News

Asian Pied Starling (Asian)

The Oriental Bird Club Image Database Has a New Home at the Macaulay Library
By Team Macaulay Library
From 2002 to 2021, the Oriental Bird Club Image Database (OBI) has been a place to share and explore images of Asian birds. Covering regions from Pakistan to Wallacea, and from Mongolia and Japan to the Lesser Sundas and Christmas Island, the OBI website has been an invaluable tool for learning about the avifauna of…
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Barn Swallow

Lockdowns & Less Travel May Have Altered the Behavior of Birds
By Team eBird
Ithaca, New York & Winnipeg, Manitoba—Eighty percent of bird species examined in a new study were reported in greater numbers in human-altered habitats during pandemic lockdowns. Researchers compared online eBird observations from the United States and Canada from before and during the pandemic. They focused on areas within about 100 km of urban areas, major…
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Peregrine Falcon

Photos Reveal Purpose of Black Facial Markings in Peregrine Falcons
By Kathi Borgmann
Many animals have black markings under the eye that are said to reduce the amount of glare entering the animal’s eye, improving their ability to see especially in bright conditions. Athletes also subscribe to this idea, often placing black grease or strips under their eyes to reduce glare from the sun or stadium lights. Until…
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Western Black-eared Wheatear

Taxonomy Update Coming!
By Team eBird
August is always an exciting time of year for eBird, since we update all eBird records with the latest scientific advances in bird taxonomy. You might even get some ‘armchair lifers’ as species are split! Whenever possible, we change your records for you to match the expected species when a split or lump occurs—this is…
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Behind the Scenes of Sound ID in Merlin

Behind the Scenes of Sound ID in Merlin
By Benjamin Hoffman and Grant Van Horn
What is Sound ID? Today we announced one of our biggest breakthroughs—Sound ID, a new feature in the Merlin Bird ID app—and a major leap forward in sound identification and machine learning to date. Sound ID lets people use their phone to listen to the birds around them, and see live predictions of who’s singing. Currently,…
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Urich's Tyrannulet

Venezuelan Team Captures First-ever Photos and Sounds of Rediscovered Bird
By Team eBird
An expedition team in Venezuela, led by ornithologist David Ascanio and supported by American Bird Conservancy (ABC), rediscovered the Urich’s Tyrannulet last month. The tyrannulet was first described in 1899, but it has only been spotted two other times; once in the 1940s and again in 2005. With so few records, the Urich’s Tyrannulet is…
Read more Venezuelan Team Captures First-ever Photos and Sounds of Rediscovered Bird
Eastern Spinebill

Global Big Day 2021 reaches new heights
By Team eBird
Birds unite people. On Saturday, 8 May more than 51,000 people spanning 192 countries celebrated the birds around them for Global Big Day. Together, the global birding community accomplished FOUR world records! Global Big Day 2021 set new records for the greatest number of birders, from the most countries, reporting more species and more checklists…
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Sounds from the Macaulay Library Provide the Backdrop to Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest Installation

Sounds from the Macaulay Library Provide the Backdrop to Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest Installation
By Kathi Borgmann
The sounds of species once common in Manhattan form the backdrop of a new art installation designed to evoke memories and highlight the impacts of habitat loss and climate change on our planet. Ghost Forest, a towering stand of 49 haunting Atlantic white cedar trees, designed by Maya Lin, an internationally recognized designer and sculptor,…
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