Ithaca, N.Y.-“In terms of speed and the breadth of material now accessible to anyone in the world, this is really revolutionary,” says audio curator Greg Budney, describing a major milestone just achieved by the Macaulay Library archive at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. All archived analog recordings in the collection, going back to 1929, have now been digitized and can be heard at www.MacaulayLibrary.org. “This is one of the greatest research and conservation resources at the Cornell Lab,” said Budney, “and through its digitization we’ve swung the doors open on it in a way that wasn’t possible 10 or 20 years ago.”
It took archivists a dozen years to complete the monumental task. The collection contains nearly 150,000 digital audio recordings equaling more than 10 terabytes of data with a total run time of 7,513 hours. About 9,000 species are represented. There’s an emphasis on birds but the collection also includes sounds of whales, elephants, frogs, primates, and more.
“Our audio collection is the largest and the oldest in the world,” explained Macaulay Library director Mike Webster. “Now, it’s also the most accessible. We’re working to improve search functions and create tools people can use to collect recordings and upload them directly to the archive. Our goal is to make the Macaulay Library as useful as possible for the broadest audience possible.”
The recordings are used by researchers studying many questions, as well as by birders trying to fine-tune their sound ID skills. The recordings are also used in museum exhibits, movies, and commercial products such as smartphone apps. For example, a reserve manager in Africa could use the recordings to train staff to conduct an acoustic survey. A teacher could pull out the sounds of ten birds found on the school grounds and create an interactive learning tool for her students. And a sound engineer working on a movie could find just the right sound to create that proper mood.
“Now that we’ve digitized the previously archived analog recordings, the archival team is focusing on new material from amateur and professional recordists from around the world to really, truly build the collection,” Budney said. “Plus, it’s just plain fun to listen to these sounds. Have you heard the sound of a walrus underwater? It’s an amazing sound!”
Sample some fascinating Macaulay Library sounds:
• Earliest recording: Cornell Lab founder Arthur Allen was a pioneer in sound recording. On a spring day in 1929 he recorded this Song Sparrow sounding much as they do today.
• Youngest bird: This clip from 1966 records the sounds of an Ostrich chick while it is still inside the egg-and the researchers as they watch.
• Liveliest wake-up call: A dawn chorus in tropical Queensland, Australia is bursting at the seams with warbles, squeals, whistles, booms, and hoots.
• Best candidate to appear on a John Coltrane record: The indri, a lemur with a voice that is part moan, part jazz clarinet.
• Most spines tingled: The incomparable voice of a Common Loon on an Adirondacks lake in 1992.
• Most likely to be mistaken for aliens arriving: Birds-of-paradise make some amazing sounds-here’s the UFO-sound of a Curl-crested Manucode in New Guinea.
• Most likely to be mistaken for your dog: Three walrus pups bellowing in an uncanny canine cacophony.
• Most erratic construction project: the staccato hammering sounds of a walrus under water
Top images (L-R): Great Horned Owl by Ruth Baker; walrus by Captain Bud Christman, NOAA; African forest elephant by Peter Wrege; recording sounds in the arctic by Mike Anderson
