Broader Impacts

The biggest impact we can have is which questions we ask and the communities we build along the way. Here, we highlight our efforts to build community and improve the impact of our basic science.

comic cartoon of Nora birdwatching, looking at a woodpecker through binoculars and engaging with Cornell Lab of Ornithology Educational material. There is a word box that says Anyone can enjoy bird watching. There is so much we can learn about communicaiton from birds.

Birding for all: communicative diversity in

birds and people

Comparative biology highlights the value of diversity. Here we share educational materials and programing on the diversity of bird communication and perception with people who have different and disabled communicative and perceptual abilities. Our goal is twofold: to create spaces that are comfortable and accessible for people with communication disabilities, but also to create spaces that shift our communities’ assumptions about what communication entails.

Launched in Spring 2023

Program conducted in partnership with Drs. Martha Sherrill (Tennessee) and Julie Hengst (Illinois) along with support of Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Building Connections...

We build connections with communities in various ways - through art, engagement and media. Check out some of our work in the media!

On Bird's Perception of Acoustic Fine Structure
What Do Birds Hear When They Sing Beautiful Songs?, NPR cosmos and culture (2016)
A Sense of Time, BBC Radio’s (2019)
Birds prefer sound texture over order, A research outreach article (2020)
An Immense World by Ed Young (2022)
On Social Relationships and Monogamy in Birds
What Bird's Can Teach Us About Love, The World (2023)
On Research and Identity
Social Interactions - Linking Brain and Behavior on Animal Behavior Podcast S2E5 Nora H. Prior

...An individual’s social world emerges from, and persists within, their sensory experiences.

Broader Impacts

Building Connections...