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Unique research facility takes off the wraps
Scientists discovered, however, that the shells of the brown pelican's eggs were paper thin, and they were being inadvertently crushed by the nesting birds. Researchers realized that the insecticide DDT had made its way up the food chain into the birds' blood systems, depriving the eggs of calcium and leaving the shells fragile and delicate. The Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, now located in Camarillo, figured prominently in identifying DDT as the culprit.
"That's one of the reasons we're here. . . . The more people can learn about them the more chances are that it won't happen again," Hall said. The U.S. eventually banned DDT, and the brown pelican has staged a recovery. More than a million The foundation is a research facility and museum in Camarillo, the only one of its kind in the county devoted to conservation. Nearly half the world's bird species are represented here. The foundation has the world's largest collection of bird nests and eggs- more than 1 million. The wealth of materials draws avian researchers and museum curators from all over the world. An environment minister from Japan recently visited and Hall expects the curator of the British Museum of Natural History to arrive in March. Ed Harrison and four other naturalists launched the foundation in 1956 with an eye toward protecting birds. They moved the collection in 1992 from Los Angeles to a 22,000-square-foot building on Calle San Pablo in Camarillo. The collections have grown over time as news of the facility spread. The foundation acquires a good number of its objects from former collectors. Now illegal, killing or collecting birds and taking eggs from a nest was permissible in the U.S. until the early 1900s. And when collectors died, their families often turned collections over to the foundation. The foundation maintains an archive on every item, including a collection of 54,000 birdskins. Just as a librarian documents, then carefully shelves a rare book, collections manager René Corado and his assistant cleans the egg, nest or skin and records all the known details on a tiny card stored with the item. In the case of the skins, the bird's weight, eye color, stomach contents, place found and any other facts available are documented. Perhaps insipid details to the average person, such minutiae is helpful to avian specialists, ecologists who study how birds interact with the environment, taxonomists looking to discover new species, physiologists, who study birds' physical properties and conservation biologists, who search for ways to ensure that bird species survive. Take for example, the ivorybilled woodpecker, thought to be extinct, as the last documented sighting occurred at the turn of the 20th century. After finding the skin in the foundation's collection, conservationists traveled to the location listed on the card and discovered the bird was not extinct after all, Hall said. "It's an enormously important resource for certain things that we do," said Steve Norris, who teaches zoology and biology at Cal State University at Channel Islands. "It's a unique type of museum to work at." Norris, who has brought his students to the facility for the last four years, said it's valuable to have museum specimens, archives and a library accessible in one spot. "It's a wonderful resource to be tucked away in Camarillo," he said. Look inside Although the foundation is renowned among researchers, few Ventura County residents have heard of it. That is intentional. Harrison, who died in 2002, believed protecting his fragile and valuable relics required keeping a low public profile, Hall said. But Hall is working to change that stance. The facility is now open to the public by appointment for guided tours. Hall especially wants students, from the fourth grade through college, to come and experience all that the museum has to offer. Like the bird nest collection. Most museums don't keep nests because of the space they take to store, Hall said. The foundation's collection includes specimens from around the world, so you'll see the unusual. For example, the upside-down boot-shaped nest of the Malimbe weaver that comes from the former Belgian Congo, or the 40-year-old nest of the scarlet-headed oriole from Mexico. The oldest nest dates to the 1800s, Corado said. The foundation also maintains a library of 10,000 books and more than 600 mounted birds in lifelike postures. Many of them can be loaned out to area teachers for classroom presentations. A couple of the mounted birds appeared in the November issue of National Geographic magazine. The foundation hired the magazine's photographer to prepare a pictorial book, expected to be published next year. And the History Channel's "Modern Marvels" featured the museum in a show that aired on TV last month. Construction of a new 800squarefoot classroom is expected to be completed in the spring. Hall said she wants to use it to teach students, teachers and budding ornithologists about the beauty of birds. "That's what we want to become for Ventura County- the place to learn about birds," Hall said. But the nonprofit foundation needs help. The foundation does not charge for any of its services but is funded through museum memberships, grants and research contracts. And 15 volunteers keep the foundation running. But more donors, board members and/or volunteers are needed to clean and archive the hundreds of specimens that arrive each year. More help is especially needed now with expansion plans underway. For more information on the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology or to schedule a tour, call (805) 388-9944. |
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