Cornell Lab Of Ornithology Research Articles

NestWatch: An open-access, long-term data set on avian reproductive success.

Long-term avian nesting data are valuable to researchers studying various aspects of avian ecology, conservation, and management. Administered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, NestWatch accepts nesting data from volunteers and professionals who agree to follow its protocol and submit data in a standardized form using either the website NestWatch.org, the mobile app, or a bulk upload template. These data (N = 574,288 nest records currently spanning 1874-2023) have been used to examine geographical and temporal variation in breeding success, clutch size, nesting phenology, and other metrics of interest to researchers. When combined with other data sets (e.g., climate, land cover, maps of environmental stressors), NestWatch data have been used to explore the large-scale effects of anthropogenic change on nesting biology. These data can also be incorporated into investigations of status and trends for declining species and can potentially be aggregated with other large-scale nest-monitoring data sets to explore hemispheric or even global change. By committing these data to the public domain, we aimed to increase their use among researchers and stimulate novel studies. The NestWatch Open Data Set by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0 (creativecommons.org); users are free to copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the material in any medium or format, but must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Users may do so reasonably, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses such use, and may not use the material for commercial purposes.

Using citizen science to identify Australia’s least known birds and inform conservation action

ABSTRACT Citizen science is a popular approach to biodiversity surveying, whereby data that are collected by volunteer naturalists may help analysts to understand the distribution and abundance of wild organisms. In Australia, birdwatchers have contributed to two major citizen science programs, eBird (run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) and Birdata (run by Birdlife Australia), which collectively hold more than 42 million records of wild birds from across the country. However, these records are not evenly distributed across space, time, or taxonomy, with particularly significant variation in the number of records of each species in these datasets. In this paper, we explore this variation and seek to determine which Australian bird species are least known as determined by rates of citizen science survey detections. We achieve this by comparing the rates of survey effort and species detection across each Australian bird species’ range, assigning all 581 species to one of the four groups depending on their rates of survey effort and species observation. We classify 56 species into a group considered the most poorly recorded despite extensive survey effort, with Coxen’s Fig Parrot Cyclopsitta coxeni, Letter-winged Kite Elanus scriptus, Night Parrot Pezoporus occidentalis, Buff-breasted Buttonquail Turnix olivii and Red-chested Buttonquail Turnix pyrrhothorax having the very lowest numbers of records. Our analyses provide a framework to identify species that are poorly represented in citizen science datasets. We explore the reasons behind why they may be poorly represented and suggest ways in which targeted approaches may be able to help fill in the gaps.

The iratebirds Citizen Science Project: a Dataset on Birds’ Visual Aesthetic Attractiveness to Humans

Amidst a global biodiversity crisis, shedding light on the factors that make us like a species can help us understand human’s nature-related attitudes and inform conservation actions, e.g. by leveraging flagship potential and helping identify threats. Despite scattered attempts to quantify birds’ aesthetic attractiveness to humans, there is no large-scale database providing homogeneous measures of aesthetic attractiveness that are comparable across bird species. We present data on the visual aesthetic attractiveness of bird species to humans, generated through an internet browser-based questionnaire. Respondents (n = 6,212) were asked to rate the appearance of bird species on a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high) based on photographs from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library. The rating scores were modeled to obtain final scores of visual aesthetic attractiveness for each bird. The data covers 11,319 bird species and subspecies, with respondents from multiple backgrounds providing over 400,000 scores. This is the first attempt to quantify the overall visual aesthetic attractiveness of the world’s bird species to humans.

