Latest Posts
The Bird Cams Lab Experience: What We Learned From External Evaluation
During 2018–21, people from around the world teamed up with one another and scientists to learn more about birds on the Cornell Lab’s Bird Cams. Figure 1. The locations of Bird Cams Lab participants for the last four investigations: Cornell Feeders Live, Battling Birds: Panama, Hawk Happenings, and Panama Live. We invited everyone, regardless of prior knowledge...
October 21, 2021
Engaging the Public in Collecting Data from Live and Recorded Wildlife Cams: Tips for Project Managers
During 2018–21, Bird Cams Lab enabled scientists and participants to make discoveries about birds using live streaming wildlife cams. In three investigations (Battling Birds, Hawk Talk, and Battling Birds: Panama Edition), participants collected data from archived video footage. In three other investigations (Panama Live, Hawk Happenings, Cornell Feeders Live), participants collected data in real time...
August 24, 2021
Cornell Feeders Live Report Wraps Up Bird Cams Lab
Thanks to the thoughtful feedback of 15 reviewers, we are now in the last phase of the Cornell Feeders Live investigation: sharing findings. We invite you to read the report and share it with your family and friends. In the report, we document all the work we accomplished together as a community, and what the...
July 30, 2021
Cornell Feeders Live Final Report
Summary Hundreds of people came together to work with researchers to design an investigation that looked at the birds visiting the Cornell FeederWatch cam. After weeks of sharing observations, discussing, and taking a vote, the community decided to investigate visitation patterns of eight species and the ways in which these patterns could be affected by...
July 30, 2021
Thank you, Bird Cams Lab Community!
Back in 2018, Bird Cams Lab started as a research project funded by the National Science Foundation. We set out to engage cam viewers from around the world in co-creating scientific investigations together in an online space, and to understand how participation in the scientific process might affect learning, skills, and actions. As the grant comes...
July 8, 2021
How to Stay in Touch and Keep Contributing
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of Bird Cams Lab! Whether you just joined this past year, or have been with us since the beginning, we sincerely thank you for being a part of our community. Bird Cams Lab became an incredible community of curious and passionate people, and we had a lot...
July 8, 2021
Wrapping Up the Final Investigation!
Thanks to all participants who contributed to the Cornell Feeders Live investigation for Bird Cams Lab, we are on track to release a final report showcasing the community’s findings soon. If you would like to help review a draft of the report, please reply to this email or contact birdcams@cornell.edu by Monday, July 13. We...
July 8, 2021
Battling Birds: Panama Findings Are In!
When it comes to foraging at a feeder in Panama, the bigger the bird, the higher it is in the social pecking order The Bird Cams Lab community joined forces with Cornell Lab of Ornithology researcher Dr. Eliot Miller to better understand the social relationships between birds visiting a feeder in Panama seen on the Cornell...
June 23, 2021Battling Birds: Panama Edition Final Report
Summary Inspired by community interest in previous Bird Cams Lab investigations about aggressive interactions between birds at feeders, we collaborated with Dr. Eliot Miller to learn more about the social relationships among the birds seen on the Panama Fruit Feeder cam. The Bird Cams Lab community worked with Dr. Miller and other Cornell Lab of...
June 23, 2021
Birds Don’t Check The Temperature Before Visiting The Feeder
For the Cornell Feeders Live investigation, we have shared visualizations that highlight (1) the sampling effort (i.e., amount of time watched) and (2) when the study species visited the feeding station. This second set of visualizations helped us start to answer our first research question: What is the daily visitation pattern of different species at...
June 22, 2021