Be a Cam-Clickr!

A new message to pass along from my friends at Cornell University concerning all that is birding, bird-like, bird stuff, bird crazy . . . well you get the idea—

Play “tag” with the birds: Be a CamClickr!

Dear Birding Friend,

We need your keen eye and quick fingers! As you may know, we have live cameras positioned at active bird nests all around the country. Since 1999, we’ve archived more than eight million images from these NestCams. To help sort through the images, we developed CamClickr—an online tool you can use to view the images and sort them into albums, then tag each image by the type of behavior you see: preening, eating, feeding chicks, etc.

What’s in it for you? NestCams allow you to peek into the nests of Barn Owls, bluebirds, Wood Ducks, and other birds for an up-close look at fascinating bird behavior. CamClickr will appeal not only to bird lovers, but to people who enjoy testing their skills with online games. When you help sort and tag the camera images, you collect points and compete for prizes such as binoculars, DVDs, books and posters. It’s easy and fun!

Why do we need your help? By using CamClickr to help tag and sort the NestCam images, you help scientists studying breeding bird behavior. The more we understand about bird behavior, the better equipped we are to understand how birds are responding to threats in their environment.

Just visit www.camclickr.org to create an account. This allows you to chat in the NestCam forums, tag photos, and track your stats in CamClickr anytime. You can check your rankings in “my sessions” to see how you stack up against other taggers. The redesigned CamClickr home page also provides the latest Twitter feeds. Educators will appreciate the newly developed lesson plan, appropriate for all ages, and easily modified for individualized instruction. You can watch videos of fascinating nesting behaviors from the Lab’s Macaulay Library.

Make it your summer project to help science and the birds—be a CamClickr!

Thank you for helping us help the birds.

Sincerely,

Tina Phillips, project leader
NestWatch, NestCams, CamClickr

nestwatch@cornell.edu

P.S. I’ve attached a CamClickr PDF flier you may find useful–pass it along!