News Room
2025 News Releases
November 17, 2025Cornell Lab of Ornithology Receives Multiple Awards for its Visitor CenterThe Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s newly renovated Visitor Center in Ithaca, New York received the Merit Award and the Sustainability Impact Recognition Award from the Society for Experimental Graphic Design. These prestigious awards honor installations that connect people to place through storytelling, meaning, and impact.
October 23, 2025Cornell Lab of Ornithology Awarded Bezos Earth Fund Grant to Advance Biodiversity Monitoring for ConservationThe Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics received a catalytic $1.8 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to help address global biodiversity decline through the development of cutting-edge wildlife monitoring technologies.
October 8, 2025Exploring the Colorful Lives of Australian FairywrensDr. Mike Webster, Robert G. Engle Professor of Ornithology and Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library, will speak about how the bright plumage and complex songs of Australian fairywrens shape mating, behavior, and evolution, in the 2025 Paul C. Mundinger Distinguished Lectureship on October 16.
October 3, 2025Birds’ Vocal Warnings Provide New Insight Into the Origins of LanguageBirds separated by vast geographic distances and millions of years of evolution share a remarkably similar learned vocal warning to identify parasitic enemies near their nests, an international team of researchers has found.
September 26, 2025Record-breaking Night of Bird Migration Detected with RadarMore than 1.2 billion birds streamed south Thursday night, the largest single-night total ever recorded by the live radar project BirdCast.
In The News
- Black vultures attack and kill cattle. Climate change is one reason they’re spreading north , NewsBreak
- FeederWatch is back. See New York's most common birds , Observer-Dispatch
- Birders Going ‘Cuckoo’ After Unexpected Sighting in New York City Area , U.S. News & World Report
- Another victim of Hurricane Melissa? Migratory songbirds that breed in New England , The Boston Globe
- Undersea species’ sweet singing sometimes sound spooky , Portland Press Herald
- Outdoors: This real-time online tool is for the birds , The San Diego Union Tribune
- Bezos Group Puts $30M Into AI for Nature and Climate Protection , Newsweek
- Millions of birds are crossing KS each night right now. Look out for these types , MSN.com
- Project FeederWatch Updates , The Birding Wire
- Radar study shows when offshore turbines pose greatest risks to migrating birds , Mongabay.com News
- Mark Ruffalo dishes on 'Task' finale drug money, vagrant birds and that devastating letter , USA Today
- As hundreds of millions of birds head south, the invisible danger is glass , MPR News: KNBJ-FM
- How to Attract Birds: Offer Food, Water and Shelter , Birds & Blooms
- Why birds sang after a total solar eclipse, according to new research , AccuWeather
- Country Music’s Briley King Proves She’s the Birding Queen in Viral Video , AOL
- How to protect your pets from pollution , The Straits Times
- Record-breaking bird migration swarms over Texas , MSN.com
- Billion bird night: 1.25 billion birds flew across the US Wednesday night , AccuWeather
- More than a billion birds migrated Wed. night, the highest number ever recorded by Birdcast website , NewsBreak
- In a toxic world, pets could be vital health watchdogs , The Seattle Times
- As birds migrate south, there's an invisible danger: glass , KERA News
- Birds all over the world use the same sound to warn of threats , Down To Earth
- The Great Fall Bird Migration Is Underway—Use This Interactive Map to See Who’s Flying Near You , Real Simple
- Record-breaking night of bird migration detected with radar , Cornell University
- What noise does a fish make? New underwater tool lets ecologists ID fish from their sounds , MSN.com
- Storms on the radar? More than likely just 1.2 billion birds in flight for fall migration , World News
- It’s Time to Prepare for Project FeederWatch , The Birding Wire
- Fall bird migration is here again. Did you know? , Environment America
- Scientists declare ‘pivotal step’ in bringing back extinct dodo , The Independent
- Mapping songbird migration patterns may help offshore energy be more bird-friendly , MSN.com
- Dodo birds could roam again, claim scientists, as they report pigeon gene-editing advance , The Guardian
- To protect birds from windows, change human behavior , Cornell University
- Can Coffee Be A Force For Good? , Forbes
- So many birds are migrating that they’re appearing on weather radar , The Seattle Times
- How researchers restored a thriving habitat for Atlantic puffins in Maine , PBS NewsHour
- The New Science of Aeroecology Reveals So Much About the Amazing Creatures That Populate the Skies and How Humans Can Ensure Their Survival , Smithsonian Magazine
- Ditch the chatbots and take your AI nature apps on a birdwatching hike , ABC News
Experts at the Cornell Lab
To request an interview or find additional experts, contact Kathi Borgmann, 607-254-2137, birdnews@cornell.edu.
Robyn BaileyProject LeaderNesting Biology • Nest and Egg Identification • Nest Boxes • Participatory Science
Jessie BarryProgram Manager
David BonterCo-Director, Center for Engagement in Science and NatureCitizen Science • Avian Ecology • Foraging Ecology
Kathi BorgmannCommunications ManagerScience Communication • Bird Identification • Breeding Biology • Avian Conservation • Bird Song • Wildlife Restoration Ecology
Charles EldermireProject Leader
Andrew FarnsworthVisiting ScientistBird Migration • Aeroecology • Bioacoustics • Radar Ornithology • Climate Change
John FitzpatrickDirector EmeritusAdministrative Oversight • Fundraising • Board Relations • Conservation Science • External Communication
Wesley HochachkaSenior Research AssociatePopulation Ecology • Citizen Science • Ecological Informatics • Disease Ecology
Marshall J. IliffProject LeadereBird • Status and Trends • Migration • Species Distribution • Taxonomy
Holger KlinckJohn W. Fitzpatrick Director, K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics
Irby LovetteDirector, Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program and Director, Center for Biodiversity Studies and Higher Education
Kevin J. McGowanSenior Course Developer and InstructorCrows • Behavioral Ecology • Ornithological Trivia • Bird Identification • Translating Science to General Audiences
Tina PhillipsAssistant Director, Engagement in Science and NatureCitizen Science • Evaluation • Learning • Social Science
Aaron RicePrincipal EcologistBioacoustics • Conservation Biology • Fish Biology • Marine Ecology • Animal Behavior
Amanda RodewaldGarvin Professor and Senior Director, Center for Avian Population Studies
Viviana Ruiz GutierrezAssistant Director, Center for Avian Population Studies • Program Leader, Conservation ScienceApplied Population Ecology • Conservation Science • Quantitative Ecology • Tropical Ecology and Conservation
Edwin ScholesProject LeaderBirds-of-Paradise • Audiovisual Media • New Guinea Ornithology • Evolutionary Biology
Mya ThompsonCo-Director, Engagement in Science and NatureOnline Learning • Instructional Design • Media Production • Environmental Education • Animal Communication • Science Communication
Mike WebsterDirector, Macaulay LibraryAnimal Behavior • Animal Communication • Evolution • Bird Song • Breeding Biology