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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a world leader in the study, appreciation, and conservation of birds and biodiversity.
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Recent posts
What's the weather forecast today? Birds! Meteorologists are increasingly seeing the value of incorporating bird migration reports into their segments. Incidentally, when weather is calm, and there's not much to report, is precisely when the birds take advantage of the clear skies and take off or continue on their migrations (during migration seasons).
There's still 1 week of BirdCast forecasts left in this season, which uses weather surveillance radars to predict and track migrations. Connecting meteorologists to the BirdCast tool means reaching people who might never otherwise know when birds are migrating—an audience beyond those already in tune with birds. It also allows them to share lesser known facts about bird migration, like the fact that most birds migrate at night, and how to help keep them safe on their journeys and beyond.
Learn more about these efforts here: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/safeguarding-migration-from-birdcast-to-broadcast/
[Image description: evening sky with silhouettes of hundreds of birds. Text reads: Purple Martin. Progne subis. © Jonathan Taffet / Macaulay Library]
07 Nov 2026
Speed, strength, precision, and agility. Raptors have some extraordinary athletic abilities, and these four birds take their talents to impressive heights!
The Peregrine Falcon can reach speeds of up to 200 mph during its spectacular hunting dives, while the Osprey plunges feet-first into the water to catch fish before powering back into the air. Golden Eagles perform dramatic, wave-like aerial displays of steep dives and climbs, and Swallow-tailed Kites use their deeply forked tails to make sharp turns, snatch insects in midair, and even eat on the wing.
Which raptor’s athletic abilities impress you most?
06 Nov 2026
What's in a bird photo? Join us Tuesday, November 10 at 1:00 p.m. EST / 10:00 a.m. PST to go behind the lens with professional wildlife photographers Melissa Groo and Scott Keys! You'll learn what it takes to capture incredible bird images and how photography brings us closer to nature in this upcoming live event.
Head to the link and register to receive event reminders, a link to the recorded webinar once it's ready, and to pre-submit any questions you have for Melissa and Scott!
04 Nov 2026
BIRD QUIZ: Here is a bird photographed in Virginia in November 2024. Do you know what species it is? Leave your answer in Comments and we'll post ours at the end of the day. Thanks to Leena McCluney for sharing this photo with eBird and the Macaulay Library archive.
03 Nov 2026
Bones, bee larvae, snails, and palm fruit don’t sound like a typical hawk or vulture dinner. Yet for these four species, they make up most of the menu.
Bearded Vultures eat mostly bones, which make up 70–90% of their diet. They swallow smaller bones whole and drop larger ones from great heights onto rocks to break them apart. Their highly acidic stomachs help digest the bones.
Oriental Honey-buzzards feed mainly on bee and wasp larvae. They raid nests in trees or dig into underground nests to reach the larvae inside. They have small, scale-like feathers around their eyes that help protect them from stings.
Snail Kites eat almost exclusively freshwater apple snails. They capture snails with their talons and use their slender, sharply hooked bills to remove the snails from their shells.
Palm-nut Vultures eat mostly palm fruits, which make up 58–65% of adult diets. They feed on the fruit’s fleshy outer portions but also eat animals such as crabs and fish.
Swipe through to see each one up close, then vote 1, 2, 3, or 4 in the comments: which one gets your vote for Most Unusual Diet? 🏆
02 Nov 2026
For forty years, FeederWatchers have documented their neighborhood birds, transforming everyday observations into a powerful long-term dataset. Together, FeederWatchers have helped scientists track population trends and range shifts, monitor avian diseases, and uncover exciting revelations about the day-to-day lives of birds. Increasingly, the scientists behind Project FeederWatch are using data collected by participants to learn more about bird-friendly actions and what we can all do right at home to help our local birds thrive.
To celebrate the program’s milestone 40th anniversary season, the Cornell Lab teamed up with Blank Space @blnk_spce_ to produce a new 5-minute film, now streaming on YouTube. Featuring dedicated participants across the program’s focal regions, our new film highlights how FeederWatchers have collectively contributed to one of the largest and longest-running participatory science monitoring programs in the world.
For many participants, FeederWatch is about more than the science. It is a treasured winter tradition, one that brings wonder, joy, peace, and community. This film celebrates what FeederWatch means to those who participate and emphasizes that we all have so much to gain by connecting with the natural world, in big ways and small.
Together, we can all make a difference for the future of birds. Join the FeederWatch community today.
Learn more at https://feederwatch.org/join-or-renew/ (link in our bio)
01 Nov 2026
Swipe through to see a series of treats... or perhaps tricks 🎃. Is this first photo an (arguably) delightful candy corn or a trick of the eye? We hope your Halloween is filled with tweets!
Don't forget to tag us in your bird costumes 🪶
31 Oct 2026
With their dark feathers and habit of gathering at carcasses, Black Vultures look the part for the Halloween season. But have you met their chicks?
Black Vultures begin life covered in thick, fluffy, buff-colored down. As they grow, they ask for meals by bobbing their heads, flapping their wings, and stamping their feet. And parental care continues long after the fluff is gone: parents may keep feeding their young for up to eight months after their first flights! That’s about twice as long as a chick spends in the egg and the nest combined.
So how does a fuzzy nestling like this one become the big, dark-feathered, wrinkly-faced scavenger we picture when we think of vultures? This Halloween, swipe for a closer look at Black Vulture family life, then watch a chick grow up in “From Fluff to Feathers: A Black Vulture Grows Up” by clicking the link in our bio and selecting the matching image.
30 Oct 2026
These gorgeous Lilac-breasted Rollers make quite the juxtaposition with their perches. Lilac-breasted Rollers can be found in southern Africa and have a fairly advantageous diet for such small birds, though probably not enough to be responsible for the skull pictured here. They will eat locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, butterflies, moths, hairy caterpillars, ants, scorpions, centipedes, spiders, snails, frogs, lizards and even small birds.
Who's excited for Halloween tomorrow? We'll have a special treat for you this weekend... or will it be a trick?
[Image description 2 pastel colored pink, blue, teal and brown birds perched on a skull on a stone marker with TZ carved into it. Text reads: Lilac-breasted Roller. Coracias caudatus. © Hanyang Ye / Macaulay Library
29 Oct 2026
🎶 'I always feel like somebody's watching meeee' Kiwis are funky nocturnal birds and perhaps the birds that most resemble mammals. According to Birds of the World: They have a mammal-like body temperature, poor vision, almost no wings, and non-feathery, hair-like plumage. Their excellent sense of smell is tied to nostrils and numerous nerve-endings at the end of a long flexible bill, which they use to probe for prey in the undergrowth and duff of New Zealand forests. Kiwis are also quite adept at catching aquatic prey, and the fleshy valves on these nostrils appear to serve the birds well when they forage in forest streams. Kiwis are nocturnal and nest in self-excavated underground tunnels.
Swipe to see this bird in the daylight so you can fully appreciate its unique features.
28 Oct 2026
Did anyone catch the full moon last night? We'll be featuring some special shots we found in Macaulay Library over the next few days to help you get in the Halloween spirit.
Pileated Woodpeckers dig characteristically rectangular holes in trees to find ants. These excavations can be so broad and deep that they can cause small trees to break in half. That may just be what's happened with this Pileated Woodpecker pictured here.
Are you dressing up as a bird this year for Halloween? Please tag us in your bird costume photos!
27 Oct 2026
BIRD QUIZ: Here is a bird photographed in Nebraska in early October. Do you know what species it is? Leave your answer in Comments and we'll post ours at the end of the day. Thanks to Karen Szafrajda for sharing this photo with eBird and the Macaulay Library archive.
27 Oct 2026
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