The December meeting of the Cayuga Bird Club will be on Monday, December 12 at 7:30 pm at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Our speaker will be Professor Ian Owens, Executive Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. All are invited to join us as he presents,"The Revolution is Here: Technology and the Future of Bird Watching and Citizen Science Birds play a unique role in our understanding of how the planet works because, through the efforts of bird watchers and citizen scientists, we know more about large-scale patterns of occurrence, abundance, movement and population trends in birds than any other comparable group. Professor Owens will explore how new technologies promise to further accelerate the opportunities for birdwatchers and citizen scientists to make a difference, making it possible to gather even more useful data to inform conservation efforts, and engage even more people in natural history and conservation. Starting by highlighting the power of applying artificial intelligence models to large-scale databases of ‘unstructured’ observations, and what this reveals about long-term population trends at a continental scale. He will then look at how automatic-recognition of songs and calls is already changing how we find and identify birds, and the impact of this ‘bioacoustic revolution’ on birding, monitoring and public engagement. Finally, he will review how new technologies is empowering bird watchers and citizen scientist communities around the world, and how to address the challenges that exist in making these new technologies available at a global scale. About the Speaker: Professor Ian Owens, Executive Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is an ornithologist interested in the ecology, evolution and conservation of birds, and using the power of birds to engage the public with big questions in science and global sustainability. The central question of his research is, what are the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that drive biological diversification? He tackles this question at both macro- and microevolutionary scales using a combination of field experiments, genetic analyses and phylogenetic and spatial analyses. Almost all of his work is based on birds because of the unrivaled depth of information on the ecology, behavior, systematics and geographical distribution of bird species, and the ability to manipulate genetic pedigrees, observe behavior and monitor individual reproduction and mortality in free-living bird populations. In-person meetings at the Lab of Ornithology start with cookies at 7:00pm and club business at 7:30pm, followed by the speaker's presentation which ends by 9:00pm. We will attempt to make presentations available virtually, either as a recording posted a few days later. There will be a speaker dinner before the meeting with Professor Owens at 5:30 at Sumo restaurant on Triphammer Road. Please rsvp as soon as possible to cl...@juno.com since reservations may be limited. Enjoy this week and any birding opportunities it may bring. Colleen Richards Corresponding Secretary Cayuga Bird Club -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
