Concept, analysis, design, and development by Nadieh Bremer | Visual Cinnamon. Story writing and editing by. Emily Barone | The Data Desk. Sponsored by Google Trends

“Winter months are dreary in New York City, but perhaps none so much as January 2021. Cold air and gray clouds blew between the skyscrapers as the world below remained stuck in the pandemic’s icy grip. But that month, a small corner of the city briefly came alive when a majestic Snowy Owl appeared in Central Park. Bird fanatics and dozens of other intrigued New Yorkers ventured out of their homes, hoping to catch a glimpse. As word spread, so, too, did people’s curiosity. In New York City, Google searches for the term Snowy Owl spiked as residents wanted to learn about the species — and how one ended up in their backyard. New York’s Snowy Owl was as much a story about one special bird as the humans who took notice of it. Google search data, which is available through the company’s Google Trends database, can show us which birds capture our attention. Google Trends categorizes search terms based on their meaning. For instance, cardinals, orioles, ducks and falcons could refer to either sports teams or birds, but Google generally distinguishes between the helmeted kind and the winged kind. (This story will point out the rare instances when meanings get muddled.)

• As you scroll through the following interactive graphics, you’ll get a glimpse at roughly 700 North American and Hawaiian species and learn about why some of them make us fall in love. Let’s see what search trends tell us about our relationship with our feathered friends…”