> A roadkilled BARRED OWL was picked up from along the road at Mudd Rd
> just off Lewis & Clark Rd on Thursday. It appears to be a hatching-
> year bird....... It is currently in my freezer. Anybody want it?

Since barred owls are such a recent addition to the northwest avifauna,
I'm sure NW specimens are very poorly represented in musuem collections;
that makes this specimen even more valuable.

I've been preparing bird skins at the Burke Museum (UofW) for years, and
am currently working on a project examining western tanager skins, and
it's from that perspective I have some information I'd like to pass on.

For all of you that are willing to save roadkills/window kills, it is
very important to write down the locality and date, and stick it in your
freezer with the specimen AT THE TIME YOU COLLECT THE SPECIMEN. Those
details may be somewhat fuzzy when you
find the specimen in your freezer a year later, and a specimen with an
approximate or no date, and poor locality information is much less
valuable.

Also, to help prevent the specimen from drying out in the freezer, it is
helpful if you wrap the specimen in newspaper, and then place in a plastic
bag. Sticking a wad of cotton or newspaper in the mouth is also helpful,
as specimens can bleed through the mouth as they are defrosting.

Many, many valuable specimens are brought in to the Burke as roadkills or
window kills. Do not assume that a common bird is well represented in
museum collections! Many older specimens have very poor data, and are
almost useless. Museums these days are collecting tissue samples,
recording gonad measurements, and such useful ageing information as bursa
size and extent of skull ossification.

Mike Donahue