Stinkbird Has a Superpower by Jill Esbaum (review)

Reviewed by: Stinkbird Has a Superpower by Jill Esbaum Danica Ronquillo Esbaum, Jill Stinkbird Has a Superpower; illus. by Bob Shea. Putnam, 2023 [32p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780593529522 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780593529539 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* 5-9 yrs Deep in the Amazon rainforest, an Amazonian hoatzin ("You can say it—WHOT-sin. Handsome, aren't I?"), or the stinkbird, cheerfully informs the reader that while they share traits with common birds, like wings, feathers, and a beak, stinkbirds also have a hidden superpower. Before he can reveal what that superpower is exactly, his curious and anxious son constantly interrupts him with questions about what it could be. From there, the father hoatzin takes his son all over the rainforest, sharing stinkbird facts with both the reader and his son: the nickname "Stinkbird'' is due to the bird's poopy smell; they have a loud and beautiful song; and hoatzin chicks' escape from predators by jumping out of their nests and swimming in the river. This comical picture book about the Amazonian hoatzin swoops in to delight readers with funny facts, and Shea's smooth and textural digital illustrations and eye for composition effectively create a child-like stinkbird perspective. Viewers are immersed in predominant shades of green in the tropical habitat, while fiery orange stinkbird dad and his grape-purple son take center stage. The father's educational narration pairs with bantering dialogue in the speech bubbles to portray a loving relationship between father and son. Young animal lovers will look forward to following more of Esbaum and Shea's collaborations in their upcoming animal picture book series. End matter includes an entertaining true and false page about the Amazonian hoatzin from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Sound anomalies of Cornell Swift recorders affect ecoacoustic studies, and a workaround solution

AbstractThe Swift Terrestrial Passive Acoustic Recording Unit from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, running firmware v. STM32 0.18.6.3, produced an initial 4‐sec sound anomaly in each sound (wave file) recording, created by the power‐saving features of the unit as it switches from standby to record mode. The sound anomaly had a statistically significant impact on several soundscape indices calculated from the recordings. Here, as a case study of identifying and solving this problem, I dissected the nature of the anomaly and analyzed the variable effects it has on calculated ecoacoustic soundscape indices. I used a sample of 150, 10‐min sound files, recorded during my ecoacoustics study in central boreal Alaska during 2019 (June‐August) and 2020 (April‐September), stratified by several landscape conditions and by types of sounds representing anthrophony, biophony, and geophony conditions. The sound anomaly statistically significantly biased the calculations of 7 of 13 ecoacoustic indices analyzed from all of these landscape and soundscape conditions. There is no simple correction factor that can be applied to the calculated index values to account for the effects of the anomaly. I suggest several workarounds, notably to automate a procedure to delete a specified segment of each sound file to eliminate the anomaly prior to soundscape analysis, and in general to watch and correct for such anomalies when using Autonomous Recording Units recordings in ecoacoustic analyses.

Examination of Macaulay Library images to determine avian molt strategies: A case study on hummingbirds

I examined images of over 6,300 individual hummingbirds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library to clarify conflicting reports on molt and plumage strategies in 8 species that breed or have bred primarily in the southwestern United States. Fixed replacement sequences from 2 nodes among primaries and 2 nodes among secondaries were found without exception, conforming to the findings of previous studies. I concluded that the preformative molt varied from limited to partial in 3 species, partial to incomplete in 3 species, partial to complete in 1 species, and complete in 1 species. Results of this study clarify molt terminology in Trochilidae as based on evolutionary homologies, and they establish new criteria for age determinations. The Macaulay Library clearly provides an important resource for the investigation of avian molts and plumages. I present a road map for such studies and suggest many other questions on avian molt that can also be investigated. I encourage contributors to the Macaulay Library to take and upload images of birds in molt or in worn plumages.

Listening to Extinction: Early Conservation Radio Sounds and the Silences of Species

Abstract In the first decades of the twentieth century, American radio producers used both artificial and wild-recorded sounds of nature to promote principles of environmental conservation and wildlife management. These techniques were shaped by established listening practices — especially those of birders — and also fostered new ones. Specifically, conservation radio programs like those produced by the American Wildlife Institute and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, made it possible for listeners to experience silence in a new way; as indicative of absence, potentially even extinction, both locally and globally. By examining how conservation radio in the 1930s was a mechanism through which environmental awareness and even action was fostered, this article demonstrates the dividends of working at the intersection of sensory studies and environmental history. New inflection points and temporal framing are made apparent as is the development of the critical sensory perceptual shifts necessary for the environmental movement to come. Tracing the sounds and listening to them in individuals’ understanding of nature prompts us to consider the shifting, culturally-bound, mechanisms through which we have sensed and perceived and acted upon the world.

