Science on Screen: "A Birder's Guide to Everything" and the Realities of Birds, Binoculars, and Breakthroughs
The sound, sight, and activity of birds marks the return of spring each year, but their populations are in trouble. North America has lost 3 Billion Birds – more than one in four – since 1970,and the recent 2025 State of the Birds Report, released by U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI), warns of continuing declines across all groups of birds and all habitats. Now is the time for policy changes and conservation action that protect the habitats that both birds and people depend on.
One of the key data sources for these findings is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird, a collaborative enterprise fueled by a global community of >1 million amateur and professional birders who collectively have submitted over 2.2 billion observations since 2002. These observations are used by scientists, practitioners, decision-makers, and communities around the world to understand bird distribution, abundance, and population change. eBirders are providing the sharpest lens ever to understand what is happening with birds and the environments that support them and, in doing so, are are revolutionizing our ability to address the bird crisis.
In this Science on Screen event, Amanda Rodewald, Garvin Professor and Faculty Director of the Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Chris Wood, Director of eBird and Program Director for the Center for Avian Population Studies, will discuss the intersection of birding, participatory science, and conservation efforts through the lens of the film A Birder’s Guide to Everything.
This charming coming-of-age story, directed by Rob Meyer, centers on teenage birding fanatic David Portnoy who thinks he's made the discovery of a lifetime. On the eve of his widower father's second wedding, David spots what may just be the extinct Labrador duck. After consulting with a famous local ornithologist, he and the two other stalwart members of the local Young Birders Society, joined by their headstrong photographer classmate Ellen, take off on a rollicking, interstate road trip in search of a rare bird and elusive answers to teenage questions large and small.
Drawing inspiration from this heartwarming story, Rodewald and Wood will share how eBird and other participatory science initiatives are advancing science and informing conservation decisions. Birding really can make a difference.
Free admission! Science on Screen is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Saturday, May 9, is Global Big Day, an annual celebration of the birds around you! No matter where you are, please go outside and help celebrate World Migratory Bird Day by sharing the birds you find with eBird. Learn more at ebird.org.
Presented in collaboration with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
About the speakers
Amanda Rodewald is the Garvin Professor and Faculty Director of the Center for Avian Population Studies (CAPS) at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a Faculty Director with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, and a faculty member in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at Cornell University. Prior to joining Cornell in 2013, Amanda spent 13 years as a professor at Ohio State University. Since 2000, she has published >200 scientific papers, an Ornithology textbook, 10 book chapters, and >75 popular articles and commentaries, and has served as the primary advisor for 10 post-docs, 20 Ph.D. students, and 19 M.S. students. Amanda is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Ornithological Society, from which she received the William Brewster Award in 2022. She serves on the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has testified before Congress about conservation issues, and is regularly featured in radio programs, short films, podcasts, and news articles.
Chris Wood is Director of eBird and Program Director for the Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Most of his time is focused on eBird, which has grown from a small traditional participatory-science project into a collaborative global enterprise. Chris and his team have developed a novel approach to participatory science by engaging diverse communities interested in watching birds while developing partnerships with scientists in a wide variety of fields.
Chris work with diverse teams around the world—conservation biologists, quantitative ecologists, statisticians, computer scientists, GIS and informatics specialists, application developers, data administrators and expert birdwatchers— that has enabled eBird to reach a global audience. eBird has become a major source of biodiversity data, increasing our knowledge of the dynamics of species distributions, and having a direct impact on the conservation of birds and their habitats.
Chris is also a good point of contact for high school students interested in careers having to do with birds, and is active in the yearly Young Birders Event.