This story has introduced the early history of ornithology in Victoria through the lens of Museum Victoria’s collections. It is a discipline which is as relevant today as it was at the formation of the collection.

Today the ornithology collection contains more than 70,000 specimens of mounted birds, dried study skins, tissue samples, skeletons, eggs, and specimens preserved in alcohol. One of the largest Australian collections, primarily of Australian species and with a strong Victorian emphasis, it includes material from a broad spectrum of the world’s avifauna and represents over 4,000 species. There are also representatives of many birds now long extinct and many valuable ‘type’ specimens.

While early work in the collection focused on putting names to birds and listing new species, eventually the avifauna was known and complete. It is a rare event these days for a new species to be discovered in Victoria. However this combined 160 years of collecting gives us a long-term picture of birdlife in Victoria.

The museum’s scientists continue to observe and research Victoria’s avian diversity in the field but much of the focus is now on the relationships between species and groups. A recent series of biodiversity surveys in partnership with Parks Victoria has resulted in snapshot assessments of Victoria’s national parks. Museum Victoria also worked with the City of Melbourne to conduct the Melbourne BioBlitz, the city’s first citizen science event. Museum experts and members of the community worked together to discover, document and learn about the species that call Melbourne home.

Field techniques have changed dramatically since the early days to accommodate new research methods: genetics, element analysis, scanning, acoustics, geospatial data, high speed digital photography and videography.

Hand-written field notes of old are replaced with iPads which record data directly into the museum catalogue, which in turn have been developed into free field guide mobile apps for the general public. These allow people to explore Victoria's unique and diverse wildlife at home or in the great outdoors. One hundred and sixty years of ornithological knowledge is now available in the palm of your hand.

Further Information

TRANSCRIPT

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

We were four people who were looking for the bird fauna in the Grampians. And we were not only looking for the plain obvious which are the local residents. We were looking for any sign of changes that might occur or have occurred in the past. And by this, we first of all, before we even leave the museum, we are looking at historic records, what people have seen and recorded in the past.

The area can be quite an interesting one because it not only has representatives of the arid interior or northwestern Victoria, but also a lot of the coastal species occur there, isolated outgroups such as these gang-gangs. The male is very obvious. The female, a much drabber looking bird. But we found these almost every day in all the locations that we visited. Now these are what we call resident birds, so they're the ones that you would expect to find every day, as we did.

Other birds are migrants or nomads. The nomads follow food sources, so you might have an influx of certain species of insects, and those nomads come in and feed on those. Whereas other ones are dependent on honey flow or nectar flow. And they follow those flowering trees or shrubs. So in that way, you can never expect to see the same species of bird in the same area throughout the year. You just get this constant change. And that's one of the marvels about observing birds, the fact that you can see these changes occurring on a regular basis. And there's always something of interest.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

So we put up these mist nets which are just this really fine, nylon nets that you can't really see through. So the birds will fly through the forest normally and then just get caught softly. And then, they lay down in these pockets of the net. And then, we come back, and we unwind them from nets. And then, we'll take measurements. We'll take genetic samples and the like to sample the population here.

So we're trying to create a voucher-backed record and a snapshot of biodiversity in the Grampians during the time that we're here. And so we can maximize the data we collect from the animals that we see by taking genetic samples, which for birds is just a small blood sample. Which is sort of like-- if you give blood, it's less than the amount of blood that you would give for that. And then, we can get a lot of information about population genetics. We take measurements of their body-- so length, and size, and what not-- to get an idea of their morphology, or their shape. And then, we make note of the plumage coloration, whether they're molting or not, if they seem to be breeding condition. And then, they just fly way. And that's it.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]