The power of large-scale community science in addressing anthropogenic change.

The human imprint on the global environment has become so pervasive that it rivals the forces of nature in its impact on ecosystem function. We are now living in the Anthropocene with increased air, light, noise, and heavy metal pollution (Foley et al., 2005). Understanding the link between anthropogenic stressors and functional trait characteristics will be vital to predict species response and adaptability to environmental change. Especially as urban areas increase, where anthropogenic changes are highly concentrated and overlapping, investigating how multiple stressors interact to affect individuals and populations is a current research priority. Wilson et al. (this issue) levy the power of human interest in wildlife to study the effects of human-generated pollution (2021). The authors provide a timely and novel continent-level study that addresses the interaction of light and noise pollution on species abundance and response using community science.

Reproductive success of Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) varies with the timing and severity of drought.

Drought affects avian communities in complex ways. We used our own and citizen science-generated reproductive data acquired through The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch Program, combined with drought and vegetation indices obtained from governmental agencies, to determine drought effects on Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis L.) reproduction across their North American breeding range for the years 2006–2013. Our results demonstrate that some aspects of bluebird reproductive success vary with the timing and severity of drought. Clutch size was unaffected by any level of drought at the time of clutch initiation or during the 30 to 60 days prior to clutch initiation. Hatching and fledging rates decreased as drought severity increased. Drought conditions occurring at least 30 days prior to the date eggs should have hatched and 60 days prior to the date offspring should have fledged negatively affected reproduction. We also demonstrate the value of datasets generated by citizen scientists in combination with climate data for examining biotic responses at large temporal and spatial scales.

Birds of the World: A global reference for avian life histories and a case study of incompatible taxonomies

Life history accounts and taxonomic monographs are a series of publications covering a higher taxonomic group where each account is a compilation of existing knowledge detailing many aspects of a species life history. These life history accounts are extensively used by researchers, ornithologists and conservationists as a main source for the current state of knowledge of a species. Birds, being one of the more easily seen and studied taxa, have a number of specialized life history accounts where data from a wide variety of disciplines are combined into a single easily accessible resource. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (CLO) currently manages two of these series focused on different regions of the world, Birds of North America (BNA) and Neotropical Birds (NB). Lynx Edicions has published the Handbook of Birds of the World (HBW), an extensive set of avian monographs covering every species of bird in the world. A recently announced collaboration between CLO and Lynx Edicions provides us with the opportunity to bring together the extreme detail of the life history accounts from Birds of North America with the global coverage of HBW to produce a global, in-depth treatment of every species of bird in the world. The integration of life history information from these existing projects with different underlying taxonomies presents a variety of real-world examples of the challenges to be overcome to bring these life history accounts into alignment and provide the scientific and lay communities with taxonomically accurate and up to date information. The Handbook of Birds of the World currently follows the HBW and BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist v3 (with 11,126 species recognized) while Birds of North America and Neotropical Birds both follow the eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018 (with 10,585 species recognized). Of the roughly 11,000 species of birds, nearly 9,500 are direct matches between HBW/BirdLife and Clements at the species or species to subspecies levels. The remaining concept mismatches fall into several basic categories including lump and split differences as well as differences in which subspecies are included or excluded. In this talk we will discuss the challenges we have faced with managing and merging life history accounts where the underlying taxonomies are fundamentally different. With a requirement to ensure that life history accounts remain accurate when the underlying concepts of the original sources differ, we employ a variety of processes, some very labor intensive and some requiring in-depth taxonomic knowledge to produce consolidated species accounts. Existing resources are integral to these type of integrations and in addition to the taxonomies themselves, cross-taxonomy mapping databases such as Avibase are key. Working through this process of consolidating life history accounts highlights the basic need for taxonomic management and publication toolsets built on underlying taxonomic and life history standards. Cross institutional collaboration to produce these toolsets will be key to their development and successful adoption across the biodiversity and taxonomic communities. I will also discuss and propose a set of taxonomic management tools based on taxonomic concepts, some which already exist and are used by bird taxonomists to annually update the Clements Checklist and some which need to be implemented before we can accurately manage and consolidate biodiversity information and the evolving taxonomies on which those data are based.

