Bird Cams Lab - Hawk 2 Resources
When were (or weren’t) we watching?
In the midst of the pandemic this past summer, the community came together and connected with nature by collecting data on the Cornell Lab’s Red-tailed Hawk cam. From May to June, over 320 people collected data to better understand the frequency of certain hawk behaviors and how the frequency might vary with weather. We were excited...
October 2, 2020What Kinds of Questions Can We Investigate?
Watching the Bird Cams can generate all kinds of questions. Some questions may have answers already based on past research. Other questions may not have answers yet—but could be answered by collecting and analyzing data from the cams. It’s those questions we hope to identify for potential investigations. As you encounter questions, try categorizing each one: ...
May 18, 2018What does the weather data look like?
Weather is important to understand when studying birds because it can potentially affect how they behave. The Hawk Happenings community recognized this and specifically included weather in their research question, theorizing that Red-tailed Hawk behaviors at the nest might vary with changes in the weather. After data collection ended in June, we reached out to the...
September 18, 2020We Have Less Than Two Weeks Left!
Things are happening at Hawk Happenings. The first nestling may leave the nest as early as next week! That means we don’t have much longer to collect data. As of yesterday, over 100 people have made over 1,600 observations. That’s incredible! Thank you to everyone who has participated Have you had the chance to collect data? If not,...
June 4, 2020We Did It!
It’s finally happened! All three nestlings tested their wings for the first time over the past few days. The first nestling left on Friday, June 12th, followed by the other two over the weekend. If you missed it, be sure to check out recent video highlights of the exciting departures. With all three nestlings having left the...
June 16, 2020- Video
Video: A 3-minute Introduction to the Bird Cams Lab
May 8, 2018 Time to Vote! Which Question Would You Like to See Investigated?
We’ve brainstormed, we’ve refined, and now it’s time to vote on the question that you’d like to see the community investigate. We’ve narrowed it down to five questions based on four criteria that we discussed on the Question Design Board: Is the question interesting? Specific? Measurable? Feasible? A huge thank you to everyone who participated on...
April 30, 2020The Data Tools
When we watch the cams, we can come up with all kinds of questions once our curiosity is piqued. Taking note of interesting patterns is how scientific investigations start. Once we have questions in hand, the next step is to determine how feasible it would be to investigate them based on several criteria. For each question,...
April 14, 2020Start Collecting Data for the Hawk Investigation!
It’s time—we’re ready to start collecting data for Hawk Happenings, a new name for the current investigation using the Cornell Hawks cam. The name was inspired by the community-generated question we aim to answer: “What is the frequency of certain hawk behaviors, and does this frequency vary with the weather?” Start collecting data today. No prior experience is...
May 21, 2020Questions in Hand, We Look At What’s Next
After weeks of discussions, 340 people ranked 5 proposed questions that are possible to investigate on the Cornell Hawks cam, using four criteria: interesting, specific, measurable, and feasible. Thank you to everyone who voted! The two questions that rose to the top are about incubation and hawk behaviors: We’ll plan to answer the first question about incubation...
May 13, 2020