[Nhcoll-l] The best way to preserve birds in spirit

[Simon Moore]

Hi Tonya,

Bear in mind that EtOH is not a proper fixative and this would account for ’squishiness’!

There was an ornithologist called Serventy from Australia who formulated a special fluid for preserving colour in bird feathers: 
Serventy's Colour Preserving fluid for Parrots
70% alcohol - 90 pts
36.5% formaldehyde - 5 pts
Glycerine - 5 pts

Given the formalin present, this would likely serve as a fixative and preservative, although, for a fresh specimen, an immersion in 10% formalin (and injecting it into the body cavities) for a few days (not as much as 10, that may compromise DNA) will benefit its long term preservation.
Bear in mind that Serventy’s fluid appeared when molecular biology was in its infancy and not a preservation issue.

With all good wishes, Simon.

Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR
Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian, 



www.natural-history-conservation.com 




> On 2 May 2019, at 02:26, Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) <Tonya.Haff at csiro.au> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
>  
> We have some birds that we would like to preserve whole, in alcohol. We are currently discussing the best way to preserve them – apparently in the past birds here were put directly into 70% EtOH with no exposure to formalin. I have encountered some pretty squishy birds in spirit, however. On the other side, I recently saw an email from a collection manager suggesting putting birds in 10% formalin for 10 days before transferring them to EtOH, which seems like a very prolonged exposure to me. If any of you who preserve birds in fluids would share what you all do, I’d really appreciate it!
>  
> Cheers,
> 
> Tonya
>  
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Dr Tonya Haff
> Collections Manager
> Australian National Wildlife Collection
> National Research Collections Australia, CSIRO
> Canberra, Australia
> Phone: (+61) 02 6242 1566 (office)
> (+61) 0419 569 109 (mobile)
>  
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