Birders:( News from the Lab of Ornithology ) I got some news information from the Lab of Ornithology today. enjoy Shane Adams East of Hamblen County Morristown,TN. 37813 ----- Original Message ----- From: Jennifer Smith To: LABOFONEWS-L Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 1:29 PM Subject: News from the Lab of Ornithology April 21, 2006 Awards for Conservation The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and its staff have been recognized with two recent awards for conservation. On March 18, Living Bird editor-in-chief Tim Gallagher, along with Gene Sparling and Bobby Harrison, received the President's Award for Conservation from the Explorers Club at a gala reception in New York City. Their sightings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in 2004 led to a welcome infusion of interest and funding for conservation of the bottomland hardwood forests needed by the ivory-bill and so many other species. You can read more about the curious cuisine and the eclectic crowd on our ivory-bill web site. On April 1, no joke, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology was named Detroit Audubon's "Conservation Organization of the Year" during the group's annual conference. Researcher Martjan Lammertink was there to pick up the award and give an update on the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas. The award is given for all the work done by the Lab over the past 91 years in citizen science, conservation, and education. My Yard Counts! My Yard Counts! is a new citizen-science project that collects information about birds around residences in rural, suburban, and urban settings. Researchers are hoping to identify the features in yards that are most important to birds. Participants spend 20 minutes watching birds near their homes once a week from April to August. Data will be collected through the online eBird program. To learn more and to sign up for this free project, go to http://www.birds.cornell.edu/MyYardCounts. Funding for New NestWatch Study The National Science Foundation has approved a $1.7 million dollar grant to fund a new program from the Lab called Project NestWatch. The goal is to introduce birding and simple scientific inquiry methods to hundreds of thousands of people, especially those new to the concept of citizen science. Data collection will occur three ways. Participants may independently record and report observations from their own yards or neighborhoods. They may do the same guided by an ornithologist. Or they may opt for "virtual birding," reporting what they see in nests monitored by cameras on the Web. The project is expected to begin in spring 2007. All About Birds Gets a Makeover If you haven't been to the Lab's All About Birds web site recently, it's time to pay another visit. The site has undergone an extensive makeover, making it fresh, topical, interactive, and fun. Discover the latest birding news and events, take weekly quizzes, read articles on topics of special interest, and consult the Online Bird Guide for range maps, photos, and sound files for hundreds of species. Explore the complexities of migration. Hear examples of song types and learn how to improve your skill at identification by ear. Thank you again for your continuing interest and support! Your friends at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology