Wrapping Up the Final Investigation!

July 8, 2021

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 look forward to sharing the report with everyone at the end of this month!

A screenshot of the Cornell FeederWatch cam with a Blue Jay perched on the feeding table and three grackles on the table and hanging feeders. The backdrop is lots of green vegetation and some blue from the pond behind it.A few Common Grackles and a Blue Jay visit the Cornell FeederWatch cam feeding station.

The publication of the Cornell Feeders Live final report will complete a series of six investigations conducted as part of Bird Cams Lab, a project funded by the National Science Foundation to engage participants and scientists in co-created research using online wildlife cams. As a Bird Cams Lab participant, you contributed to new insights about the birds observed on the cams—and helped develop a new model for how online communities and scientists can collaborate at every stage of the scientific process! Your curiosity, your passion, and your participation made Bird Cams Lab possible.

As funding from our National Science Foundation grant comes to an end on July 31, the Bird Cams Lab team is working on summarizing the impact of this collective work and what we learned from it to help advance similar efforts in the future. Many of you participated in one or more surveys or interviews to help us learn how to improve the project through time, as well as understand participant experiences. Thank you! We will share a summary with you as soon as it’s available.

What’s next for Bird Cams Lab? We are excited about the possibility of seeking future funding that may enable us to collect and analyze data from the cams in some instances, or to generate new partnerships for co-created research. Meanwhile, we hope you will continue to enjoy the cams, stay in touch with the Bird Cams community, and explore one or more of the many citizen-science opportunities that need your help. 

We’ve put together a list of ways you can stay connected with Bird Cams, learn more about birds, and contribute to science. If you have any questions as we begin wrapping up the project, please see our Frequently Asked Questions, and feel free to share feedback using this form