In the past few weeks, I’ve received a couple of letters from listeners about their backyard birds eating unusual items. Craig Magnuson of Forks, Washington, wrote that he’s seen Evening Grosbeaks, during several different summers, eating cold campfire charcoal shortly after dawn at the Lake Kachess campground in the Wenatchee National Forest. He noted that […]
Tag: cornell lab of ornithology
Video: Birds-of-Paradise Project
This fall, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Geographic are bringing the Birds-of-Paradise Project to the public. Get an advance look now and witness diverse strategies of evolution at work and experience one of nature’s extraordinary wonders – up close.
New chickadee study shows climate change affecting distribution
The zone of overlap between two popular, closely related backyard birds – the Carolina Chickadee and the Black-capped Chickadee – is moving northward at a rate that matches warming winter temperatures, according to a March 2014 study by researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Villanova University, and Cornell University. Read the full article at […]
Bird Song Hero: The song learning game for everyone
Train your brain to recognize and remember bird songs with the Bird Song Hero matching game. In this five-question video quiz you’ll listen closely to featured songs and match each with the correct sound visualization. Bird Song Hero is a fun way to practice the key skills you need to ID all the bird songs […]
iPhone app allows Americans to identify backyard birds
A new iPhone app enables North Americans to identify bird species by asking just five simple questions. The free app, released this week by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, uses data from a citizen-science project called eBird that helps rapidly narrow down a bird species based on the location and time of year. “We named […]
Greater Bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea apoda)
Enter the rainforest canopy of the Aru Islands to watch the coordinated displays of two male Greater Birds-of-Paradise. Then see two females take particular interest in the males’ bright colors, strange sounds, and contorted poses. Filmed by Tim Laman in September 2010.
Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise
Watch as a male Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise clears his display court of leaves and other forest debris so his amazing colors will be the center of attention if and when a female arrives. Filmed by Tim Laman on Waigeo island, in September of 2010.
Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Hatch
Spoon-billed Sandpipers lay 4 eggs in a simple tundra nest comprised of a shallow depression, most often in mosses, lined with a few dwarf willow leaves. The nest is incubated by both adults on half-day shifts — the male most often during the day and the female at night. After 21 days of incubation the […]