AnnuAl RepoRt to membeRs | 2012 - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Education:SchoolKidsScientific inquiry for schoolkidsDoes precipitation affect how many DarkeyedJuncos we see? Does the size of abird affect the pitch of its call? K-12students watch birds, ask intriguing questions,pose hypotheses, and collect and analyze datato formulate a conclusion in the Cornell Lab’sBirdSleuth curriculum—a fun and interactivesuite of investigatory projects that meet currentscience education standards. BirdSleuth is a greatway to get kids outdoors and watching birds.Last year, thousands of students in hundreds ofschools across the country conducted BirdSleuthscience investigations. Some schools integratedtheir BirdSleuth projects into formal Lab citizenscienceinitiatives, such as eBird and Project FeederWatch,so their data contributed to professionalanalyses of regional bird trends—and buddingornithologists got their first taste of real science.A Bird in the HandTexas 3rd grader Alisa Van Eerden’s BirdSleuthproject began with her question: Is it possible totrain a wild bird to eat out of a human hand? Herexperiment started with stuffing a pair of jeans anda jacket with old towels, and topping it off with apumpkin head wearing sunglasses and a hat, to createa decoy she named “Stuffy.” After several weeksof watching birds feed near Stuffy, and eventuallyout of the decoy’s glove, Alisa traded places withStuffy—and voila! A Tufted Titmouse in her hand. A3rd grader with a big smile on her face.TeensInspiring young scientistsGlobal environmental issues meet emerginggeospatial computer technologies in the Lab’sCrossing Boundaries curriculum for middle- andhigh-schoolers, created in partnership withfaculty at Hobart & William Smith Colleges. Tolearn about landscape changes in the UnitedStates and abroad, students compare historicaland current satellite imagery on Google Earth.Then they explore geographic differences in biodiversity,from faraway places like the Amazonto their own communities, using a species databaseand the very same GPS and GIS technologiesused by scientists. Students even get a tasteof peer review by presenting their projects onwiki sites and exchanging feedback with classmates.The real-life research and personal storiesof Cornell grad students are included in CrossingBoundaries units along the way, so students canbegin envisioning what their futures might looklike in conservation science.Source: YouTube20
Discovering birds, connecting to natureHigher EducationMentorship…pass it onLast year the Cornell Lab continued its proudrole as an academic research institution, withLab scientists advising more than 100 undergradand graduate students. Cornell Ph.D. candidateNathan Senner was one of those students, with adissertation on a multiyear research project thatbanded Hudsonian Godwits with GPS data loggersin sub-arctic Manitoba and monitored theirextraordinary 6,000-mile flights to Ecuador andChile. Senner became the first scientist to detailthis godwit’s marathon migrations, one of theLIFELONG LEARNINGBird study for everyoneCornell Lab lifelong learning programs are basedon the premise that you don’t have to be a collegebiology major to study ornithology. In 1972 theLab introduced “A Home Study Course in BirdBiology,” the first college-level correspondencecourse in ornithology. Four decades later, thecourse has enrolled more than 10,000 people in65 countries with a rigorous curriculum of birdbehavior, ecology, evolution, and more. Severalzoos across the nation have made it a requiredcourse for zookeepers in training. In 2013 thefarthest recorded travels of any bird on earth. Theproject also ignited the imagination of a teenagernamed Andy Johnson, who attended Senner’s godwitlecture at the Lab’s 2009 Young Birders Event.Johnson enrolled at Cornell as a biology undergradthe following year and became a field assistant forSenner, travelling with him from Churchill, Manitoba,to Tierra del Fuego. Now Johnson is hard atwork on his thesis project studying Whimbrels,and making plans for his own research journeys tothe Arctic and South America.latest edition of the course’s Handbook of BirdBiology will be published by Wiley-Blackwell asan official college textbook for university ornithologycourses. Another lifelong learning coursecreated by the Lab in 2009, Courtship and Rivalryin Birds, uses interactive online learning to helpindividuals around the world develop new skillsin observing and understanding bird behavior.Enrollees so far have come from 18 countries,ranging from beginning birders to park naturalistsand wildlife professionals.Hawk and Heron Reality ShowsFrom February to June 2012, more than 2 millionpeople from 176 countries watched the real-lifedrama of Great Blue Herons nesting atop a deadtree at Sapsucker Woods and Red-tailed Hawks atopa light pole on the Cornell campus, courtesy of HDweb cams installed and operated by the CornellLab. Viewers ranged from BirdSleuth schoolchildrenwho got an educational look at nesting biology toadults who found the daily drama—from fending offowl attacks on the nest to a fragile fledgling’s waveringfirst flight—as gripping as General Hospital.Three more cams launched in 2012, in partnershipwith other organizations, and broadcast nests fromelsewhere across the country: American Kestrelsin Idaho, Ospreys in Montana, and Pacific Loons inAlaska. Future cams may feature birds from moreexotic locations, such as rainforests in the Amazonand jungles in Southeast Asia, thus furtheringthe Lab’s goal to engage everyday people in thefascinating lives of birds.21
Page 1: Annual Report to members | 2012
Page 6 and 7: Technology:Gathering the DataThe po
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Page 23 and 24: A letter toOur donors2012 was a mil
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AnnuAl RepoRt to membeRs | 2012 - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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