At Seattle’s Burke Museum, a spread-open bird wing is both a research specimen and a durable record of a wild bird’s life. Emma Bryce’s June 12, 2015 feature for Audubon described the museum’s holdings at that time as the world’s largest spread-wing collection, reporting 26,000 wing sets. That superlative and count are historical; they have not been independently verified here as current. The collection’s defining growth event was the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, when 1,100 wing sets were salvaged from 1,500 dead birds sent to the museum.
What the Burke Museum’s spread-wing collection is
The Burke Museum’s ornithology branch preserves bird wings opened and dried so their complete shape, feather arrangement and markings remain visible. Each wing is cataloged and tied to the whole bird from which it came, even when that parent specimen is stored somewhere else. The result is not a display of detached curiosities. It is an organized scientific archive that lets ornithologists examine flight surfaces, feather replacement and color patterns while keeping a link to the specimen’s broader history.
Bryce’s Audubon article called the holdings the world’s largest spread-wing collection in 2015. That wording belongs to the article’s publication date, not to a current ranking. The same feature reported 26,000 wing sets at the time. The museum also held more than 100,000 study skins and, according to ornithology curator John Klicka, one of the largest tissue collections in the world. Those figures likewise describe the collection as reported in 2015 rather than a present-day inventory.
| Figure | What it describes | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 1,500 specimens | Dead birds received after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill | Burke Museum figures reported by Audubon in 2015 |
| 1,100 wing sets | Wings salvaged from those birds | Historical figure reported by Audubon in 2015 |
| 26,000 wing sets | Collection size described in the feature | 2015 count, not a verified current total |
| More than 100,000 study skins | Another major Burke bird resource | 2015 statement from curator John Klicka |
Why preserve wings instead of whole birds?
A whole bird preserves more of an animal’s anatomy, but a wing can answer questions that are difficult to study when feathers are folded against a body. Spread open, the wing presents its outline, the relative lengths of its feathers and the spaces between them. It can be compared directly with wings from other species or from birds of different ages and life histories.
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The museum was already collecting wings to support emeritus curator Sievert Rohwer’s work on feather molt. A wing records which feathers are present, which are being replaced and how the sequence of replacement appears across the flight surface. The oil spill then created an unusually large influx of material and accelerated a practice that was already useful to the ornithology program.
The decision to take only one wing from a specimen reflects a preservation compromise. Staff remove one wing and leave the other attached to the bird, allowing ornithologists to study a partly intact whole specimen as well as the detached wing. Klicka summarized the principle in Bryce’s article: “The idea when you collect any specimen is to maximize its usefulness.”
Where did the collection’s major influx come from?
On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez spilled oil in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The Burke Museum’s ornithology branch received 1,500 dead bird specimens from the disaster. Oil-soaked whole birds were difficult to preserve effectively, so staff salvaged usable wings instead. The operation produced 1,100 wing sets, according to the figures reported in the 2015 Audubon feature.
Those salvaged wings became the foundation of the collection that Bryce’s article described as numbering 26,000 wing sets. The spill therefore mattered in two ways: it supplied a large body of specimens at once, and it demonstrated the value of preserving wings when a complete skin was impractical. Later attention to the archive helped it continue to grow as additional specimens became available.
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The source also describes wings from individual damaged birds. A bird injured in a collision, for example, may yield a wing that remains scientifically useful even if the rest of the body cannot be prepared normally. The collection thus includes both mass-mortality material and carefully selected specimens from other circumstances.
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For Klicka, the purpose extends beyond the cabinet itself: “You’re documenting the biodiversity that occurs outside the museum.” Each cataloged wing captures a biological moment that would otherwise disappear when a bird dies.
How are wings removed?
The following sequence is the method Bryce’s 2015 article described at the Burke Museum. It should not be read as a current, independently confirmed conservation protocol.
- Select a useful wing. Staff may remove one wing from a normally prepared bird or salvage a wing from a damaged specimen when the feathers and structure remain suitable for study.
- Cut at the body. The article says staff use a scalpel and scissors to separate the wing.
- Remove flesh. As much flesh as possible is taken away. Residual tissue can decay and attract pests, so cleaning the wing is essential before storage.
- Keep the opposite wing attached. Leaving one wing on the bird preserves a partly intact specimen for ornithological examination.
- Spread the wing open. The wing is positioned so its full outline and feather arrangement remain visible during drying and later examination.
- Catalog the relationship. A tag connects the detached wing to its parent bird, which may be housed in another location in the museum’s collections.
This approach produces two linked records rather than forcing a choice between a complete bird and a detailed wing. Researchers can inspect the spread surface while still finding the associated body, label and collection data.
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After flesh is removed, the wings are air-dried. Bryce’s account says the museum did not chemically treat them. They are kept in special envelopes and placed in pest-free cabinets. The open, dried form keeps the wing’s proportions and feather pattern legible without requiring the specimen to remain attached to a full skin.
