Subject: bird specimens
Date: Nov 16 14:37:25 1995
From: Michael Donahue - mdonahue at u.washington.edu


The "stunned or dead" thread is prompting this post. As a former bird
study skin preparator at the Burke Museum, I wanted to encourage people
to save window kills or road kills. (Dennis is
out of town or I'm sure he would post something similar to this.)

The Burke Museum (U of W) and the Slater Museum (UPS) are always
interested bird specimens--window kills, road kills, etc. Even if it's a
common species, the specimen may have a great deal of value; save it and
let a museum decide.

If you do find a specimen, record the locality (state, county, nearest
town), the date, and your name. It's best to do this at the time,
because once it gets put in the freezer, you may forget. Put a piece of
kleenex in the birds mouth if possible. For a large bird, fold the head
and legs to make a compact package. Wrap the specimen in newspaper,
place in a plastic bag, squeeze out the extra air and put in the freezer
with the locality and date.

You can call Chris or Carol at the Burke Museum at 543-1668 to arrange a
time to drop off the specimen(s). At the Slater Museum you can call
Dennis or Gary at 756-3355.

Mike Donahue
Seattle