Andrew Farnsworth

Expertise

Bird Migration • Aeroecology • Bioacoustics • Radar Ornithology • Climate Change

First and foremost, I study bird migration. And I do this primarily in two ways: by lifting binoculars to watch birds literally move from one place to another, and by taking advantage of incredible and rapid 20th and 21st century technological advances in radar and acoustic remote sensing and machine learning and computational resources.

For the former, I have worked closely with a cadre of Cornell Lab and external collaborators to understand patterns of bird movements by examining observations from a growing and increasingly diverse armada of participatory and community scientists. For the latter, I have mentored elementary students to postdoctoral fellows in ornithological, ecological, and data science disciplines and built academic and stakeholder partnerships to advance our understanding of bird migration patterns.

I also work closely with media relations and outreach to connect this type of science and its interpretations and methods to education, conservation actions, and awareness.

Education

Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University
M.S., Zoology, Clemson University
B.S., Natural Resources, Cornell University

Spark Moment

Aside from myriad experiences as a child that led me to and kept me engaged in birding, the moments that put me on the path to where I am and to where I plan to go? There are two: First as a freshman at Cornell University, on an evening in early October 1991, standing atop Mt Pleasant (near Ithaca, New York) with Bill Evans, I realized just how little I knew about and how much I wanted to know about migration, at once humbled and inspired by the experience of listening to wave after wave of vocal thrushes next to a true expert.

Second, three years out of undergraduate studies in April 1998, at a crossroads of deciding what career path and life history to choose, watching a migration ecology legend, Dr. Sidney Gauthreaux, speak in St Louis on the power and potential of radar ornithology, I had the epiphany of what would be my future to study migration at scales of space and time that, at the time, I could only imagine (but have now realized!).

Inspiration

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.”