Night at the Museum

Dr. Van Remsen welcomed the Kids Who Bird Club to the Hall of Birds in the LSU Museum of Natural Science for a behind-the-scenes tour.
The kids learned how the specimens are acquired, how they are prepared for use, and the value of each one to research.

The kids got to see the reddest, the bluest, the greenest...and some of the most beautiful birds in the world! It's amazing that their feathers retain their color indefinitely if prepared and stored properly.

The hummingbirds are always a hit -- such amazing color and variety! Several kids recognized the Marvelous Spatuletail from the PBS Nature special on Hummingbirds, which also featured Dr. Remsen.

Susannah was so excited to hold a specimen of the tiniest bird in the world -- the Bee Hummingbird from Cuba!

So many birds to see -- so little time! Dr. Remsen has invited the Kids Who Bird back again. We'll be making a list of the birds we'd like to see!

January meeting -- Special Museum Tour

The January edition of the Kids Who Bird Club will feature a "behind the scenes" museum tour at the LSU Natural Sciences Museum in Foster Hall on LSU campus. The tour be on Thursday, January 28, and will begin at 6:30 and end about 8pm. What we will see are the tools that ornithologists (those who study birds) use to research birds. The tour will be conducted by Dr. Van Remsen, who is a professor of ornithology at LSU as well as the museum curator. It's a fun tour because Dr. Remsen gives you sense of not only of the science that can be learned from these important specimens but also how much he genuinely loves birds and enjoys sharing that with others. This photo album, done by Amy Shutt of a previous tour, will give you a preview of what we'll see on the tour. http://www.day-lab.com/vantour1/

Please note, due to the narrow aisles in the museum, the group must be limited to 15 people, so this is first come, first served! Please reply to me with the number of folks who will be participating so that I can keep track. If we have more interested than can participate this time, I will impose on Dr. Remsen for another tour in the future.