Ornithology is something I do not know much about. I do like birds, but I just never thought about them as an academic study. That is why I decided to go to the Cornell Ornithology lab.
When we first arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the lab grounds were almost as nice as the Cornell plantations. While we walked around the grounds, the guide explained to us about the different facts of birds that exist at the lab.
Though I did find some of the information interesting, I was mostly surprised by the amount of birds I could hear in that specific area. Unlike the rest of the Cornell campus where only a few birds can be heard, here it felt like I could hear ten or maybe even 20 different bird species singing at once. At first, I thought that these birds must be controlled in some way to keep them inside the grounds. However, the guide told me that this accumulation of birds was actually natural and the lab does not have any control over the birds that come and leave the grounds. I found this fact interesting because one normally does not see such a diverse and dense population of birds in a small geographical area.
Apart from ornithology, the guide showed us the skeleton snake that was almost 30 feet long. Thought it does not make sense why an ornithology lab has a snake, it was quite amazing to see the size of the animal. I thought this was one of the most impressive things I saw that day.
Overall, the ornithology lab was a nice place to visit and take a nice morning walk. Though we did not see many birds up close except for Canadian Geese and finches, it was interesting to learn how scientists study birds and what it is all about.