Words from Nancy Flood about the birds in the April 2014 library display:
An estimated 120,000,000 (one hundred and 20 million) birds are killed each year by cats—in Canada alone! And approximately 63 million more die as a result of colliding with houses, tall buildings, communications towers or vehicles (Calvert et. al. 2013). These and other human-caused accidental deaths have forced several species of birds to the brink of extinction—and leave many more at risk. The only silver lining in this story is that the bodies of some of these birds make their way (carried by the people who find them) to museums and universities around the country, where they are used for research and education. Much of what we know about birds has been learned from specimens and/or by researchers who first became enchanted with birds by looking at displays of taxidermic mounts in museum dioramas. It is illegal for individuals to possess specimens themselves, but they can be donated to institutions that hold “salvage” permits issued by the Federal government. TRU has such a permit and its small, but useful, zoological Collection includes skeletons, wings, skins and whole mounts (like the ones you see here) of birds, mammals and various types of invertebrates. TRU students learn about avian anatomy and feather structure as well as how to identify many local species using birds that are currently in our museum, or are awaiting preparation. If you find a dead bird in good condition, please feel free to contact Nancy Flood (nflood@tru.ca) or Steve Joly (sjoly@tru.ca) if you would like to donate it to our collection.
Calvert, A. M., C. A. Bishop, R. D. Elliot, E. A. Krebs, T. M. Kydd, C. S. Machtans, and G. J. Robertson. 2013. A synthesis of human-related avian mortality in Canada. Avian Conservation and Ecology 8(2): 11. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ACE-00581-080211
This guide lists library resources about birds of the world and birds that are native to British Columbia.