Dec 7, 2024
NOW YOU CAN SEARCH SPECIFICALLY FOR FREAKS
seen from China
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seen from T1
seen from India
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seen from United States
seen from France
seen from United States
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seen from United States
seen from Russia
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seen from China
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NOW YOU CAN SEARCH SPECIFICALLY FOR FREAKS
Macaulay Library’s
Best Bird Photos 2025
Credits in alt text
THE BIRBS ARE HERE
Birders around the world have contributed more than 67 million photos to our Macaulay Library archive. Here are some of the best from the pa
Find someone who looks at you like this feral rock pigeon looks at her beau (his beau? How does one sex a feral rock pigeon?)
Hat.
"You do this every time! If you want some, order it yourself, stop eating off my plate!"
MOTHER. FUCKING. CASSOWARY.
Humanity is lucky the emu's didn't call for back up. If they'd gotten the cassowary special forces involved, Australia would belong to the birds.
Fun fact: owls can't roll their eyes in exasperation. Their eyes are mostly fixed in place in the orbital socket, that's why their heads turn so far! Also why so many get hit by cars - see a mouse, swoop down for mouse, can't see the vehicle coming at them because their focus is totally on the food.
When volunteering at the wildlife rehab center, I got to help weigh a Great Horned Owl. He was wrapped up in a towel, and then we put him in a Quaker Oats tube to keep him still on the scale. Big motherfucker - HUGE talons. He survived and was released a couple months later, I'm pretty sure.
(Plug: donate to your local wildlife rehab centers! They're almost always non-profit and do great work, and if you don't mind scooping poop or scrubbing cages, they usually have volunteer opportunities!!!)
Mom. Mom. MOM. MOM! MOMMA! MOMMA! MOMMY!
NGL, thought the snow was a cloud and we were finally getting a proper kaiju event.
(I don't know why I did this - I just saw birds and got excited and had to share. BIRBS!)
(Photos belong to Macaulay Library Archive & respective photographers!)
An eastern black rail, among the most elusive birds a biologist can study, walks through marsh grass.
Photograph by Marky Mutchler, Macaulay Library, Cornell Lab
Get to know your bird organizations:
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Cornell Lab provides quite a number of data-driven apps and repositories, with many of the contributions through citizen science (birders like you and me):
eBird (website and mobile app) This has become the de facto app and website for submitting bird sightings. It's also great for researching birding hotspots all around the world. The website offers a great deal more information and functionality than the app (such as uploading photos to accompany your sightings, and providing you with your own central sightings hub complete with maps), so using them in tandem is the best strategy. All rare sightings are reviewed for accuracy by qualified volunteers.
Merlin (mobile app) This is the app that gets a lot of press due to its ease of entry to the world of birdwatching. Hit the 'record' button and it will listen for bird calls and suggest species. It does a decent job of that. You can also upload photos of birds to see if they match anything in the database. Note however, that it has developed a bit of a reputation for frustrating ornithologists due to false positives that novices might not catch, suggesting rare birds that wouldn't be anywhere nearby, and thus tainting the eBird data.
All About Birds Cornell's bird guide; search by species and it will provide a great deal of information. There's a lot of clicking involved (there's an Overview tab, an ID info tab, a Life History tab, a Maps tab), instead of the info being presented on a single scrollable page, but I enjoy their 'Cool Facts' section.
Macaulay Library This is Cornell's media library (photos, videos, audio). When a photo or audio clip is submitted through eBird, it will then show up here in the archives, along with any additional information that the photographer might have included (e.g., how many are in the photo, is it male or female, is it foraging). The library has been operating since 1929, and has over 60 million pieces of media. The information included in the library helps to power the Merlin app, providing more photographs and audio clips for comparison purposes.
eBird Status and Trends data visualizer Using the eBird data to track bird population increases and declines, as well as possible geographic shifts. The visualizer provides heat maps superimposed on a globe, and you can hit the 'play' button to see how things shift throughout the year.
Feeder Watch This is a backyard counting project (in conjunction with Birds Canada) that is roughly the same as eBird, but for bird feeders and backyards. Participants spend two consecutive days per week (or as much as they can) watching to see who shows up, and you can compare your data to your neighbours. The data goes back decades, and you can use a few different visualizations to see trends.
Bird Academy As Cornell is a university, they offer online classes. They range from the simple (eBird essentials; Free), to the more complex (Ornithology: Complex Bird Biology; $240 USD; 100+ hours to complete).
(Eastern Bluebird photo by @everydayesterday)
Great Egret Ardea Alba
4/6/2022 Orange County, Florida
Starting out this blog with my banner photo! This is one of my favorite photos I've ever taken, and one of my best in-flight photos (although this egret had just taken off, and so was not truly in flight). I watched this egret hunting on Lake Apopka, one of my favorite birding locations near Orlando.
Eurasian Three-Toed Woodpecker
© Hans Noreliuse / MacAulay Library
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
Shailesh Pinto / MacAulay Library