Shadowing Practice: Why Over 600,000 Bird Specimens Are Preserved At The Smithsonian | Colossal Collections - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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The Smithsonian Natural History Museum houses over 600,000 bird specimens from the last 200 years.
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The Smithsonian Natural History Museum houses over 600,000 bird specimens from the last 200 years.
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And new specimens are added each month, thanks to the detailed work of specialists who preserve, skin, and maintain every bird in the collection.
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But most of these birds never see the museum floor.
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So why do they need to be perfectly preserved?
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The answer?
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Research.
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Whether it's identifying birds killed by airplanes, or discovering evolutionary changes in duckbills.
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We're not just preparing this bird for use tomorrow.
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We're preparing this bird for use for hundreds of years now.
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We went to the Smithsonian to see how one specimen in the skins collection is added, prepared, and used for generations to come.
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It starts with acquisition.
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It says here on the label that this ostrich was sent by King Mendelik as a present to President Roosevelt.
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Specimens are usually donated by people or organizations.
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This California condor was donated by the U.S.
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Fish and Wildlife Service.
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This bird came from President Theodore Roosevelt's personal collection.
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And this Cooper's hawk died while crashing into a building window.
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It was donated back in 2017 and is about to get its spotlight in an upcoming exhibit.
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But it was initially stored in this freezer.
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So it's on the left shelf.
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From there, our hawk is taken up to the prep lab into the skilled hands of museum specialists like Christina and her husband Brian.
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Brian, did you do that?
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Yes, I did put the cotton in the mouth.
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a couple of fat.
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This specimen is 9,926.
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So I prepared at least that many birds and mammals.
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When you're at about 10,000, it shows that you've been doing it for at least probably 20 years or so.
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And you can do it blindfolded.
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It was a fun exercise and it actually worked.
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Blindfolded or not, the specialists first thaw, weigh, and measure the hawk.
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And then they pick up a scalpel to start separating the skin from the muscles and fat.
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Since these are going to be stored as dried specimens, we want to remove as much of the muscle from the specimen that we can.
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Brian removes the skin from the body of the bird, discarding the soft tissues and oil glands, which would cause the specimen to rot.
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And it's crucial to get every piece of fat out without damaging the skin, since these specimens are meant to last for years to come.
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That's where gentler tools, like his hands, become useful.
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You have to go very slow, methodical, to get the skin off without ripping it.
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I'm pushing the skin rather than pulling it so I'm not stretching it.
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Bryan also uses corncob dust throughout the process to absorb any body fluids so the specimen is kept clean.
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New people use a lot less dust, and more experienced people just cover it with dust.
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When removing the smaller parts of the bird, like the head or the eyes...
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The angle of the scalpel also makes a big difference.
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You notice I'm cutting away from the skin.
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There's been times where when you grab the eye, it squirts at you.
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Sometimes birds that have more fat on their skin need to go through additional cleaning.
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All this white goopy stuff, this is all fat.
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That needs to come off, otherwise it will get rancid and then it will acidify and it will literally just ooze out of the skin.
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They use this fat wheel machine to remove all the fat until you can see the feather track.
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This takes a little bit of practice because if you press too hard, you will rip the skin.
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Once the fat is cleared, more corncob dust is used to absorb the moisture, and then the specimen is washed and dried.
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You wanna see me blow the sawdust off?
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Okay.
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All right.
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So with this, we do it in the fume hood, because as you'd imagine, I'm gonna blow a lot of dust everywhere.
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Christina uses a forced air dryer to blow off the sawdust and a hair dryer to fluff up the feathers, adding a nice sheen to them.
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To get the bird presentation ready, Brian will first tie the wings together to create a limited range of motion.
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He approximates how far a Cooper's hawk would have naturally spread their wings.
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So in the future, if somebody grabs the bird and opens up the wing to see the underside of the wing, by tying it, it'll make the specimen stronger.
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Now the specimen is ready to be stuffed with cotton, recreating its original shape.
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We're trying to make a specimen that lasts forever and is strong.
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So I'm not a tailor or a seamstress, but I can sew up a bird pretty good.
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We get the feathers, make sure that they're arranged properly in the right order, so that'll assist researchers later.
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The last step is pinning the bird onto a board to dry into its permanent position.
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However I end up pinning it, that's the way it's gonna look the rest of its career at the Smithsonian.
