Lots of people wish to do one thing significant proper now. And the chance now could be to do that at scale with companions all over the world.
Ian Owens, Govt Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Lab Is an Accelerator
A Dialog with Our Director
What does the long run appear to be for the Cornell Lab? In an pressing time for conservation, Lab director Ian Owens says, the Lab’s function is to step up, not step out. It’s a time to be daring.
Which means leveraging the Lab’s function as an accelerator—creating instruments and constructing experience that our many companions can use in subtle methods to create continental-scale impression.
The Magic of Merlin
How Does the Lab Spark a World Conservation Motion?
Again in 2008, the Lab’s director of communications, Miyoko Chu, seen a pattern: The commonest search phrases on the Lab’s All About Birds website have been phrases like little brown fowl. Folks have been attempting to make use of the positioning as an identification instrument, however they didn’t know the names they wanted to seek for.
So why not construct an identification instrument?, was Miyoko’s subsequent thought.
With assist from a Nationwide Science Basis grant, the instrument that was to turn into Merlin Hen ID began to realize floor. Launching with 285 frequent fowl species, it quickly added a photograph ID instrument, expanded to almost 11,000 species, after which cracked a notoriously laborious software program problem: sound ID. All whereas remaining free to greater than 10 million lively customers—connecting them with nature and opening up a world of participatory science.
Dig into the untold story of the rise and rise of the Merlin Bird ID app.
Inspiration/Activation
How Can We Multiply On a regular basis Actions That Save Birds?
Annually, billions of birds die from preventable causes. And but hundreds of thousands of individuals love birds. By connecting individuals who care with options that work, we will jump-start their actions to assist. That’s what Lab director Ian Owens means by viewing the Lab as an accelerator.
Deep Listening
How Might Castoff Tech Turn into an Underwater Sound Revolution?
For 4 many years the Cornell Lab has used its bioacoustics experience to demystify the world’s oceans, cease whale collisions, and deal with myriad different marine conservation points.
Now, a brand new approach known as distributed acoustic sensing is exhibiting large promise for detecting and monitoring arctic whales, by way of an ingenious use of outdated fiberoptic cables on the seafloor.
Learn the way repurposed fiberoptics are revolutionizing underwater sound monitoring.
Any Particular person, Any Research, Any Imaginative and prescient
How Does the Lab Assist Learners for a Lifetime?
Cornell College’s motto is “…any individual…any research.” On the Lab, we cater to individuals of all ages all over the world, supporting their imaginative and prescient, ardour, expertise, and lifelong pursuits with birds, nature, and conservation.
From sparking the creativeness of elementary faculty kids; to exhibiting high-schoolers all that an ornithology profession can embody; to offering a collaborative, formidable neighborhood of younger scientists and past; we’re there for learners each step of the best way.
Discover how the Lab opens doors for learners in any respect phases of life.
- early childhood Spark a Love of Birds
- center faculty Join the Dots
- highschool See Prospects
- undergraduate Strive Options
- graduate Lead and Mentor
- postdoc Innovate and Illuminate
- early profession Transfer Information to Motion
- any stage Be taught for a Lifetime
Powering a New Period of Conservation
How Do Key Partnerships Speed up the Lab’s Mission?
A brand new period of conservation is unfolding because of birders all over the world. This yr, eBird handed 2 billion observations—an unprecedented quantity of information that may essentially change how we shield birds.
A technique we’ve used that knowledge is to create eBird Standing and Tendencies, a next-gen instrument that gives an in depth, county-level take a look at how birds are faring. Companions just like the North American Waterfowl Administration Plan can now use the instrument for crucial planning, answering questions like The place do waterfowl want habitat? and When will we must be offering it?
Discover out extra about how eBird is helping supercharge waterfowl conservation and habitat safety.
Monetary Report
2025 Fiscal 12 months:
July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology continues to thrive because of our devoted neighborhood of supporters. Throughout fiscal yr 2025, beneficiant contributions from greater than 200,000 members and donors—representing greater than 75% of our annual income and totaling $38.7 million—amplified our capacity to advance conservation by way of analysis, schooling, and participatory science. Our distinctive place as a nonprofit group inside a world-class analysis establishment permits us to maximise our impression, equipping people and organizations worldwide with the data, instruments, and inspiration wanted to handle declining fowl populations and shield biodiversity. The steadfast philanthropic dedication from our supporters empowers us to nurture expertise, embrace cutting-edge expertise, and pursue daring options on behalf of birds and nature. We’re deeply grateful on your partnership on this very important work.
Donors as Accelerators
Have you ever ever been fortunate sufficient to observe a murmuration? Tons of of 1000’s of starlings flip, swell, dive, and transfer as one. It’s breathtaking, partially, as a result of this sinuous dance can occur solely at a staggering scale.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has mobilized our personal murmuration. Due to dedicated supporters such as you, the Lab is extending our community of world companions, deepening our funding in knowledge instruments and tech, and increasing our efforts to activate hundreds of thousands of individuals round birds and biodiversity. Thanks for being a part of a mighty and rising flock. By working collectively, we are going to convey a few more healthy planet and a extra hopeful future.
We’re happy to acknowledge our Sapsucker Woods Society members and honor and memorial tributes right here.
Obtain earlier annual experiences right here: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.
