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Four sets of eggs of ducks in the Tomkinson Collection - Smew, Goldeneye, Common Merganser (or Goosander) and Pochard all collected in the early 1900s and showing how collectors displayed duck eggs with the down from the nest #ornithology #nests
The male King of Saxony bird-of-paradise has some of the most extraordinary feathers in the world - their uniquely modified occipital plumes can be 50cm long with 40-50 glossy blue enamel-looking flags decorating the bare feather shaft and help to attract a mate #ornithology
Harmonia ruralis, An essay towards a natural history of British song birds was written by James Bolton in the 1700s ‘Where can we find a more beautiful piece of mechanism than in the wing of a Bird displayed, or even in a single feather, when minutely examined?’ #WednesdayWisdom
Nest of Rufous-winged Cisticola (C. galactotes) with an interesting story on the label. Collected in 1907 by medical doctor and ornithologist William John Ansorge from a mosquito infested lake swarming with crocodiles- the pursuit of ornithology was sometimes fraught with danger!
Yesterday we were presented the Needham egg collection -an interesting, data-rich series of 600+ clutches collected between the 1840s and mid 20th century. Almost all the eggs have detail provenance e.g Corn Bunting collected in Climping, West Sussex on 1 July 1938 #ornithology
Probably our oldest Golden Eagle - collected by naturalist William Bullock in Orkney in 1812 and displayed in @britishmuseum till late 1800s
Kentish Plover eggs and small pebbles they were laid on from Dungeness, Kent on 19th May 1904 'Nest was difficult to find on the shingle'
Data for our egg collection is held on >130,000 index cards and manuscripts...we just moved them all #FridayFeeling
databasing a nest of an Elepaio - lovely painting of the exact same nest by Frederick Frohawk over a century ago
African, Rufous-sided and Dusky Broadbill nests all measured in less than 60 mins has to be a record.