The potential for citizen science to produce reliable and useful information in ecology

We examined features of citizen science that influence data quality, inferential power, and usefulness in ecology. As background context for our examination, we considered topics such as ecological sampling (probability based, purposive, opportunistic), linkage between sampling technique and statistical inference (design based, model based), and scientific paradigms (confirmatory, exploratory). We distinguished several types of citizen science investigations, from intensive research with rigorous protocols targeting clearly articulated questions to mass‐participation internet‐based projects with opportunistic data collection lacking sampling design, and examined overarching objectives, design, analysis, volunteer training, and performance. We identified key features that influence data quality: project objectives, design and analysis, and volunteer training and performance. Projects with good designs, trained volunteers, and professional oversight can meet statistical criteria to produce high‐quality data with strong inferential power and therefore are well suited for ecological research objectives. Projects with opportunistic data collection, little or no sampling design, and minimal volunteer training are better suited for general objectives related to public education or data exploration because reliable statistical estimation can be difficult or impossible. In some cases, statistically robust analytical methods, external data, or both may increase the inferential power of certain opportunistically collected data. Ecological management, especially by government agencies, frequently requires data suitable for reliable inference. With standardized protocols, state‐of‐the‐art analytical methods, and well‐supervised programs, citizen science can make valuable contributions to conservation by increasing the scope of species monitoring efforts. Data quality can be improved by adhering to basic principles of data collection and analysis, designing studies to provide the data quality required, and including suitable statistical expertise, thereby strengthening the science aspect of citizen science and enhancing acceptance by the scientific community and decision makers.

The Impacts of Temperature, Precipitation, and Growing Degree-Days on First Egg Dates of Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) and Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) in Ohio

Avian nesting behavior has been correlated with environmental variables and many birds appear to be breeding earlier in response to warming spring temperatures. A primary concern associated with changes in nesting phenology is the potential for ecological asynchrony, whereby avian lifecycle events become out of sync with food resources, potentially leading to avian population declines and decreased opportunities for some birds to suppress pests in agroecosystems. Studies assessing changes in nesting phenology have been conducted at multiple scales and, in many cases, regional assessments allow researchers to pinpoint particular climate variables that impact first egg dates. The objective of this study is to assess the impacts of temperature, precipitation, and growing degree-days (GDD) on first egg dates of Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) and Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) across a latitudinal gradient in Ohio. In total we assessed 6535 nesting records submitted through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's NestWatch Project from 2000-2015. Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows generally nested earlier in areas of lower latitude, although bluebirds in southwest Ohio nested later than birds in central Ohio. Eastern Bluebird first egg dates were earlier in warmer spring (P < 0.001) and both Eastern Bluebird and Tree Swallow first egg dates were later in wetter springs (P < 0.001). Spring temperature did not impact the first egg dates of Tree Swallows (P = 0.89). Tree Swallows first egg dates coincided with greater GDD accumulations than first egg dates of Eastern Bluebirds, and both overlapped key control windows for common insect pests in Ohio. Given climate change predictions in this region in the next century, our results suggest temperature-related first-egg-date advancements may be moderated by nesting delays associated with increased precipitation. Our results also demonstrate a mechanism for using GDD to identify overlaps between the nesting dates of birds and important pest emergence windows in Ohio, which could inform efforts to biologically suppress insect pests.

