Let me Introduce You:
I was first introduced to The
Cornell Lab of Ornithology via a feeder cam on their website. It was fun to watch live video of the bird
feeders outside their labs. Eventually I began to investigate other items on their website and was hooked.
In their own words, The Cornell Lab’s mission is “to interpret and conserve
the earth's biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds.”
Citizen Science was a new term for me at the time. All it means is that citizens can participate
in scientific studies and contribute important information and statistics to the researchers. I began with
the “House Finch Eye Disease” survey. I kept track of the numbers of finches, (house, gold
and purple) I saw in my yard and how many were healthy or sick. There were no requirements on how often
or how long I observed the birds. Other citizen science projects include Nestwatch, Great Backyard Bird
Count, Feeder Watch and various projects for school classrooms. Some projects are free and some require
a fee to participate, probably because of the materials involved. They are a nonprofit organization supported
by friends and members.
The Cornell Lab has recently updated
and seriously upgraded their website. It is a fascinating and widely informative resource.
It is their goal “to make All About Birds the web’s best and most comprehensive resource for North
American birds, bird watching, and bird conservation-accessible to everyone for free.”
They have recently added a short video series on Bird Identification. I have watched two
of the four videos and they are tremendous. They are not only for beginning birders but there is a “pro
insight” clip that was extremely helpful as well.
If you aren’t fired
up just yet about “birding” visiting this website will certainly create a spark! This is a
recession proof hobby….get out there and Enjoy!
