UPDATE 2: Owing to public interest, the Fish and Wildlife Service has extended the public comment period. If you have not already commented, you can submit comments here until April 2, 2013. UPDATE: We received many requests from readers for information on how to submit a public comment on the proposed listing of the Gunnison [...]
This post was written by Andrea Alfano, a Cornell University junior. Would you pull over your car just to watch some starlings? A gathering of only a few of these speckled, iridescent-black birds isn’t a very alluring sight—particularly in North America, where these birds are invaders. The European Starling was originally introduced here by a [...]
The Cornell Lab’s Macaulay Library is the world’s largest and oldest archive of natural sounds and video, and you can browse its holdings online. Though it’s best known for its bird recordings, the Macaulay Library also features insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals—including a recent addition: gibbons recorded in the wild in Thailand. They’re the [...]
At an event in Washington, DC, this weekend, Cornell Lab directors presented a set of short, crisp, exciting talks about the work that we do. They’re a great introduction to the kinds of exciting research, conservation, and outreach that consume our lives. Lab director John Fitzpatrick kicked things off with his argument that birds really [...]
Thirty-nine of the most gorgeous, outlandish animals in the world—the birds-of-paradise—live only in New Guinea, associated islands, and adjacent tropical Australia. Though they’ve been known for centuries from paintings and specimens, it’s only now that all 39 can be admired in glorious photographic detail, thanks to ground-breaking work by Cornell Lab biologist Ed Scholes and [...]
On the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, twin spotlights once again shot into the night sky above Manhattan to offer a tribute to the men and women we lost during the 2001 attacks. It was a clear and cool night, almost calm and with a hint of a southerly breeze. In another long-repeated annual event, thousands [...]
Just last week was the North American Ornithological Conference, a major gathering of ornithologists in Vancouver, British Columbia. Quite a few of our staff and scientists attended, and among them was Wes Hochachka, assistant director of our Bird Population Studies program. When last we heard from Wes, he was extolling the virtues of European warblers—but [...]
For a few weeks now we’ve been looking forward to a major milestone in our eBird project: the addition of our 100 millionth bird observation. It couldn’t have arrived in better style: Liron Gertsman, a keen young birder from Vancouver, British Columbia, reported an American Robin along with 23 other species as part of his [...]