Nest Box Use by the Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

ABSTRACT The Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) is one of the most abundant birds in North America and exhibits versatility in its selection of nest sites. Although typically ground-nesting birds, juncos also nest occasionally in trees, on buildings, and in natural recesses such as rock crevices. To our knowledge, juncos have never been reported nesting in a fully enclosed nest box specifically provided for songbirds. We report the first record of nest box adoption by Dark-eyed Juncos, supported by photographic evidence. A nest box containing a nest attended by a pair of Dark-eyed Juncos was monitored in 2016 in western Washington, USA, and reported to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's NestWatch program, a national citizen-science program wherein volunteers submit data on wild nesting birds. The nest in question hatched successfully, and three nestlings fledged from the box. Cavity nesting in New World sparrows appears to be very rare, and we found only four additional observations of juncos utilizing natura...

Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles with New York's Bird People Darryl McGrath, 2016. Excelsior Editions, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY. xii + 366 pages, B&amp;W images and line drawings. ISBN 9781438459264. $24.95

Journal of Field OrnithologyVolume 87, Issue 3 p. 337-339 Book Review Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles with New York's Bird People Darryl McGrath, 2016. Excelsior Editions, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY. xii + 366 pages, B&W images and line drawings. ISBN 9781438459264. $24.95 (paperback). Also available as an e-book. Tim Gallagher, Tim Gallagher twg3@cornell.edu Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USASearch for more papers by this author Tim Gallagher, Tim Gallagher twg3@cornell.edu Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USASearch for more papers by this author First published: 04 September 2016 https://doi.org/10.1111/jofo.12161Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume87, Issue3September 2016Pages 337-339 RelatedInformation

A Framework for Inclusion and Diversity in Environmental Citizen ScienceReview of: Citizen Science: Public Participation in Environmental Research; Janis L. Dickinson and Rick Bonney; (2015). Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. 304 pages.

Review of: Citizen Science: Public Participation in Environmental Research; Janis L. Dickinson and Rick Bonney; (2015). Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. 304 pages. A review of the new book "Citizen Scienece: Public Participation in Environmental Research" by Janis L. Dickinson, Professor of Natural Resources at Cornell University and Arthur A. Allen Director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Rick Bonney, Director of Program Development and Evaluation at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. These authors amongst many contributors provide the theory, framework, and practice to citizen science projects. This text provides resources to disseminate projects with diverse goals to engage the general public in the scientific process and to study the natural world.

Dispatches

Dispatches

Dispatches

Dispatches

URBAN: Development of a Citizen Science Biomonitoring Program Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Due to increasing urbanization, wetlands and streams within city limits are being altered, filled in, and degraded. The habitat that remains is critical for providing urban areas with ecosystem services and maintaining biodiversity, yet is often insufficiently monitored by environmental agencies due to a lack of resources. To help fill this void, the Urban-Rural Biomonitoring and Assessment Network (URBAN) was developed as a citizen science education and outreach program for Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Through this program, volunteers gain insight into the dynamics of biological systems, learn how to identify species, and may experience growth personally in terms of environmental stewardship or even career path decisions. The implementation and development of URBAN followed a nine-step model developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Here, we offer an overview of URBAN's development, successes, and challenges by utilizing this citizen science model as a guideline.

Scolopax

The formulation of hypotheses based on patterns found in data is an essential component of scientific discovery. As larger and richer data sets become available, new scalable and user-friendly tools for scientific discovery through data analysis are needed. We demonstrate Scolopax, which explores the idea of a search engine for hypotheses. It has an intuitive user interface that supports sophisticated queries. Scolopax can explore a huge space of possible hypotheses, returning a ranked list of those that best match the user preferences. To scale to large and complex data sets, Scolopax relies on parallel data management and mining techniques. These include model training, efficient model summary generation, and novel parallel join techniques that together with traditional approaches such as clustering manipulate massive model-summary collections to find the most interesting hypotheses. This demonstration of Scolopax uses a real observational data set, provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It contains more than 3.3 million bird sightings reported by citizen scientists and has almost 2500 attributes. Conference attendees have the opportunity to make novel discoveries in this data set, ranging from identifying variables that strongly affect bird populations in specific regions to detecting more sophisticated patterns such as habitat competition and migration.

All about Birds

All about Birds