Here we take a slight departure from dead birds, because this wall of dead fish is incredible. Some jars hold only one specimen, whereas others, like this jar full of Longfin Dace (Agosia chrysogaster) hold dozens.
With fish and other specimens that must be preserved in alcohol, it can be more effective to store many specimens in the same jar. However, those specimens must be the same species, collected at the same time and place to avoid any confusion down the line. In this case, the dace were all collected from the Aqua Fria River on December 3rd, 1943.
At this time of year, some birds are coming to Michigan, and others are leaving.Ā
Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) are migrating south to the warmth of Florida and Cuba. Theyāre easier to see than hear some days, with their yodeling calls keeping groups together.
Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) have already moved into Canada and the northern United States for the winter. Snowies have already been spotted this year in Michigan, as well as New York, Massachusetts, Montana, and even as far south as Illinois.
Hereās to the beautiful change in seasons, and our bi-annual change in birds!
The UMMZ Bird Division shares lab space with the Mammal Division, leading to some tables being covered in warblers while others are covered in rodents.
The Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias striatus) and various mice found here are pinned down to dry. Theyāve been prepped as study skins, with the bones and soft tissues removed and replaced by cotton, and now have to dry in the right shape before beginning their new lives in the mammal cabinetry, helping researchers all over the world to learn more about order Rodentia.
Mammal preparation shared a lot of commonalities with bird preparation. Specimens can easily be stored out of alcohol baths, and the outer coating of the specimen, fur or feather, donāt change over time quite as drastically as those of other animals.
Last weekend, at a party filled with family and friends, we celebrated the retirement of Janet Hinshaw, collections manager of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Bird Division. UMMZ staff past and present, researchers, artists, volunteers, birders, and more all gathered to tell stories about how Janet has shaped our favorite museum, and through it, the way we view our place in the natural world. We also had to find out where sheād be vacationing/birding first (California, to see her grandkids and some good birds).
Listen, Iāve got a lot to say, so Iāll put it under theĀ āread moreā. Thereās a lot of feelings under there.
When I started on as a research assistant at the UMMZ in 2014, I knew next to nothing about museums. I knew that they were fun places to visit, that we had good ones at U of M, and that the folks I saw working in museums were curious people making amazing discoveries. Iād been in the UMMZ plenty for zoology and ornithology classwork, and Iād been in the collections spaces a few times. I still didnāt really know what happened inside a museum very well, though. Janet showed me around on my first day, taught me to use the data entry software, explained how to properly pull whole shelves of birds, and left me to my work.
I had so many questions.
Not questions on the software or the shelving units, though those admittedly have some really interesting information behind them. I had questions about the collections. How the birds had gotten there? How long they could last? Who brought them all? How were they prepped and why? Did we keep stuff besides skins? Where where the larynxes listed in our databases stored, and what did they even look like? My brain had no idea where to start even asking these questions, so I watched, and I listened.
Janet must have picked up that I was dying to know more, because she started to tell me stories. Sheād casually mention the origin of a photograph of a man on a yak (a famous ornithologist whose collection is stored almost entirely at the UMMZ), or explain the process of diaphanization (see: my first post), or just talk about whatever birds were being prepped that day. She didnāt mind if I snuck into the prep lab for a break every now and then, and encouraged me to open boxes, look closer at skins, and really explore the collections. Janet introduced me to her team of skinners, researchers, and photographers, and pulled everyone together for Friday morning doughnuts, when weād all share funny stories about birds and anything else that interested us.
No matter who you were in the UMMZ, Janet is the person whoād encourage that curiosity, a teacher with endless knowledge, and a friend ready to share the latest peregrine sighting with you. That kind of dedicated collections manager doesnāt just come about every day, and neither does that kind of amazing person.
Janet gives life to our museum collections.
IĀ also wouldnāt have this blog without Janetās help. Sheās been an incredible supporter of LwDB over these last few years. Sheās helped me to develop posts, brought out the most fascinating specimens, allowed me to keep writing about these amazing birds even though Iām no longer a research assistant at UMMZ. Iāve been so lucky as an interpreter, as a scientist, and as a birder to have her advice, and staying in touch will just have to include more time outside the museum now, probably with binoculars in hand.
For over forty years, Janet has given so much to the museums community at large, and while sheās technically retiring, I hear that sheāll be volunteering. From the looks of pride on the faces of everyone last weekend, I think itās safe to say that the legacy of hard work and good, old-fashioned bird-nerdiness that Janet has built at the UMMZ Bird Division will continue on, even on her days off.
Congratulations, Janet, and thank you for everything!
Michigan is the summer breeding home to one of the rarest songbirds in the world: the Kirtlandās Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii).
During the month of June, tours are led throughout the jack pine forests of Grayling, Michigan, full of people hoping to spot one of these incredible birds. Given their historically small populations, collections like this one are especially important. Data from each bird can be used for ongoing conservation efforts, and each individual has the opportunity to tip off researchers to possible challenges in the future.
All of these American Coot (Fulica americana) eggs came from the same nest! Must have been some busy parents of ten. While coots normally lay anywhere from eight to twelve eggs at a time, thereās a chance that something a bit underhanded lead to a nest of this size.
American coots are brood parasites, meaning that theyāll sometimes lay their eggs in someone elseās nest. While this might sound like a questionable parenting strategy, letting someone else raise a few chicks can make things much easier on a parent coot. Maybe some chicks will end up in an overcrowded nest, but others may now have access to more resources than they would have in their biological parentsā nest.
Thereās still research being done on how much theĀ ānew parentā coots can tell their eggs apart from the sudden newcomers, so if you want to get in on some real life drama, thereās a career path in ornithology waiting for you!
Labeling bones is an important job for anyone working with a skeleton collection. Bird bones can reach sizes so tiny, a normal ink pen simply wonāt do.Ā
The pen used for these bones has a tip about a fifth of a millimeter wide. Thatās smaller than the eyes of many needles!
Every bone has strength, but can still be breakable if handled incorrectly. Lab workers must use a steady, gentle hand to carefully mark even the smallest rib bones.
Yesterday was an exciting day here: we completed the first CT scan on our new departmental CT scanner, a Nikon XT H 225ST, which is being run by me (Selena), Matt Friedman (Earth & Environmental Sciences and Museum of Paleontology), and Brian Ellis (Civil & Environmental Engineering) in the CTEES (Computed Tomography in Earth & Environmental Sciences) facility. Weāve been eagerly waiting for months to have everything in place and be able to start using the machine, and yesterday was the day!
In true maize & blue spirit, Scan #0001 is the skull of a wolverine (Gulo gulo) from the Museum of Zoology collections. We were pretty happy with it and are looking forward to scanning a bunch rocks, plants, and animals!
Hereās the reconstructed of the skull, which will be 3D printed for a college function.
Here is the skull getting ready to go into the scanner
A radiograph image of the skull (nose and teeth towards bottom). The machine captures thousands of these images as the specimen is rotated 360 degrees, and then algorithms are used to convert them in the tomograms. The tomograms are then imported into software that allows them to be looked at in 3D.
Matt is starting the reconstruction process, looking at one possible tomogram as the various settings are optimized so that artifacts (like the streaks) in the image are minimized.
