Birds from the Collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences

This is a hybrid meeting. We encourage “in-person” meeting but can also be enjoyed virtually.

Jason Weckstein will take us on a virtual tour to introduce us to some of his favorite specimens from the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANSP). When he arrived at the ANSP in Summer 2014 as curator of Ornithology he told himself that every day at work he would open up one case and peruse specimens. He has managed to do that a lot, but certainly not every day and it seems like almost any time he opens a drawer he finds something magical that amazes him.

The same could certainly be said for any individuals who have spent time in the Academy’s incredible bird collection, whether they are visitors to the collection, students or postdocs working in the collection, or Nate Rice, the Academy’s Ornithology collections manager, who still finds new and interesting things even though he has been at the Academy for more than 20 years.

We can all thank the people who came before us who saw the importance of preserving specimens in collections like those at the ANS and understood their value for the science of ornithology and for the conservation of birds. The ANSP Ornithology Collection houses approximately 225,000 specimens, which makes it the second largest university-based museum collection in the world (second to Harvard University’s collection). Overall, this is the 8th largest collection of birds in the world. The collection consists of mostly bird skins, but also houses a large tissue collection, large pickle collections (specimens preserved with formalin and stored in alcohol), and some skeletons and eggs as well. The collection is global in scope and includes a large proportion of the birds species of the world.