STAFF

• Dr. Kenneth E. Campbell, Curator kcampbel@nhm.org
  
• Kimball L. Garrett, Collection Manager kgarrett@nhm.org

COLLECTION HOLDINGS

Ornithology, the study of birds, is one of the founding disciplines of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. At the core of the program is a research collection of 112,000 specimens, representing over 5,400 species or nearly 60% of the world's modern birds.

The collections, among the largest in western North America, include 95,700 study skins, 2000 flat skins, 10,450 complete skeletons, 3000 fluid-preserved specimens, and 2500 tissue samples. Many of our 1,560 taxidermied mounts are on public exhibit in the Ralph W. Schreiber Hall of Birds. Our collections are worldwide in scope, with an emphasis on western North America (nearly 21,000 specimens from California alone), the Pacific Ocean (5,500+), Africa - particularly Kenya (10,097) and Uganda (9,459), and South America - especially Argentina (13,686) and Brazil (10,862). Among the bird groups best represented are the Procellariiformes ("tubenosed" seabirds; 1,799 specimens of Procellariidae alone) of the Pacific Ocean and Antarctic, the Pelecaniformes (pelicans and their relatives; 1280+), and the Charadriiformes (including 2,808 Laridae - gulls, terns, and skimmers). Among the "perching birds" of the order Passeriformes, well-represented families include the Nectariniidae (sunbirds; 4,091), the Ploceidae (weavers; 2,724), the Muscicapidae (thrushes and their relatives), and the Emberizidae (nine-primaried songbirds). Both our study skin and our skeleton collections are the second largest in western North America.

RESOURCES

• Los Angeles County Breeding Bird Atlas