Volunteers Create a Successful Bird Specimen Exhibit at 2026 WoW
Volunteers ensured a very successful Bird Specimen exhibit at our 2026 Wings over Whidbey celebration. The exhibition space was filled with visitors, many of them young people, for nearly the entire six-hour period. WAS volunteers (= Bird Ambassadors) answered questions, demonstrated features on specimens and swapped bird stories.
Behind-the-Scenes Visit at the Puget Sound Museum of Natural History
Newer members of the Whidbey Audubon Society Bird Specimen Collection team were treated to a late April behind-the-scenes visit to the Puget Sound Museum of Natural History, located at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. The museum contains more than 28,000 bird specimens, including extinct species such as the Passenger Pigeon and parts of birds. Ellie Olpin (Education and Outreach Director) and Gary Shugart (Collections Manager) displayed specimens, shared archiving methods, and described feather structure research to Patricia Duarte and Linda Rhodes. Patricia learned useful techniques for preparing and displaying skeletons, a special interest for her.