For the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2025 marked another extraordinary year for eBird, Merlin, Macaulay Library, and Birds of the World. As the birding community reached incredible milestones in worldwide participation, engagement, and conservation data gathering, the Lab provided enhanced tools and expanded content to unprecedented numbers of people around the world. By connecting people to birds, more people entered the birding world than ever before, including 140,000 first-time eBird users and 9.6 million new Merlin users!
During this year's spring and fall classic birding days, Global Big Day participants numbered a phenomenal 1.8 million birders who reported a record 7,931 bird species! The enthusiasm continued during October Big Day, when almost 900,000 people contributed 2.1 million bird observations – the most birds observed on a single day in October!
Thanks to the enthusiasm for these events and the dedication of millions of eBirders worldwide, eBird passed a historic milestone in June: 2 billion bird observations! This extraordinary eBird dataset opens doors and provides information resources for countless future birders.
Better Birding Resources
From field identification to learning resources, this year brought major improvements to core tools you rely on to discover and understand birds. Merlin Sound ID can now identify a total of 2,066 bird species by sound! This expansion was possible because of thousands of eBirders who recorded bird sounds, including 605,000 bird songs and sounds. The Macaulay Library also welcomed unprecedented contributions from birders worldwide who contributed more than 15.7 million photos of birds, along with other associated photos that anyone can view.
Birds of the World provides comprehensive and authoritative life histories for all 11,167 of the world's bird species and 251 bird families. The 85,000 active users made 19 million page views last year, making Birds of the World a leading definitive ornithological resource.
Together, the collective eBird, Merlin Bird ID, the Macaulay Library, and Birds of the World resources have made tremendous strides, helping to inform conservation action and support birds and birders. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology can't wait to see what we can do together in 2026. To reference more about the accomplishments led by the Cornell Lab in 2025, see 2025 Year in Review: eBird, Merlin, Macaulay Library, and Birds of the World - eBird