6,000 Birds to the Scientific Collections from Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research

There are many wildlife rehabilitation centers across the United States that care for sick, orphaned, and injured wildlife with the goal of returning them to the wild once healed. Licensed rehabilitators are highly skilled, but the reality is that not all patients are able to survive their injuries. Vertebrates like birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians are often hit by cars, attacked by pets, and collide with windows.

The Delaware Museum of Nature and Science (DelMNS) has a wonderful, long-standing partnership with Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research (Tri-State), a local powerhouse in avian rehabilitation serving the Mid-Atlantic region. Tri-State donated their first bird to the museum in 1982, a few years after they opened their full-time clinic — and the partnership has never waned. Over the last 40 years, about 6,000 birds admitted to Tri-State, but that did not survive their ailments — including birds found injured outside of Delaware, in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and New York — have been prepared as specimens for the museum’s scientific collections.

Many of the DelMNS specimens donated by Tri-State have fascinating and unique histories. For example, in 2013, a federally-banded American Goshawk (Astur atricapillus) was brought to Tri-State after it was wounded in an altercation with another hawk at Little Creek Wildlife Area, Kent County, Delaware. The museum’s Collections Manager of Birds, Ashley Kempken, learned from the USGS Bird Banding Lab that the goshawk had been banded the previous fall in Cape May, New Jersey, by the Cape May Raptor Banding Project, and was apparently overwintering in Delaware.

In 2022, a Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) was brought to Tri-State after it was found on the beach at Fenwick Island, Sussex County, Delaware, but soon succumbed to its illness. This was Delaware’s first state record and the first specimen of this species from the northeastern United States. The study skin, spread wing, frozen tissues, and parasites (feather lice) are now preserved in the museum’s scientific collection and available to researchers (Halley, 2022). Thanks to our historic partnership with Tri-State, sick and injured birds that were unable to return to the wild are given a second “life” in the DelMNS collection, where they provide benefits to science and education.

“Tri-State Bird Rescue is deeply grateful for the incredible long-standing partnership with the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science,” says Autumn Reiter, Executive Director, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research. “This collaboration has been instrumental in advancing our shared mission of wildlife conservation. Together, we have made significant strides in bird rescue and rehabilitation as well as public education, teaching a diverse audience about the integral role birds play in the ecosystem. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the museum for their unwavering support, commitment, and dedication over the years, and we look forward to continuing this vital partnership for many more years to come.”

Halley, M. R. 2022. Comments on the first specimen of Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) from the northeastern United States: a Delaware state record. Delaware Ornithologist 51: 9–11.