Macaulay Library 2018 Year in Review

By Kathi Borgmann 21 Dec 2018

This year has been a remarkable year for the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology thanks to 61,407 contributors from around the globe. We have a lot of successes to celebrate together as we head into 2019—the Macaulay Library’s 90th year! The community of recordists and photographers who archive their media in the…

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Publications 2018

By Kathi Borgmann 17 Dec 2018

In 2018, scientists published 112 peer-reviewed papers using media from the Macaulay Library. Media in the Macaulay Library helped researchers discover a new species of grosbeak in the Amazon and helped us understand why birds-of-paradise not only have amazing plumage patterns, but dance moves and vocalizations as well. Researchers also used media in the Macaulay Library…

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Recordist of Note: Saurabh Sawant

Recordist of Note: Saurabh Sawant

By Kathi Borgmann 12 Dec 2018

Meet Saurabh Sawant, a Macaulay Library contributor. Saurabh tells us why he started recording bird sounds and what he loves about it. Thank you, Saurabh for joining our community and for archiving your photos and recordings with the Macaulay Library! Special thanks to Lauren Gabuzzi for creating the video. Video transcription and description Audio: Common…

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A new species of grosbeak in the Amazon

By Kathi Borgmann 5 Dec 2018

Museum collections and our very own digital museum of sound at the Macaulay Library helped researchers uncover a new species of grosbeak in the Amazon. Read the full story about the Amazonian Grosbeak.

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Birds-of-paradise have it all

By Kathi Borgmann 20 Nov 2018

You can’t have it all, is a phrase many of us have probably heard throughout our lives, but new research on birds-of-paradise suggests that maybe you can…at least if you are a bird-of-paradise. Russell Ligon, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and his coauthors Christopher Diaz, Janelle Morano, Jolyon Troscianko, Martin Stevens,…

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Recordist of note: Mark Robbins

Recordist of note: Mark Robbins

By Kathi Borgmann 12 Nov 2018

Mark Robbins, the Collection Manager at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, has been recording bird sounds for 40 years, mounting an unparalleled collection of sounds all of which have been archived in the Macaulay Library. Robbins now has 11,055 recordings and counting in the library—that’s nearly 3% of all of the recordings in the…

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Natural history of the Long-whiskered Owlet

By Kathi Borgmann 6 Nov 2018

In 1976, Louisiana State University researchers from the Museum of Natural Science working in the remote mountains of northern Peru made one of the great ornithological discoveries of the past 50 years—a new species of owl unlike any other. Scientists and birders alike were stunned when O’Neill and Graves (1977) showed the world a tiny…

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Expanded audio coverage in Merlin

By Kathi Borgmann 31 Oct 2018

It’s happened to all of us, you’re enjoying the morning chorus when you hear something unfamiliar. Putting a name to a new bird sound can be challenging, but now more than ever, perusing the sound sets offered by Merlin Bird ID can help you solve the mystery! With the songs and calls featured in Merlin,…

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