NHM Oologyさんのイラストまとめ

The two figures of a Woodchat featured in Yarrell’s (1845) History of British Birds. Ornithologists have been, are and will continue to be funny souls! What other examples historical #naturalhistoryjokes are there!? I can name a few…

The world population is rapidly approaching 8 billion people. Research in 1997 estimated a global
total of 200-400 billion individual birds on Earth. For thousands of years humanity has studied, adored, persecuted & exterminated them but this is still their world #EarthDay2020

My days are now spent at my desk with this statuette Affe mit Schädel (Ape with skull) by Hugo Rheinhold. The open book at his feet is inscribed: "eritis sicut deus" ie ‘you will be like god’. The pile of books including Darwin. It is one of my favourite things! #workingfromhome

One of my best discoveries is this nest of the extinct Lord Howe Island Fantail. It is a beautiful cup nest delicately bound with cobwebs. It was found in 1913, 5-years before the steamship SS Makambo ran aground in 1918 and accidentally allowed Black Rats to invade the island.

Names of birds have altered as attitudes changed. For example, Common Guillemot was once known as 'Foolish Guillemot' as they steadfastly sit on their egg 'watching unconcerned'...until 'it is approached near enough to be knocked down with a stick'. https://t.co/dJtp4tm4ie

Before #workingfromhome I am taking the opportunity to catalogue a series of invasive Blackbird nests from Tasmania. Blackbirds were introduced to Tasmania as early as 1827 by Capt. William Langdon. A decision that still has ramifications today as they are now a pest species.

One of the greatest treasure troves online is @BioDivLibrary. You can explore thousands of the world’s most important & beautiful books on life. It is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives! #WorldBookDay https://t.co/w4PrT96az2

Most of the eggs in our collection have handwritten annotations. Most often this is a code written on the egg and sometimes on the box or label as well. These cross-refer to the thousands of catalogues and index cards. These Greenshank eggs are from Svanvik, Norway in 1936. #data

This haunting image was painted by Edward Wilson from an Emperor Penguin chick found frozen at Cape Crozier during the Discovery Expedition 1901–04. Casualties are not unusual e.g. in 1990s researchers found approximately 1000 dead chicks at Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Since 1850 around 15 bird species have become extinct in #NewZealand. These are some of the only known nest and eggs of the South Island Piopio, probably from Stephen’s Island. Nests are intimate records of behavior- in this case sadly a behavior we will not see again #Extinction