Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Macaulay Library
open-in-new
<h2 id="history">History</h2> <p><a href="/facts/Arthur_A._Allen/10q3hNIe">Arthur Augustus Allen</a> and Peter Paul Kellogg made the first recordings of bird sound on May 18, 1929, in an Ithaca park. They used <a href="/facts/Sound_film/NtImVJ3R">motion-picture film with synchronized sound</a> to record a <a href="/facts/Song_sparrow/0YI4REtt">song sparrow</a>, a <a href="/facts/Northern_house_wren/thVz5PdC">house wren</a>, and a <a href="/facts/Rose-breasted_grosbeak/xJLTc0gp">rose-breasted grosbeak</a>. This was the Beginning of Cornell Library of Natural Sounds. Graduate student <a href="/facts/Albert_R._Brand/A6nc3Gdu">Albert R. Brand</a> and Cornell undergraduate M. Peter Keane developed recording equipment for use in the open field. In the next two years they had successfully recorded more than 40 species of birds. In 1931, Peter Keane and True McLean (a Cornell professor in <a href="/facts/Electrical_Engineering/YYXW1KLW">electrical engineering</a>) designed and built a <a href="/facts/Parabolic_reflector/uTkv4pJF">parabolic reflector</a> for field recordings of bird songs. They used <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a> parabola molds from the Cornell Physics Department. In 1940, <a href="/facts/Albert_R._Brand/A6nc3Gdu">Albert R. Brand</a> produced an extensive bird song field guide album "American Bird Songs". The sales of <a href="/facts/Phonograph/VcNQRYVT">phonograph</a> records of bird sounds remained a key source of income for the Lab of Ornithology since these days.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p><p>In 2020 the <a href="/facts/Internet_Bird_Collection/qA302GT3">Internet Bird Collection</a> (IBC) was incorporated into the Macaulay Library, which now hosts all of the content contained in the IBC.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="recording-data">Recording data</h2> <p>The basic data of the modern recordings contains: </p> <ol><li>Species name</li> <li>Date</li> <li>Time of day</li> <li>Location</li> <li>GPS coordinates</li> <li>Behavioral context of sound</li> <li>Natural sound or response to playback. If playback was used announce this on tape.</li> <li>Number of individuals</li> <li>Habitat description</li> <li>Weather (e.g. degree of overcast, air temperature, water temperature (important for amphibian recordings.)</li> <li>Recording equipment-Audio recorder make and model; microphone make and model; if used filter positions</li> <li>Distance to animal<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a></li></ol> <h2 id="name">Name</h2> <p>The name of Macaulay Library honors Linda and <a href="/facts/William_E._Macaulay/5t5Pw1Xf">William (Bill) Macaulay</a>, who donated a significant campaign contribution to fund the new facility (2003) of the library at Sapsucker Woods.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> Linda Macaulay added also nearly 6,000 individual birdsong recordings of over 2,600 species.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Scientific_collection/jByXdSSI">Scientific collection</a></li></ul> <p><a href="https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Macaulay_Library¶ms=42.4798_N_76.451_W_type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-NY">42°28′47″N 76°27′04″W / 42.4798°N 76.4510°W / 42.4798; -76.4510</a> </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"Media Search". Macaulaylibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-01-21. <a href="https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog" target="_blank">https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Borgmann, Kathi (28 Feb 2020). "The Internet Bird Collection joins the Macaulay Library". Macaulay Library. Retrieved 2022-01-21. <a href="https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/the-internet-bird-collection-the-macaulay-library" target="_blank">https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/the-internet-bird-collection-the-macaulay-library</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"ML: History". Macaulaylibrary.org. Archived from the original on 2013-03-02. Retrieved 2014-05-19. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130302154252/http://macaulaylibrary.org/history" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20130302154252/http://macaulaylibrary.org/history</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Borgmann, Kathi (28 Feb 2020). "The Internet Bird Collection joins the Macaulay Library". Macaulay Library. Retrieved 2022-01-21. <a href="https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/the-internet-bird-collection-the-macaulay-library" target="_blank">https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/the-internet-bird-collection-the-macaulay-library</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"ML: Field Recording". Macaulaylibrary.org. Retrieved 2014-05-19. <a href="http://macaulaylibrary.org/field-recording" target="_blank">http://macaulaylibrary.org/field-recording</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"ML: History". Macaulaylibrary.org. Archived from the original on 2013-03-02. Retrieved 2014-05-19. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130302154252/http://macaulaylibrary.org/history" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20130302154252/http://macaulaylibrary.org/history</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>"ML: Acknowledgements". Macaulaylibrary.org. Retrieved 2014-05-19. <a href="http://macaulaylibrary.org/acknowledgements" target="_blank">http://macaulaylibrary.org/acknowledgements</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>