If you have been to an in-person COASST training then you have seen the bird heads on sticks that we lovingly refer to as “headsicles” (like a popsicle, but please don’t lick them). Making these specimens is a bit different from preparing the wings and feet in our teaching collection because they need to go through a whole taxidermy process to remove anything that might rot over time. We recently reached out to the Ornithology Collections Manager at the Burke Museum on University of Washington’s campus to ask if they would make us some new headsicles, and they luckily had some volunteers who wanted the practice!
These headsicles are invaluable to teach the bill measurement technique that you use on the beach as COASSTers. They are also amazing to showcase the diversity of seabirds up close. Take a look at the photos below and notice the differences in size, bill shape, bill features, and feathers between each specimen.
White-Winged Scoter, Crested Auklet
The process to make these sounds simple but takes a lot of skill and artistry. To create a headsicle, you have to start by turning the head inside out and carefully peel the skin and attached feathers away from the skull. During this process, you must remove the eyes, brain, tongue, and any bits of muscle tissue and fat. If the specimen is in less-than-ideal shape, it will get a bath with dawn dish soap and a blow dry in the Burke’s sawdust tumbler. Then the head is turned back right side out, the eyes are replaced with cotton, and a stick with a cotton ball on the top is inserted into the brain cavity.
If you would like to watch a video of the process to taxidermy an entire bird, then this video from the Burke Museum is great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orgm1eweRRk
Thank you to Madison (the Ornithology Collections Manager at the Burke), Iris, and the other volunteers who worked on creating these new headsicles for us!