From Parlor and Plate to Microscopes and Art

The California Academy of Sciences (CAS) Ornithology and Mammalogy Collection currently houses more than 11,000 egg and nest specimens. Moe Flannery, collections manager, will discuss the history of egg and nest collecting, from the era when eggs and nests graced the parlors of the fashionable hobbyist and the menus of restaurants, to their modern-day importance as repositories of DNA and information about changes in the environment. Sharon Beals will present the photographs of nests and eggs she made at CAS while working on Nests: Fifty Nests and the Birds that Built Them. She will also share what she learned as a citizen scientist about the habits of the nest builders and some of the conservation issues facing these birds today.

Speakers: Moe Flannery and Sharon Beals