Category Archives: Field notes

History wrapped in history

While rehousing the Benjamin Hoag papers, I came across some field notes wrapped in a piece of paper. The Hoag papers date from 1878-1916. The wrapping paper looks to have notes written by Milton Ray, an ornithologist and oologist whose papers … Continue reading

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Raccoons in California

Written by URAP Lorena Zeferino, a third year MCB Neurobiology student participating in the IMLS, “Strategic Stewardship for Sustaining the Archives of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology” project. Ever since I was a young child, I always had a love for animals and … Continue reading

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From the Archives: Following the bird song

Written by Emily Domanico, fourth year majoring in History of Art and minoring in Chemistry. Following bird songs, naturalist Joseph Grinnell photographed this nest of a black-chinned sparrow while on a collection trip in the San Jacinto Mountains back in May 1908. … Continue reading

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Catching the bug

If anything has been impressed upon me about CalDay it is that kids are smarter than we think and that they are excited about science. My greatest joy participating in CalDay is answering questions from curious would be scientists. This innate curiosity is … Continue reading

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The Bone Dagger Discovery

Written by Anna Hiller, Curatorial Assistant A few weeks ago Carla Cicero (Staff Curator of Birds) and I pulled a Cassowary skeleton (Casuarius bennetti hecki) to send a humerus to a researcher for sectioning. Since the Cassowary is an example of a … Continue reading

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