News

European Robin

Pandemic-related changes in birding may have consequences for eBird research
By Team eBird
Newly published research in the journal Biological Conservation finds that changes in human behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic can have major consequences for community data-gathering projects such as eBird. Researchers must take into account that when human behaviors change, so do the data being collected. The study focused on eBird reports from New York State,…
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Recordist of Note: Mort and Phyllis Isler

Recordist of Note: Mort and Phyllis Isler
By Kathi Borgmann
The path to ornithology and sound recording came late in life for Mort and Phyllis Isler, but that has not stopped them from making significant contributions in the field. In their late 40s and early 50s, after establishing successful careers in other fields Mort and Phyllis found themselves working alongside some of the most pre-eminent…
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Northern Shoveler

Macaulay Library Year in Review
By Team Macaulay Library
2020 was a record-setting year for eBird, Merlin, the Macaulay Library, Birds of the World, and BirdCast, delivering a new era of scientific and conservation applications, innovative new birding tools, and much more. This year more than any other our community grew in exciting new ways. Millions of bird enthusiasts visited our websites and nearly…
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Equatorial Antpitta

Publications Using Macaulay Library Assets in 2020
By Kathi Borgmann
Acevedo-Charry, O., and W. Daza-Diaz (2020). First record of Rufous-thighed Kite Harpagus diodon in Colombia. Bull. B.O.C. 140:104–109. Adams, D. B., and D. M. Kitchen (2020). Model vs. playback experiments: The impact of sensory mode on predator-specific escape responses in saki monkeys. Ethology 00:1-13 Adsett, W. J., and L. Lieurance (2020). First breeding record, vocalisations…
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Yellow-breasted Chat

Recordings Powering New Research
By Kathi Borgmann
Movie stars have the Oscars and ornithologists, well, they have the North American Ornithological Conference (NAOC). While not quite as extravagant as the Oscars, for ornithologists, NAOC is the biggest event of the year. This year the event took place in August and looked a little different. Instead of thousands of ornithologists meeting in person…
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Macaulay Library the Muse: An Exploration of Bird Song in Art

Macaulay Library the Muse: An Exploration of Bird Song in Art
By Marie Chappell
Birds and their sounds have been a part of the arts for centuries. In 1924 Ottorino Respighi requested that a recording of a nightingale be played in his composition The Pines of Rome. Respighi’s artistic choice was controversial at the time; his contemporaries thought it more appropriate to use the orchestra to imitate bird song…
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Henslow's Sparrow

Winners of the Bird Song Challenge
By The Macaulay Library Team
This year we challenged you to rate at least 150 audio recordings in the archive or archive at least 50 recordings from April through June. More than 250 people ravenously rated audio recordings in the archive and helped to curate the audio collection and more than 7,000 people archived audio recordings during the contest period.  …
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