photos by Robert Craig
On November 15th, the Paul Smith’s College Wildlife Society took a trip to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a world leader in the study of avian species and conservation. The Lab conducts field research all around the world and has over 200,000 citizen science participants and 78,000 friends and members that help support this non-profit organization.
The building is located in the middle of Sapsucker Woods, right next to a large pond with a picturesque view. Huge windows and comfortable chairs offered a great birding opportunity. Bird houses, feeding stations, and roosting places attracted many birds. Upon our arrival we were greeted by our guide, Brad, who is a faculty member at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
We started our tour through the audiology section of the lab. Here, bird calls are edited, catalogued, and refined. Shelves around the computers are filled with historically significant recording artifacts. The earliest recording devices are from the beginning of the 20th century. On another shelf, records and journals of travel expeditions to collect bird calls are stored. Catalogues featured African and South American expeditions. Brad explained how listening to bird calls can help conservation efforts by determining where avian species migrate; often times, birds migrate during the night, so identification of avian species by their calls is extremely helpful for mapping migrations of different species. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology does research using mammal acoustics as well such as whales and rainforest mammals. Devices used to record sound are designed in the lab.
Continuing our journey, we visited the lab where specimens for scientific research and education are prepared. Bones, feathers, wings, skulls, taxidermy mounts, pickled specimens and stuffed specimens were scattered all around the lab. Brad took a blue jay specimen not yet prepared from the freezer and showed it to us. The blue jay had a radiant blue on its feathers. Brad explained in detail the preparation process from start to finish, beginning with how specimens come in and how data is collected on the specimens. Subsequently, they are skinned, stuffed, sewn up, and pinned into a specimen position.
We were shown bones from birds and mammals that had been cleaned by dermestid beetles as well as pickled ichthyology specimens. Brad explained how most of the specimens received were hit by cars, struck windows, died of natural causes, or were culled for management purposes.
After our tour of the lab we went into the climate controlled room where the bird specimens are kept. There were over twenty large cabinets in the room, each containing a multitude of bird specimens organized by genus. We followed Brad to the first cabinet, where over forty tree swallow specimens were stored. Continuing through the lab, we saw specimens of brown pelicans, golden eagles, snowy owls, Eurasian eagle owls, burrowing owls, toucans, secretary birds, blackburnian warblers, scarlet tanagers, hooded mergansers, ravens, puffins, and even – to our amazement –some extinct birds. We had the unique and incredible opportunity to see the Carolina parakeet, which went extinct in 1904, the ivory billed woodpecker, extinct in the 1950s, and my favorite, the passenger pigeon, which went extinct in 1914. It was remarkable to view a passenger pigeon from the 1830s, looking untouched by time. Many specimen were over a hundred years old and were acquired from private collections (such as the ivory billed woodpeckers). They looked pristine because they are taken care of very well.
Being able to view many different species of birds helped open our minds to the diversity of species around the world and allowed us an opportunity of getting close to species we will never have an opportunity to see again. After our grand tour of the specimen collection, we ended with a view of a real life sized bird mural 3,000 square feet in size and 40 feet tall, being created by local artist Kim Jane. The mural features 243 bird species, one for each avian family.
The trip to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology was a blast. We are thankful to Brad for taking his time to show us the avian specimens and audiology equipment. Afterward, we took a trip to the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge to see migrating waterfowl. Some of the highlights of our trip were seeing a northern harrier hunting for prey, a bald eagle chasing flying ducks, and a variety of duck species such as American coots, long-tailed ducks, hooded mergansers, mallards and northern shovelers.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology trip was a great experience. We were able to further improve our knowledge of avian species, and get some time in the field viewing and appreciating live birds.
