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| Figure 1. Bird skins, UM Museum of Natural History. Photo Credit: Emily Thompson. |
You might wonder, then, what is in a museum bird collection? Surprisingly, the things collected and saved since
the late 1800's are not just birds, but nests, eggs, wings, skeletons and the
skins of whole birds. Other things collected and saved include stomach contents
and parasites. Specimens used to be collected by shooting the birds. Now,
however, specimens are usually added to the collection after they're killed
accidentally, perhaps by hitting a window or being hit by a car.
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| Figure 2. Bird Nest, UM Museum of Natural History. Photo Credit: Emily Thompson. |
Why would birders, who love living birds, be interested in a collection of dead birds? One reason is the collections are used for important
conservation research. For example, bird
collections were used in the study of the effects of DDT on eggshell strength
that helped lead to the publication of Rachel Carson’s ground-breaking book, Silent Spring. This book in turn lead to a ban on the use of DDT in the U.S. Bird collections are also used in forensic research to determine which
bird species caused a specific airplane crash. What follows are two examples of
the benefits of bird collections.
From
the Egg Collections: Conservation Studies
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| Figure 3. Bird Eggs, UM Museum of Natural History. Photo Credit: Emily Thompson. |
According to John Bates at the Field Museum i nChicago, Illinois, the
most important study arising from bird collections was published in October of 1968
by Hickey and Anderson in the journal Science. Their paper is considered to be one
of the most important scientific papers of all times, and it describes the effect
of the pesticide DDT on eggshell thickness compared with no-DDT control eggs.
At the time, DDT was being widely sprayed to kill the mosquitoes that spread diseases like malaria. These scientists studied the peregrine falcon
eggshells from areas that were sprayed (from the Field Museum in Chicago, IL)
and compared them with peregrine falcon eggshells from areas that were not
sprayed (from the Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada). The results
showed the eggshells in Illinois thinned after spraying with DDT while the
eggshells in the Charlotte Islands area showed no change in the same time period. (more
information here). The result of weakened eggshells was declining
numbers of peregrine falcon and other birds of prey (such as the American eagle) due
to breeding failure, because weak eggshells caused embryo death. The study of
Hickey and Anderson was key to Rachel Carson’s argument that indiscriminate
spraying of DDT would lead to a “silent spring” where birds would no longer
sing. The result of the study, coupled
with Carson’s book was the banning of DDT and greater environmental awareness. You can find more, here and here.
From
the Collections: Forensics Studies
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| Figure 4. Bird Skeleton, UM Museum of Natural History. Photo Credit: Emily Thompson. |
When a bird
strikes an airplane, causing a crash, the authorities want to know what species
brought down the plane. The ultimate
goal is to avoid future accidents, and by knowing what type of bird is involved,
they can design airports, engines and airplanes to reduce bird strikes. The bird remains, often just a feather or bird bits called “sparge” are often sent
to forensic ornithologist Carla Dove at the Smithsonian Institute. There, she
and her staff identify the bird causing the bird strike by comparing its remains to samples in the huge bird and feather collections
of the Smithsonian. Additionally, they perform DNA analysis and microscopic analysis. Here’s
a study from 2009 of identification of remains of an American white pelican
involved in the crash of a Cessna.
If you like the idea of looking through museum collections,
try this website from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. They have videos of what it’s
like to open up the drawers and cabinets in the museum and what scientists are
using the collections for.
This blogpost was written for the benefit of students at Washtenaw Community College and the community as part of my sabbatical activities for winter 2020. I am solely responsible for the content and hold the copyright for the work. Feel free to use the information in this blog; just credit me with a link back to my blog! -Emily Thompson, Ph.D.
