i've been on something of a morbid roll with this...
mike k left me a road killed house sparrow on the boot of my car, dr phil dropped off a window kill goldfinch, the day after i dropped them off, i found a dead female sparrowhawk at the top of the rochdale road exit off the m60 - she had what looked to be a broken neck.
i did get to see the blackbird and chaffinch preserved for future generations - great job henry had done on them too!
very much looking forward to see the sparrowhawk when he's done it.
turns out henry is a smashing fellow. i took the 2 birds in a butty box full of ice and he invited me back stage so to speak to fill in the paperwork.
he showed me some of the collection and it is staggering - birds from species that will never ever be seen alive again.
he went on to explain that my beautiful male blackbird and stunning male chaffinch were a real treat for the museum as people only ever think to bring in birds they feel are special - that get tons of kingfishers, barn and tawny owls, sparrowhawks etc, but never common birds like the 2 i took.
he then explained what would and could be done with them. the skins are preserved and the skeletons go to another research facility - tests done on the feathers to look at diet and all manner of environmental stuffs effect the bird throughout it's life.
he stressed a couple of times how important it was to get new specimens into the museum collection as the vast majority of the birds are from the 19th century and they can only ever tell us things about a time so long gone.
so in a nutshell - they want dead birds that people might find - even birds that you might think are "dirty" or too long dead - they clean up very well as the feathers are amazingly resilient. i don't think they want squished roadkill though - but worth an ask even then...
-- Edited by Paul Cliff on Monday 15th of March 2010 08:44:48 PM
Many years ago when I was a Biology student at the University we used to earn extra money by preparing cabinet skins for the museum. They used to get the birds killed by ' lighthouse attractions' at Bardsey.
Hi Paul- I've done the study skins, they turned out fine. I'll label them up and put them in the main collection. Any more you find would be gratefully received.
Yours, Henry
i'll be popping in to see the results next time i'm passing!
The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is always interested in dead raptors, owls and Kingfishers. email: leew@ceh.ac.uk They will send a carton for packing if necessary.
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
i wished i had given my sprawk to Henry but her indoors didn't want it in the fridge and the suggestion to pass it to someone came a little too late, my reason for mentioning it is that i thought a sticky about what to do or who to contact with a dead bird may be of interest just in case any future dead findings need a home?
Maybe an addition to one of the home page headings with this information could be of interest?
turns out henry is a smashing fellow. i took the 2 birds in a butty box full of ice and he invited me back stage so to speak to fill in the paperwork.
he showed me some of the collection and it is staggering - birds from species that will never ever be seen alive again.
he went on to explain that my beautiful male blackbird and stunning male chaffinch were a real treat for the museum as people only ever think to bring in birds they feel are special - that get tons of kingfishers, barn and tawny owls, sparrowhawks etc, but never common birds like the 2 i took.
he then explained what would and could be done with them. the skins are preserved and the skeletons go to another research facility - tests done on the feathers to look at diet and all manner of environmental stuffs effect the bird throughout it's life.
he stressed a couple of times how important it was to get new specimens into the museum collection as the vast majority of the birds are from the 19th century and they can only ever tell us things about a time so long gone.
so in a nutshell - they want dead birds that people might find - even birds that you might think are "dirty" or too long dead - they clean up very well as the feathers are amazingly resilient. i don't think they want squished roadkill though - but worth an ask even then...
-- Edited by Paul Cliff on Monday 15th of March 2010 08:44:48 PM
got this back from henry at manchester museum for future reference:
Hello Paul- Thank you for your email. I would be extremely interested in getting the two birds from you. I'll make them into study skins and their skeletons will be used by a research group here in the university. I am always interested in building the collections more so any similar specimens would be gratefully received.
great that the poor mites aren't just going to waste.
have dropped him an email - henry.mcghie@manchester.ac.uk - if anyone else needs it in the future and comes across this thread.
it's interesting when i did a search there was another thread where to an unfortunate bird had met a sad demise and the talk there too turned to eating it! what a hungry bunch we are!
Paul, the run of the mill birds I think they have enough of, its the odd ones they like, just like us, worth giving them a call, I believe the main website has contact details.
a poor unfortunate male chaffinch broke it's neck on my mother in laws window on saturday, she rang me so i went to pick it up for her, on my way there, it's only 100 yards away, i find a stunning male blackbird on the pavement - looks to have been clipped by a car or some such thing - it was no obvious signs of injury. i put both birds separate plastic bags and put them in the freezer.
is it worth giving the museum a call? might they want them for their bird skin collection?
or should i just put them back out for nature to deal with?
