courses about woodpeckers, hummingbirds, how to paint birds, photograph birds, improve bird ID skills, and much more. K-12 materials are aimed at both students and teachers, assisting them in teaching and learning how to think like a scientist.

The Cornell Lab publishes the free [https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/ Merlin Bird ID app] for iOS and Android devices. This field guide and identification app guides helps users to put a name to the birds they see, and covers 3,000 species of across the Americas, Western Europe, and India. In addition to browsing customized lists of birds for any location in the world, users can answer simple questions to get a list of most likely species, along with images and sound. In 2017, Merlin Bird ID was updated to include AI-powered automatic photo recognition, which allows quick identification help with photographs. Bird ID and Photo ID require separate file downloads. The app also offers Sound ID, which can identify some 450 North American species, in real time or from an in-app recording, even if multiple species are communicating at once.{{Cite web |last=Devokaitis |first=Marc |date=2021-06-23 |title=What bird is singing? Merlin Bird ID app offers instant answers |url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/06/what-bird-singing-merlin-bird-id-app-offers-instant-answers |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Cornell Chronicle |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Leonard |first=Pat |date=2022-04-12 |title=Merlin Bird ID app identifies more than 450 bird species by sound |url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/04/merlin-bird-id-app-identifies-more-450-bird-species-sound |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Cornell Chronicle |language=en}} The app also displays a basic black-and-white spectrogram—a visual representation of sound.{{Cite web |last=Byington |first=Cara |date=2022-03-07 |title=The Sound of Merlin: Like Shazam, but for Birds |url=https://blog.nature.org/2022/03/07/the-sound-of-merlin-like-shazam-but-for-birds/ |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Cool Green Science |language=en-US}}

Cornell Lab scientists, postdoctoral associates, students, and visiting scholars are carrying on much original research in behavioral ecology, conservation, education, evolutionary biology, information systems, and population genetics. The scientists even harness weather radar data to study the movements of birds during migration. Cornell Lab engineers also develop hardware and software tools used in researching bird and animal communication and patterns of movement.

In the [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/biodiversity-studies-higher-education/ Center for Biodiversity Studies & Higher Education], laboratory researchers are extracting DNA from living birds or specimens to uncover the relationships among species.

In addition to many studies and published papers, the Cornell Lab's [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/center-for-avian-population-studies/ Center for Avian Population Studies] has produced land managers' guides aimed at conserving dwindling populations of scarlet tanagers, wood thrushes, and other forest birds.{{cite web |url = http://www.birds.cornell.edu/page.aspx?pid=1662#researchThemeHighlights=1 | title = Mission: Research — What we do | access-date = 1 August 2014 | publisher = Cornell Lab of Ornithology}} The Lab worked with Partners in Flight to identify rapidly declining species and produce the first North American Landbird Conservation Plan.{{cite web|url=http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/pif/cont_plan/default.htm |title=Partners in Flight – U.S.- North American Landbird Conservation Plan |publisher=Pwrc.usgs.gov |date=June 24, 2011 |access-date=October 18, 2011}} Lab staff also worked with multiple partners to create the first-ever State of the Birds report in March 2009,{{cite web|url=http://www.stateofthebirds.org/ |title=2011 Report – Public Lands and Waters |publisher=Stateofthebirds.org |access-date=October 18, 2011}} and subsequent years.

Lab scientists are currently involved with partners from industry, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations in setting research priorities to better understand the impact of wind power facilities on birds and bats on land, and on whales and marine creatures offshore.{{cite web|url=http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pr/wind_wildlife_pr.html |title=Birds – Cornell Lab of Ornithology |publisher=Birds.cornell.edu |access-date=October 18, 2011}}

The Lab's [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/ccb/ K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics] creates remote recording devices used by researchers in projects around the world.{{cite web |date=August 9, 2011 |title=K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/ccb/ |access-date=July 17, 2024 |publisher=Birds.cornell.edu}} These mobile autonomous vehicles consist of a hard drive, housing, and microphone array{{cite web |date=July 17, 2024 |title=K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics |url=http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/hardware/autonomous-recording-units |access-date=October 18, 2011 |publisher=Birds.cornell.edu}} that can be mounted in a forest or anchored to the ocean floor.{{cite web |date=July 17, 2024 |title=K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/ccb/technology/ |access-date=October 18, 2011 |publisher=Birds.cornell.edu}} These recording units have been used in the Yang Center's Elephant Listening Project in Africa,{{cite web |title=The Elephant Listening Project |url=https://www.elephantlisteningproject.org/ |access-date=July 17, 2024 |publisher=Birds.cornell.edu}} studies of whales,{{cite web |date=July 17, 2024 |title=Bioacoustics Research |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/ccb/research/ |access-date=October 18, 2011 |publisher=Listenforwhales.org}} and in many studies of birds such as northern spotted owls.

The Yang Center has also developed sound-analysis software programs called Raven and Raven Lite.{{cite web |date=July 17, 2024 |title=Raven: Interactive Sound Analysis Software |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/ccb/raven-pro/ |access-date=October 18, 2011 |publisher=Birds.cornell.edu}} Engineers are working on programmable radio tags to track birds and other animals for longer periods of time and to follow bird migrations.

From its earliest days, the Cornell Lab has had a special interest in bird and animal sounds. Founder Arthur Allen and his students were pioneers in the field, recording the first bird songs on a film soundtrack.{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/about/history/ |access-date=2024-07-17 |language=en-US}}

The Macaulay Library has since expanded and is now the world's premier scientific archive of natural history audio, video, and photographs. The library hosts over 64 million audio, video and photographs.{{cite web |url=http://macaulaylibrary.org/ |title=Home |website=macaulaylibrary.org}} Macaulay Library archivists continue to mount expeditions to collect wildlife sounds, images, and video from around the world and collect media from contributors to expand the archive.{{cite web |title=Macaulay Library - Scientific Archive |url=https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007014751/http://macaulaylibrary.org/inside/build/expeditions/index.do |archive-date=October 7, 2011 |access-date=July 17, 2024 |publisher=Macaulaylibrary.org}}

The Lab's [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/conservation-media/ Center for Conservation Media] presents stories from around the world, working with many partners to highlight conservation concerns ranging from the preservation of important habitats to individual species in trouble such as the Great Philippine Eagle and the African Grey Parrot.

The Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates is also housed in the Johnson Center and holds 1,230,000 specimens of fish, 44,300 amphibians and reptiles, 45,000 birds, 3,200 eggs, and 15,000 mammals, some now extinct. Students and scientists use the collections in their studies.{{cite web|url=http://www.cumv.cornell.edu |title=Welcome to the CUMV – Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates |publisher=Cumv.cornell.edu |date=October 4, 2011 |access-date=October 18, 2011}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

1. [http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1085 Living Bird Magazine], Autumn 2003, {{ISSN|1059-521X}}

• [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ Cornell Lab of Ornithology]

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