[Nhcoll-l] Scoring Moult during bird skin prep

[Gary W Shugart]

Hi: I record proportional length to the nearest tenth for remiges & rectrices.  Body is none, trace, light , moderate, heavy indicating feather tracts if concentrated. These data are enter as a text string in a molt field & printed on tags for example “molt: wings (LR): P1=new, P2=.8 (L) P3=.2 (R)=.4, (LR) S1=out; rectrices none;  body moderate, heavy on head neck”.  Tedious & many errors result from novices miscounting or numbering the wrong way.  The practice originated from KU via UW Burke Museum but then any molt research should go back to the specimen to verify ( unless I trust the preparator) so I’ve wondered if the effort is worth it. But I continue the tradition. 
________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Amos Belmaker <belmakera at tauex.tau.ac.il>
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2021 12:24:50 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu; ebeac at nhm.ac.uk
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Scoring Moult during bird skin prep

Dear all,

I’ve been wandering what are some of the common practices regarding scoring moult during the preparation of bird specimens. It is possible to be very extensive and score each flight feather individually (as is done in Israeli banding stations) but this is very hard to digitize later. On the other hand, creating a scale would ignore potentially important information.

What are the different strategies you use in this regard?

Stay safe!
Amos

Dr. Amos Belmaker
Collection Manager of Birds, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History
Tel Aviv University, Israel
belmakera at tauex.tau.ac.il<mailto:belmakera at tauex.tau.ac.il>, (+972) 073-3802007