 A heaping helping of Evening Grosbeaks from the FeederWatch Cam in Ontario.
|
Two New Bird Cams to Get You Ready for FeederWatch
Project FeederWatch starts its new season this Saturday, November 9. To get ready, check out our two new live-streaming Bird Cams—set up at feeders in Manitouwadge, Ontario, and right here outside our Visitor Center. Check out the great winter birds already on display in Canada, including Evening Grosbeaks, Purple Finches, and Gray Jays. You'll also see goldfinches, woodpeckers, and the last of the fall colors outside our offices here in Ithaca, New York. Watch the cams.
 Great New FeederWatch Website: Our team just relaunched the Project FeederWatch website with some great new features: a nifty Common Feeder Birds tool to help you find out which birds to expect and what foods they like; revamped Tricky Bird ID pages; a better way to send us photos; and cool ways to look at your data.
Project FeederWatch is a fun and easy citizen-science project. Participants watch their feeders roughly two days per week and report their counts online. See the sidebar for more details on how to join. |
BirdSpotter Photo Contest Returns
We’re happy to be running our weekly BirdSpotter photo contest again this year during Project FeederWatch season, thanks to returning sponsor Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods. You can submit photos on a different theme each week and vote for your favorites. Weekly winners get prizes from Bob’s Red Mill, and a grand prize winner gets a trip to Bob's headquarters in Oregon to go birding with Bob himself. Get out your cameras!
|
Which Species Is This?
Slate gray, cinnamon, pearl white, olive, and gold: is this bird sending mixed messages or what? It’s almost as colorful as a warbler, almost as chunky as a finch, and nowhere near as streaky as your typical sparrow. The overabundance of field marks might make some birders green with envy, but we bet you'll find the tell-tail clues to make this ID. Check your guess and learn more.
Here's a Hint... and a Chance to Vote: This bird is a mainstay of the vast sagebrush ecosystems of the West—a region dearly in need of conservation. We're celebrating sagebrush this month, and we want you to vote for your favorite sagebrush species— on Facebook or in this poll (for non-Facebook users). The winner will star on this year's Thanksgiving eCard. Vote here! |
 A male Red-backed Fairywren of the eastern "orange-backed" form. Photo by Tom Tarrant.
Wandering Eyes Keep an Australian Species Together
About 270,000 years ago, climate shifts split Australia’s Red-backed Fairywren into two separate populations. That’s a classic evolutionary recipe for new species to develop—but in this case the two fairywren types eventually reunited and now seem to be re-forming into a single species. Using a simple experiment, a Cornell Lab graduate student found the key to the reunion lies in who these birds choose to mate with outside of their pair bond. Read the full story.
|
 Our newest Birds-of-Paradise Project video explores how new species form.
Our Birds-of-Paradise Videos Have Been Watched for 30+ Years. Here's 8 More Minutes
Last year we launched our Birds-of-Paradise Project website, full of fascinating natural history videos and educational activities. Since then, our videos have been watched nearly 7 million times for a collective 31 years of viewing time. We’ve just uploaded 29 more videos, including this one that tackles the question of how one species can become many over thousands of generations. Watch it.
More to Marvel At: This gorgeous introductory video alone has been watched more than 3.5 million times. |
Watch Our "Parade of Students": Each young researcher gets one minute to explain his/her project to our directors. Bookmark this page and tune in on Friday, November 8, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Discover Rich Media on eBird: With photos, audio, and video now regular additions to eBird checklists, we made a new tool to help you find and enjoy them.
Drink Great Coffee This Holiday Season: Save $45 on a 12-item sampler of Birds & Beans coffee—the only roaster to offer exclusively Bird Friendly coffee. Great for gifts!
Apply for a Mini-Grant: Our Celebrate Urban Birds project offers grants for creative neighborhood projects. Apply by December 31.
Improve Your Waterfowl ID: We're running our popular set of one-hour Waterfowl ID webinars through November. Check here for schedules and prices.
Take a Road Trip: Our Upcoming Bird Festivals webpage makes it easy to plan your next birding destination. You can look through listings by calendar or on a map, so you can start planning your road trip right from the page. |
|