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It takes probably close to 100 birds before somebody can go at it alone.
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Once they reach 1,000 birds, then we say that that person is generally an experienced preparator, and they can teach other people very well.
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After 10 or so days, this Cooper's hawk will be completely dried and ready to debut on the exhibit floor.
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The hawk will be just one of 20 specimens on display for the Lights Out exhibit, all birds who have died from flying into skyscraper windows.
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And they'll eventually join the larger Skins collection with over 470,000 specimens, helping researchers from all around the world.
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Like Lauren and Joshua, researching how mating between domestic and wild ducks has changed the size and structure of their bills.
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Or Jim, with the Feather Identification Lab team.
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He works with government agencies to identify birds killed during airstrikes.
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We get about 10,000 strikes a year.
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The busiest times are in the fall and the spring.
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And this place, the Division of Birds, is the perfect place for us to be because we have 80 percent of the world's bird species represented in this collection.
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So if there's a bird strike that happens in the world, we likely have a specimen to match it up to.
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This is a bird strike sample, the remnants of a bird aircraft collision that has been sent to us for us to identify.
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So I can see that we've got a couple wing feathers here, we've got a tail feather, we've got some body feathers.
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So we can actually take this feather out and match up these tail feathers quite well to the barn swallow.
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and we've got even these nice little peachy feathers that were doing this.
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His findings are sent to airfield biologists and engine manufacturers to adjust aircrafts and reduce accidents.
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This bird was collected back in 1878.
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And so this bird was collected before airplanes were even imagined and put into this collection.
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And now we're using it to identify a bird aircraft collision.
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So we never know what these specimens are gonna get used for, but that's really why it's important to keep them forever.
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A separate wings collection also helps for deeper analysis of feathers.
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Back in the old days, they didn't make too many spread wings or flat skins.
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And us in the feather lab really liked that because it allows us access to feathers that occur under the wing and access in different areas of the bird where we might get a feather to, but it's very difficult to get into a traditional museum skin.
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Other researchers might be exploring the microbiomes found in the wings, like Gary.
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He discovered that vulture wings have a bacterial group called Deinococcus, one of the toughest organisms that can withstand high radiation.
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So when I expose this wing into full sun, the temperature on a day like today would be 90 degrees outside.
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In about three minutes, the temperature on the surface of this wing heats up to over 160.
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And that probably explains why Dinococcus is so dominant, because it's one of the few bacterial groups that can actually reproduce.
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At the Smithsonian, these are just two of the collections within the bird division.
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There's also the organ collection soaked in ethanol for preservation, the skeletons with each bone meticulously numbered, and mounted birds that retired from being on the exhibit floor.
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All of these are time stamps of the present bird population, creating a record for future generations of researchers.
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When the first bird preparators prepared birds, they had no idea what DNA was.
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Even though they didn't know that, by doing a consistent bird prep, it has enabled future researchers to conduct research on birds.
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And, you know, I wish I had a time capsule to go into the future to see what our birds are gonna be used for 100 years from now.
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About This Lesson
This lesson focuses on the intriguing process of preserving bird specimens at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Throughout the video, viewers will explore how specialists meticulously prepare bird specimens through techniques such as skinning and preservation. From the initial acquisition of birds, whether through donation or by unique historical context, to the detailed steps of removal, cleaning, and preparation for long-term storage, learners will engage with specific vocabulary and phrases related to this specialized field. Additionally, the video provides insights into scientific research and preservation techniques that are valuable for learners interested in topics such as ecology and biology.
As you watch, practice your English speaking skills by focusing on vocabulary related to research and preservation, as well as applicable grammar patterns for discussing processes and procedures. The context of this video also provides an excellent opportunity for fluency practice in scientific discussions and presentations.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Specimen: A sample or representative part of something, often used in a scientific context.
- Preserve: To maintain something in its original or existing state, preventing decay or damage.
- Donation: The act of giving or contributing something, typically for charitable purposes.
- Acquisition: The process of obtaining or acquiring something, especially in a formal context.
- Methodical: Characterized by orderliness and careful planning in the performance of tasks.
- Fluid: A substance that can flow and conform to the shape of its container, such as liquids within organisms.
- Evolutionary changes: Modifications in the genetic structure of organisms over generations, often observable through physical traits.
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What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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