Birds of a feather flocked together
Following in the footsteps of John James Audubon, ornithologist Robert Moore studied birds the old-fashioned way, by shooting them with a rifle, examining the carcasses, and stuffing them. Moore amassed a collection of more than 50,000 birds. Truth be told, Moore had help, primarily from Chester Lamb, who contributed 44,000 specimens and was paid around $1 to $2 a pop – an extraordinary accomplishment, especially considering Lamb had a glass eye. The specimens, some dating back over 100 years, contain invaluable genetic information that informs bird ecology and conservation today. Moore’s beautiful assemblage, including more than 6,500 hummingbirds, can still be viewed by appointment at Occidental College’s Moore Lab of Zoology (MLZ).
The MLZ is a working laboratory located behind the campus’s biosciences building. A giant topographical map of Mexico, a vibrant area for bird diversity in the late 1800s and the primary origin of Moore’s specimens, hangs in the mid-bank stairway leading up to the lab. At the top of the stairwell are offices featuring a beautiful display of taxadermied scrub jays. Entering into the lab itself, you may find students engaged in prepping skins or studying DNA extracted from specimens. A door at the far end opens to rows of metal boxes neatly stacked one on top of another with the front lids held by sash locks. When the lids are pulled away, wooden trays reveal specimens with tags in neat Victorian script documenting each one’s Latin name, sex, date and location of collection, and who procured it.
Info
Address Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, CA 90041, +1 323.259.1320, www.oxy.edu/moore-lab-zoology, mlzbirds@gmail.com | Getting there Obtain a free parking permit from Campus Safety. Park in green or unmarked spaces only. Off-campus unmetered street parking also available. | Hours By appointment only; call or email to schedule in advance.| Tip Pat and Lorraine’s Coffee Shop (4720 North Eagle Rock Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90041) is a simple Mexican-influenced diner, which happens to be the cafe setting where a fictional group of thieves in Quentin Tarantino’s premier film Reservoir Dogs meet to plan their heist.
The riotously colorful tray of hummingbirds dazzles the eye with luminescent gorgets of red, blue, and green. A swordbill hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera), the only bird with a beak longer than its body, occupies the same tray as the smallest bird species, the bumblebee hummingbird (Calypte helenae), truly not much larger than its namesake.
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