The Friday 1/20 meeting has been CANCELLED. 

Date: Friday 1/20
Time: 7:30-8:30p
Age Group: Adults 18+

Program Location: Shanis Auditorium & Zoom

Description: This monthly meeting of the Wyncote Audubon Society is open to the public in partnership with Upper Dublin Library. Join us for a new topic and new speaker every month. This is a hybrid meeting. We encourage “in-person” meeting but can also be enjoyed virtually. All are welcome!

Jason Weckstein will take us on a virtual tour to introduce us to some of his favorite specimens from the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANSP). When he arrived at the ANSP in Summer 2014 as curator of Ornithology he told himself that every day at work he would open up one case and peruse specimens. He has managed to do that a lot, but certainly not every day and it seems like almost any time he opens a drawer he finds something magical that amazes him.

The ANSP Ornithology Collection houses approximately 225,000 specimens, which makes it the second largest university-based museum collection in the world (second to Harvard University’s collection). Overall, this is the 8th largest collection of birds in the world. The collection consists of mostly bird skins, but also houses a large tissue collection, large pickle collections (specimens preserved with formalin and stored in alcohol), and some skeletons and eggs as well. The collection is global in scope and includes a large proportion of the birds species of the world.

Presenter: Jason Weckstein Ph.D. is an Associate Professor, Department of Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science, at The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

The Wyncote Audubon Society is a Chapter of the National Audubon Society serving the nearly 2000 Audubon members who reside in major portions of Montgomery County and Philadelphia including Chestnut Hill, East Falls, Manayunk, Mt. Airy, Roxborough, North Philadelphia and Northeast Philadelphia.

Registration: Online registration required. Register at Eventbrite.