museum collections Archives - British Ornithologists' Union

Weighing the Great Auk

By Tim Birkhead|2024-08-27T18:04:48+00:0029 Jul 2024|body condition, island birds, morphology, museum collections|

New evidence suggests that the Great Auk was not nearly as heavy as previously thought

Can we solve one of ornithology’s oldest challenges?

By Leo Joseph|2023-10-12T10:40:06+00:009 Oct 2023|colour mutations, colouration, distribution, fieldwork, museum collections, pigeon, recording|

The challenge of accurately scoring iris colour in birds

Avian collections in a changing world

By Ken Norris|2023-10-12T10:45:52+00:0018 Sep 2023|collaboration, Conservation, global change, museum collections|

The Museum needs you to help unlock our collections!

The Hidden Past of the Macleay Kākāpō

By Lindsey Gray|2023-01-17T09:51:56+00:0016 Jan 2023|avian biology, forest birds, Genetics, island birds, museum collections, natural history, parrot, population divergence, Psittaciformes|

Can 21st century science decipher the murky origins of a collection of 19th century endangered parrots?

How can the past inform reintroductions?

By Jennifer Crees|2023-01-17T10:39:06+00:0019 Dec 2022|climate change, distribution, early-career researcher, ECR, IBIS, migrant, museum collections, reintroduction, vagrancy, waterbirds, wetlands|

A history of the Dalmatian Pelican in Britain and what we can learn for the future of the species

Overlooked diversity in a European context

By Manuel Schweizer|2022-04-29T15:29:48+00:009 May 2022|cryptic, diversification, diversity, DNA sequencing, evolution, genetic diversity, Genetics, IBIS, Mediterranean forest, museum collections, phylogeny, population structure, Speciation, Taxonomy|

Genome-wide data uncovers two morphologically cryptic lineages in the Middle Spotted Woodpecker

Citizen science vs. professional bird databases

By Sofia Galván|2022-01-27T12:10:06+00:0024 Jan 2022|citizen science, data repository, early-career researcher, ECR, museum collections, occurrence data, open source, volunteers|

Detecting and controlling individual biases is essential in all kinds of databases

What’s in an English bird name?

By Robert Driver|2021-10-29T09:36:37+00:001 Nov 2021|IBIS, inclusivity, museum collections, natural history, nomenclature, systematics, Taxonomy|

How can we improve on English common bird names?

The Great Auk had two brood patches

By Tim Birkhead|2021-10-07T14:44:56+00:0014 Oct 2021|avian biology, IBIS, museum collections, natural history, parental care, physiology, Seabirds|

The Great Auk had two brood patches not one as previously stated