Collections Reflections
The end of our calendar year ushers in a time for reflection. With all else that goes on around the Museum each day, and throughout the seasons, I appreciate this timely motivation to stop and think back to all that has happened within our collection since last year.
A few new additions to the collection stuck out this year. Each has a special story to tell that will stick with the specimen for years to come.
The specimen most dear to my heart is a ruby-throated hummingbird which I found and prepared myself. The hummingbird itself had actually perished after a failed rescue attempt when I came across it fluttering around on the pavement of a town street. Hummingbirds are notoriously difficult to rehabilitate due to their fast metabolism and persistent need for nourishment. Unable to save the bird's life, I was still able to save its body months later through a taxidermy preparation. It was a little unorthidox--rather than position like most other birds in our collection, I pinned the hummingbird much like I would an insect. This made it possible for me to include it in a display case among pollinating insects in the Museum's Pollinator Power! exhibit.
I was also quite struck by two flying squirrel specimens which were added to the collection this past winter. Both had been collected by a Master of Science student in Wildlife Ecology, who had found the squirrels dead in her traps that she was using to assess small mammals in the area. This was just about the same time that a published study began to make its rounds online--informing us that the undersides of North American flying squirrels will glow pink under an ultra-violet light source. With that exciting new information, I promptly set aside a night after work to prepare study skins of both those squirrels. I had a great time the following work week as I ushered staff and volunteers into the back work room, traded the ceiling lights for a UV lamp, and listened to the gasps of awe as my friends witnessed the pink glow of our local flying squirrels.
I simply couldn't reflect on specimens of this past year without paying tribute to the numerous herbarium specimens we acquired. This past spring, a volunteer set out to add more of these pressed plants to our current collection--and she sure did. The contribution of over 100 new specimens would be the first time we added to the herbarium since 1996! We agreed that regardless of the many plant species we already had represented in the herbarium, it would be important to submit new plants as time goes on and landscapes inevitably change. Perhaps one of the most interesting new specimens in my mind was a simple strawberry plant (Fragaria virginiana). Of the two wild strawberry species which grow in our region, strangely neither had been represented in our collection to date. In the years to come, I hope to represent many more species through our wonderful collection.
A few new additions to the collection stuck out this year. Each has a special story to tell that will stick with the specimen for years to come.
The specimen most dear to my heart is a ruby-throated hummingbird which I found and prepared myself. The hummingbird itself had actually perished after a failed rescue attempt when I came across it fluttering around on the pavement of a town street. Hummingbirds are notoriously difficult to rehabilitate due to their fast metabolism and persistent need for nourishment. Unable to save the bird's life, I was still able to save its body months later through a taxidermy preparation. It was a little unorthidox--rather than position like most other birds in our collection, I pinned the hummingbird much like I would an insect. This made it possible for me to include it in a display case among pollinating insects in the Museum's Pollinator Power! exhibit.
I was also quite struck by two flying squirrel specimens which were added to the collection this past winter. Both had been collected by a Master of Science student in Wildlife Ecology, who had found the squirrels dead in her traps that she was using to assess small mammals in the area. This was just about the same time that a published study began to make its rounds online--informing us that the undersides of North American flying squirrels will glow pink under an ultra-violet light source. With that exciting new information, I promptly set aside a night after work to prepare study skins of both those squirrels. I had a great time the following work week as I ushered staff and volunteers into the back work room, traded the ceiling lights for a UV lamp, and listened to the gasps of awe as my friends witnessed the pink glow of our local flying squirrels.
I simply couldn't reflect on specimens of this past year without paying tribute to the numerous herbarium specimens we acquired. This past spring, a volunteer set out to add more of these pressed plants to our current collection--and she sure did. The contribution of over 100 new specimens would be the first time we added to the herbarium since 1996! We agreed that regardless of the many plant species we already had represented in the herbarium, it would be important to submit new plants as time goes on and landscapes inevitably change. Perhaps one of the most interesting new specimens in my mind was a simple strawberry plant (Fragaria virginiana). Of the two wild strawberry species which grow in our region, strangely neither had been represented in our collection to date. In the years to come, I hope to represent many more species through our wonderful collection.