Storage is inseparable from cataloging. The tag on each wing points back to its parent bird, so a researcher can connect the visible flight surface with the rest of the specimen and its associated records. A parent bird may be stored elsewhere, but the catalog relationship preserves the connection.
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Because these details come from a 2015 report, current materials, pest-management standards or storage rooms may differ. The article documents how the Burke Museum’s staff described their practice then; it does not establish that every step remains unchanged today.
What can a wing reveal about flight?
The collection supports studies of flight mechanics and feather molt, but the wings also make functional differences between species easy to see. Bryce’s feature explains aspect ratio as the relationship between a wing’s span and its area. A long, relatively narrow wing has a higher aspect ratio and is associated in the article with soaring flight, while a shorter wing can favor rapid acceleration.
Soaring versus rapid takeoff
The article contrasts an eagle’s long wing with the shorter wing of a pheasant. Eagles’ elongated wings suit gliding and soaring, whereas pheasants’ shorter wings help them launch quickly from the ground. A spread specimen lets a researcher compare those outlines directly rather than relying on a folded wing or a photograph.
Feather replacement and wear
Flight feathers are replaced in sequences, and a spread wing exposes the order and condition of those feathers. That is why the museum’s wing collecting supported Rohwer’s work on molt. A series of specimens can show which feathers were growing, which had been retained and how replacement differed among birds.
Notches and other structural details
Bryce’s article points to notches in turkey flight feathers as another feature worth examining. Small gaps or shapes in the feather edge can be considered alongside the overall wing outline when scientists study how birds generate lift, maneuver or launch.
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What do feather colors and patterns mean?
A wing is also a record of visual signals. The Audubon feature discusses feather colors and patterns in several functional contexts:
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- Camouflage: subdued or patterned feathers can help a bird blend into its surroundings.
- Mating displays: conspicuous colors or contrasting patches can be shown to potential mates.
- Recognition: distinctive markings can help birds identify individuals or species.
These examples are the feature’s explanations of why pattern matters; they are not newly reported experiments from the museum. Preserving a wing spread open allows artists and scientists to inspect those colors, bars, spots and edges at full scale.
Why do artists visit the collection?
The wings attract more than ornithologists. Bryce reports visits by painters, sketch artists and photographers, who use the specimens to study anatomy, proportion, feather layering and pattern. A spread wing provides a stable reference that a moving bird rarely offers, while the catalog link supplies biological context for the form being drawn.
Public access rules, appointments and tours were not established in the 2015 article. Anyone hoping to work from the specimens should confirm current access arrangements with the Burke Museum before planning a visit; the fact that researchers and artists visited in the feature does not guarantee general admission.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why keep specimens for questions no one has asked yet?
Collections are built for future uses as much as for current projects. Klicka told Bryce, “One of the fascinating things about what we do is that we don’t know exactly what people in 100 years are going to want to study.” A wing preserved today may become useful when a new question, measuring technique or comparison emerges.
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University of Washington biology graduate student Cooper French described the interpretive value this way: “Every bird wing is a reflection of that bird’s life history and habits.” The wing may record molt, injury, age-related wear or an adaptation to a particular way of flying. When many such records are assembled, they form a history of variation across species and places.
Klicka also compared each specimen to a book: “Each specimen is kind of like a library book that has a different story to tell.” The metaphor explains why the archive retains wings even when no immediate project requires them. Each cataloged object is a source that can be reopened, compared and interpreted later.
What the 1989 story changed
The Exxon Valdez material did not create the idea of wing collecting at the Burke Museum; the practice was already tied to molt research. It changed the scale of the undertaking. A single oil spill supplied 1,500 dead birds, from which 1,100 wing sets were salvaged, turning an established method into the foundation of a much larger archive.
The episode also illustrates a central principle of natural-history collections: preparation choices determine what information survives. Whole, oil-soaked birds could not all be preserved practically, but their wings still carried evidence about anatomy, flight and appearance. By removing flesh, drying the wings open, protecting them in envelopes and linking them to parent specimens, museum staff retained that evidence for work that extends beyond the disaster itself.
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Quick Recap
What is established—and what is not
- The Burke Museum is in Seattle, and its ornithology branch maintains a spread-wing collection.
- Emma Bryce’s Audubon feature, published June 12, 2015, described that collection then as the world’s largest and reported 26,000 wing sets.
- The article reported 1,500 birds received after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and 1,100 wing sets salvaged.
- The described preparation involved removing one wing, leaving the other attached, removing flesh, spreading the wing, air-drying it without chemical treatment, cataloging it and storing it in envelopes and pest-free cabinets.
- The wings support study of flight, molt, feather form and coloration, as well as artistic observation.
- The historical counts, superlative and preparation details should not be treated as a current inventory or current access policy without confirmation from the museum.
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