Science

fairywren sp.

Photos and Social Media Help Scientists Identify a Hybrid Fairywren
By Macaulay Library Team
In 2015, the Macaulay Library began accepting photos of birds alongside eBird checklists with the hopes of creating a curated collection of bird photos to help people learn more about birds. Now the Macaulay Library contains more than 36 million photos of more than 10,500 species. Scientists are now starting to tap the collection of…
Read more Photos and Social Media Help Scientists Identify a Hybrid Fairywren
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…
Read more Photos Reveal Purpose of Black Facial Markings in Peregrine Falcons
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,…
Read more Behind the Scenes of Sound ID in Merlin
Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Recordings Plus Specimens Reveal Female Song in a Flycatcher Species
By Kathi Borgmann
In the last several years, song in female birds has been documented more and more frequently, thanks to community scientists, sound archives, and dedicated researchers. But for groups of species like flycatchers in which males and females look identical, female song can easily go unnoticed. New research out this month in the Wilson Journal of…
Read more Recordings Plus Specimens Reveal Female Song in a Flycatcher Species
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…
Read more Publications Using Macaulay Library Assets in 2020
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…
Read more Recordings Powering New Research
White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrows are changing their tune: your recordings at work for science
By Kathi Borgmann
The sweet song of the White-throated Sparrow drifts through forests and meadows all summer long across Canada, the northeastern U.S., and the northern Midwest. Field guides tell us that the song they sing sounds like Oh-sweet-canada-canada-canada or Old-Sam-Peabody-Peabody-Peabody.  But, Dr. Ken Otter, from the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada, and colleagues recently discovered that…
Read more White-throated Sparrows are changing their tune: your recordings at work for science