Please read the following message from Kim Bostwick, who is Curator of Ornithology and Mammalogy at the Cornell Vertebrate Collections housed at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology located in Ithaca, NY:
Thanks! Sincerely, Chris T-H Listowner, Cayugabirds-L Ithaca, NY Begin forwarded message: From: Kimberly Bostwick <ksbostw...@me.com<mailto:ksbostw...@me.com>> Date: February 4, 2013 3:25:42 PM EST To: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" <c...@cornell.edu<mailto:c...@cornell.edu>> Subject: dead redpolls Hi Chris, in light of the dead redpoll conversation, can you forward this around? Greetings Folks, Since it came up again, as it does every so often, for those curious let me give you the official word (or 500 words) on salvaging dead birds. The first thing I have to tell you is that it is (currently***) illegal for any of us individuals to possess any bird product (carcass, feather, egg, or active nest), of any North American species of bird unless you have the appropriate permits. Yep, hard to believe, but when my mom worried about the germs from the blue jay feather I found, picked up, and kept in my bedroom when I was a 10 year old , she worried about the wrong thing. She should have worried about me getting arrested! The Museum of Vertebrates (Lab of O's "little sister" institution, we are a "library" of birds, mammal, reptiles, fish specimens) maintains the appropriate permits (and boy is it a pain to do so!), so I, or other people whose names we have listed on our permits, can legally salvage bird materials. Even though we (the Museum) has permits, we CANNOT solicit for members of the general public to bring us found dead/salvaged materials. That would be encouraging you to do something illegal, and it would get us in big trouble (which is why I am explaning this). I am afraid this sounds bad---like kind of elitist---but it is actually a good thing. These laws were made to stop the huge traffic of feathers and birds around the turn of the century. If people try to motivate other people to collect, you create a market, and that is bad for wildlife. These laws were so effective, we as a population forgot that there ever was a need to protect birds in this way! That being said, everyone, including the federal and state governments that regulate us, understand the desire to "get something good" out of the death of an animal. Thus, when people innocently put a road-killed, cat-killed, or window-killed (or in this case winter-killed) bird in their freezer and then bring it to the lab hoping to make something of it, we disclose this information on our annual permits and the governmental agencies have always been quite forgiving, understanding most people are unaware of the laws, the spirit of the donation is to advance science, and also that the spirit of the laws is to protect living animals, and that the animals we deal with truly were innocent deaths. >From the Museum's side of thing, we are generally glad people think to bring their frozen birds to the lab's front desk, rather then leave it sitting at the side of the road rotting (but if it is already rotting, we'd rather it was left on the side of the road!). I just wish there could be a legally-approved way of non-permitted people contributing, so that I could formally educate people on What to do if you find a dead bird: Like (1) writing down the date (month day and year) as well as location (state only New York, county town and any specifics) that you found the bird. And (2) getting it frozen ASAP in a ziplock bag with the data inside until you can (3) deliver it to the lab front desk (like during normal business hours). And I'd also want to make sure everyone (4) protects themselves by minimizing contact with the dead animal and hand-washing after handling. But for now, this is the system we are working with ; ) ***Legislation is in process to make public salvage legal. Still waiting for it to be official though. I hope this clarifies things. Let me know if you have any questions! Kim -- Chris Tessaglia-Hymes Listowner, Cayugabirds-L Ithaca, New York c...@cornell.edu<mailto:c...@cornell.edu> Cayugabirds-L – Archives<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Cayugabirds-L – Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Cayugabirds-L – Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Cayugabirds-L – Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
