BirdCast presented at the annual Migration Celebration at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on September 13. Celebrating the spectacle of bird migration, visitors could learn how to use BirdCast’s Migration Tools, participate in the BirdCast quiz bowl, and learn more about how to stop bird collisions at the table of the Bird Collision Prevention Alliance, a new partnership that BirdCast participates in.
A highlight was the BirdCast “Guess How Many” challenge, which consisted of answering the question: “How many birds will fly over New York State tonight?”. A total of 113 people put in their guesses, and the BirdCast Dashboard gave us the answer the following night: 1,573,000 birds – which was one of our lower numbers for this September, likely due to a combination of precipitation and unsupportive winds.
86-year old Dieter G Ast won the challenge with an estimate of 1,347,654 birds. As an emeritus professor in Cornell’s College of Engineering with a lifelong interest in birds and science, he proved that he still had the quantitative chops. The true number estimated by the BirdCast Dashboard was 1,573,000. Professor Ast accepted his prize at the Cornell visitor center last week (a Lab swag bag with T-shirt, hat and other items), mentioning “my wife will be very pleased with this”.
The BirdCast quiz bowl: test your radar aeroecology knowledge and win a lollypop
86-year old Dieter G Ast won the BirdCast guess how many challenge with an estimate of 1,347,654 birds. The true number estimated by the BirdCast Dashboard was 1,573,000.
The BirdCast “Guess How Many” Challenge: how many birds will fly over New York State tonight?
