Australian Museum Ornithology Collection
Ornithology is the branch of zoology devoted to studying birds. Around 10,000 species of bird inhabit the world, ranging from tiny hummingbirds up to huge ostriches. The Australian Museum's Ornithology Collection contains a wide cross-section of these fascinating animals.
Living birds are warm-blooded vertebrate animals that have:
- feathers
- forelimbs modified as wings
- scales on their legs and feet
- a bill without teeth
- lay hard-shelled eggs
About the Ornithology Collection
The Australian Museum has one of the largest ornithological collections in the Southern Hemisphere. It contains a large variety of bird skins, mounts, skeletons, eggs, nests, spirit specimens and tissue samples, representing approximately 95% of the world's bird families. You can get a feel for the kinds of specimens in the collection by checking out the Quick tour of the bird collection and the Ornithology highlights gallery.
While the main emphasis is on species from New South Wales, almost all species that breed in Australia are well represented. The collection also contains around 3,500 non-Australian species, many of which hail from New Guinea, New Zealand, the south-west Pacific. The collection has great historical and scientific significance. It contains many rare, endangered and extinct species plus a significant number of type specimens, primarily from Australia and the Pacific Islands. As many specimens date from the mid 1860s, some even earlier, the collection affords us an insight into avian biology, morphology, anatomy and geographical distributions over time.
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Bird Collection View full size
Tiki Rand
© Australian Museum
Study skins in a compactus unit View full size
Jaynia Sladek
© Australian Museum
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13 comments
Jaynia Sladek
1.05 PM, 17 May 2011
Hi there Georgia. The Museum Victoria should be able to help you out with your pelican studies. Here's a link to their collections and research page: http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections-research/ You'll be able to get the contact details from there. Good luck with your project! Jaynia
pelican
10.05 AM, 10 May 2011
Hello, I am doing an honours project on the feeding behaviour of pelicans and was wondering whether you had any preserved specimens of their beak area so i can have a look at thier tongue? If so, I am in Melbourne so I guess I would need a picture.. Or if you know anywhere in Melbourne that would have the same kind of specimen that would be fantastic! Thank you, Georgia
Jaynia Sladek
1.07 PM, 05 July 2010
Hi Craig, I know the recording that you are talking about but we don't seem to have a copy of it here. You might have more luck with the Australian National Wildlife Collection (ANWC), who have an extensive collection of bird recordings. Contact Alex Drew at alex.drew@csiro.au . He may be able to help you. Best regards, Jaynia
clouis
3.06 PM, 30 June 2010
Hi Jaynia (?) I'm trying to get a copy of the recordings of a superb lyrebird mimicking a flute. Apparently it was recorded in 1969 in the Dorrigo Ebor are by Sydney Curtis. Does the museum have a copy of this? Thanks
Jaynia Sladek
9.04 AM, 30 April 2010
Hi Francisco, the database is currently not available via the website. Which extinct species are you interested in? If you contact me via email (Jaynia.Sladek@austmus.gov.au) I can give you more information.Best regards, Jaynia.
anotherspecialist
3.04 PM, 29 April 2010
Hi there, Can you tell me is there a list or database of yours which I can see which extinct / possibly extinct bird specimens you have in your collection?
Darian Zam
7.04 PM, 13 April 2010
Thanks for the answer Jaynia. Cheers dz
Jaynia Sladek
10.04 AM, 13 April 2010
Hi Darien,
Unfortunately, Nature Focus no longer exists. However, you can contact Cate Lowe here at the Museum (Cate.Lowe@austmus.gov.au) regarding images that were held in the Nature Focus collection. She will be able to point you in the right direction.
Best of luck,
Jaynia
Darian Zam
1.04 PM, 12 April 2010
I'm trying to locate photographs by Ornithologist Ellis McNamara (active 1940's-1980's). The executor of his estate informs me that quite a few of his pictures are in the collection managed by the Australian Museum known as "Nature Focus", but I can't seem to find this after many searches on here and externally. How do I search the Australian Museum image bank? Maybe I'm missing something really obvious because I just seem to keep going in circles. Thanks!
jaynia
10.03 AM, 29 March 2010
Hi Bernard, Thanks for your lovely message. The bird is an immature Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) and they are widespread across a large portion of Australia. Along with the other butcherbirds, Grey Butcherbirds have a quite lovely call and you have probably been hearing them without realising it. You can check more facts about them, plus hear their call, on the Birds in Backyards website (www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Cracticus-torquatus). Best regards, Jaynia
Caretta Productions
9.03 AM, 24 March 2010
Good morning, I've been living in the Blue Mountains for 9 years and have had a recent visitor to the back yard which i'm having trouble identifying and was wondering if you could help me out. Please refer to the attached pic. Many thanks in advance, have a great day and keep up your excellent work. Thanks again. Bernard.
Comment Attachment
Jaynia Sladek
10.08 AM, 28 August 2009
Hi Barbara. Thanks for your enquiry. We do not have many specimens from the Galapagos Islands in the collection, but we do have several that were collected by Rollo H. Beck. If you contact either Walter Boles or myself via email (walter.boles@austmus.gov.au or jaynia.sladek@austmus.gov.au), we can help you with more details. Best regards, Jaynia Sladek
bwest
8.07 AM, 18 July 2009
I have not been able to find your database online, so write to ask your help. I am attempting to locate all bird materials (skins, eggs, skeletons, etc.) in the world (a) from the Galapagos Islands, and/or (b) collected by Rollo H. Beck. If you have any such specimens I would very much appreciate a spreadsheet with the relevant data. Thank you very much. Barbara West Research Associate California Academy of Sciences
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