Bird Conservation Updates

Reprinted from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology E-News

Ingenious Camera Takes Viewers Up, Way Up
Few people have ever witnessed a Greater Bird-of-Paradise displaying at dawn above the New Guinea rainforest. And no one had ever taken photos or video of such an awe-inspiring sight—until Tim Laman invented the ingenious “Leaf-Cam” and hid it 150 feet above the ground. Cornell Lab researcher Ed Scholes, Laman’s partner in the eight-year Birds-of-Paradise Project, describes how it was done in the latest issue of our Living Bird magazine. This special online version includes bonus videos of displaying birds-of-paradise and the story of how the “Leaf-Cam” works. Read the story, see the videos. 

Our Computers Are Learning the Parts of a Bird. Can You Help?
We dream of a future where bird ID gets a little help from the processing power of computers. That’s the goal of our Merlin project, which will combine artificial intelligence with the collected wisdom of thousands of real birders. You can help us make Merlin a reality by doing a few fun activities in your spare time. Our new Hot Spot activity asks you to zero in on parts of a bird to help the computer recognize what’s what. It’s fun, you can do as many or as few as you like, and you get to see lots of great bird photos. Try it out. 

Take a Road Trip
Our Upcoming Bird Festivals webpage makes it easy to plan your next birding destination. You can look through listings by calendar or on a map, so you can start planning your road trip right from the page.

Bird "Personality" Pays Off at Feeders
Do you notice differences in the behavior of individual birds that come to your feeders? The topic of animal "personality" is a growing interest in biology—and advances are coming from studies of bird feeders. In a recent study of the Great Tit (above), English scientists learned that some birds were inveterate risk takers while others played it safe even if it meant going hungry more often. Read the full story in Living Bird magazine.