Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) Bird specimens (Arctos) for GGBN

The MSB Division of Birds maintains an extensive research collection of over 50,000 bird specimens from western North America and around the world. Taxonomic coverage consists of all avian orders and approximately 85% of avian families. The oldest specimens are from the mid-1870’s, with most collected after the 1950’s. The collection has grown ~7-fold since 1989, and it continues to grow rapidly through salvage and research-driven collecting. The geographical strength of the collection is the American Southwest (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico). Worldwide, the collection has important holdings from Kenya, South Africa, the Solomon Islands, and Peru. Approximately 40% of the specimens have frozen tissues associated with them. All but the most recent research specimens are published online via the database Arctos. Collection highlights include: •Extensive collections from the American Southwest •Modern Andean research collections sampled from elevational transects •Synoptic series of the Birds of New Mexico for ID reference and teaching •100% of bird orders and 85% of the bird families of the world represented •The personal collection of Dale Zimmerman, donated in 2004, contributes significantly to the taxonomic and geographic scope of the collection •Collection of Amadeo Rea, upon which the book Once a River was based •Representative threatened, endangered and extinct species of North America •Raptors and game birds of J.M. Campbell •J. Stokley Ligon collections (in part)