National Geographic - USA (2021-11)

FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS Carla Dove has run the Feather Identifica-

tion Lab at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in

Washington, D.C. Her team of forensic ornithologists receives more than

10,000 avian remains a year from aircraft collisions—bird strikes—and

matches them to specimens in the museum’s collections, using morphol-

ogy and DNA analysis. An example: After the “Miracle on the Hudson”

emergency landing in 2009, Dove’s lab ID’d the birds involved as Canada

geese. By knowing what species are struck most, airfield staff can deter

birds and reduce the number of damaging strikes. —HICKS WOGAN

1. Avian skull
   The Smithsonian houses
   the world’s most diverse
   bird skeleton collection,
   including this skull of an
   American bittern. (See
   other aspects of the same
   species at 2 and 5 .)


2. Study skin
   Also in the archives are
   more than 500,000 bird
   specimens, or study skins,
   representing 85 percent of
   avian species worldwide.


3. Feather sample
   Dove (that’s her hand pic-
   tured) and her team match
   mailed-in whole or partial
   feathers to study skins by
   color, size, or pattern.


4. Scanning electron
   photomicrograph
   A scanning electron micro-
   scope reveals distinguish-
   ing features in downy
   feathers’ structures.


5. Snarge
   A term for blood, guts, or
   other bird tissue scraped
   off a plane (here, an MD-10
   aircraft in Miami in 2006).


6. Hand lens
   This allows a close look at
   small birds—horned larks,
   mourning doves, swallows—
   the size most often hit.


7. Probe, forceps, scissors
   These tools aid in handling
   feather fragments or pre-
   paring samples for study.


8. DNA sampling plate
   Once a tray is filled with
   96 bird strike samples, off
   they go for DNA testing,
   or bar coding.


9. Field guide
   Which species live near a
   strike site? Alas, no book
   can explain some outlier
   IDs, such as parrots at New
   York’s JFK Airport.


10. Microslide supplies
    Lab staff use microscopy
    to study a feather’s bar-
    bules (seen in 4 ) and
    barbs, the branches
    extending off its shaft.


11. Light microscope
    Some barb traits are
    unique to groups of birds;
    with a light microscope, an
    expert can tell a duck from
    a pigeon, for example.


12. Reference microslides
    The Smithsonian team
    can compare slides of
    feathers from bird strikes
    with slides of feathers
    taken from study skins in
    the museum’s collection.

PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE

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