1.
Ornithology
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Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. The word ornithology derives from the ancient Greek ὄρνις ornis and λόγος logos, several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds. Most marked among these is the extent of studies undertaken by amateurs working within the parameters of strict scientific methodology, most modern biological theories apply across taxonomic groups and the number of professional scientists who identify themselves as ornithologists has therefore declined. A wide range of tools and techniques are used in ornithology, the origins of the word ornithology come from the Greek ornithologos and late 17th-century Latin ornithologia meaning bird science. Trends include the move from mere descriptions to the identification of patterns, Humans have had an observational relationship with birds since prehistory, with some stone age drawings being amongst the oldest indications of an interest in birds. Birds were perhaps important as a source, and bones of as many as 80 species have been found in excavations of early Stone Age settlements. Waterbird and seabird remains have also found in shell mounds on the island of Oronsay off the coast of Scotland. Cultures around the world have rich vocabularies related to birds, traditional bird names are often based on detailed knowledge of the behaviour, with many names being onomatopoeic, many still in use. Traditional knowledge may also involve the use of birds in folk medicine, hunting of wild birds as well as their domestication would have required considerable knowledge of their habits. Poultry farming and falconry were practised from early times in many parts of the world, artificial incubation of poultry was practised in China around 246 BC and around at least 400 BC in Egypt. The Egyptians also made use of birds in their scripts, many of which. Early written records provide information on the past distributions of species. For instance Xenophon records the abundance of the ostrich in Assyria, other old writings such as the Vedas demonstrate the careful observation of avian life histories and includes the earliest reference to the habit of brood parasitism by the Asian koel. Like writing, the art of China, Japan, Persia and India also demonstrate knowledge. Aristotle in 350 BC in his Historia Animalium noted the habit of migration, moulting, egg laying and life spans. Similar misconceptions existed regarding the breeding of barnacle geese, around 77 AD, Pliny the Elder described birds, among other creatures, in his Historia Naturalis. The origins of falconry have been traced to Mesopotamia and the earliest record comes from the reign of Sargon II, falconry made its entry to Europe only after AD400, brought in from the East after invasions by the Huns and Allans. Frederick II of Hohenstaufen learned about Arabian falconry during wars in the region and he had this work translated into Latin and also conducted experiments on birds in his menagerie
2.
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
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The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the New World. It was founded in 1812, by many of the naturalists of the young American republic with an expressed mission of the encouragement. The Academy also has a tradition of public exhibits and educational programs for both schools and the general public. During the first decades of the United States, Philadelphia was the cultural capital, two of the citys institutions, the Library Company and the American Philosophical Society, were centers of enlightened thought and scientific inquiry. The academy was meant to foster a gathering of fellow naturalists and they frequently looked to their European counterparts for inspiration and expertise and longed to be regarded as equals. On 25 April 1817 they were incorporated into the society under the title of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia by the legislature of Pennsylvania, by 1 January 1818, eight members were published. Within a decade of its founding, the Academy became the center of natural sciences in the United States. Academy members were enlisted to participate in national surveys of the western territories. Corresponding members included such luminaries as Charles Darwin, Asa Gray, for much of its history, new members had to be nominated by two current members and then elected by the remaining members. These requirements were dropped in 1924, notable 20th-century scientists include James Böhlke, James Bond, Henry Weed Fowler, Ruth Patrick, Henry Pilsbry, and Witmer Stone. In 2011, the Academy became affiliated with nearby Drexel University, collections are the hallmark of museums and those at The Academy of Natural Sciences are among the more important of their kind. The size and scope of its collections have grown substantially since the early years, currently, there are over 17 million biological specimens, and hundreds of thousands of volumes, journals, illustrations, photographs, and archival items in its library. Sometimes the Academy is also enlisted to house and care for collections originally gathered by other institutions, for example, a number of the natural history collections at the American Philosophical Society were relocated to the Academy by the end of the 19th century. But these collections are not maintained just to collect dust and they provide a library of biodiversity. In recent decades, research has shifted in emphasis to the science of systematics, either way, the collections are invaluable. They provide the type specimens, the material that helps establish a species identity. They also provide raw materials with which scientists can investigate the nature of species, their relationships with other species, their evolutionary history. New questions and new technology illustrate the importance of these collections, titian Peale may not have been interested in the conservation biology of the butterflies he collected while Henry Pilsbry probably did not consider comparing the DNA of his snails
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Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
4.
Quakers
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Quakers are members of a historically Christian group of religious movements generally known as the Religious Society of Friends. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity, to differing extents, the different movements that make up the Religious Society of Friends/Friends Church avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers, in 2012, there were 377,055 adult Quakers. Some meetings of both types have Recorded Ministers in their meetings—Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry, the first Quakers lived in mid-17th century England. The movement arose from the Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups, some of these early Quaker ministers were women. They emphasized a personal and direct experience of Christ, acquired through both direct religious experience and the reading and studying of the Bible. Quakers focused their private life on developing behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity, in the past, Quakers were known for their use of thee as an ordinary pronoun, refusal to participate in war, plain dress, refusal to swear oaths, opposition to slavery, and teetotalism. & J. Clark and the big three British confectionery makers Cadbury, Rowntree and Frys, and philanthropic efforts, including abolition of slavery, prison reform, during and after the English Civil War many dissenting Christian groups emerged, including the Seekers and others. A young man named George Fox was dissatisfied with the teachings of the Church of England and he had a vision on Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered. Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands, and Barbados preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith, the central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself. His followers considered themselves to be the restoration of the true Christian church, in 1650, Fox was brought before the magistrates Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religious blasphemy. According to George Foxs autobiography, Bennet was the first that called us Quakers and it is thought that George Fox was referring to Isaiah 66,2 or Ezra 9,4. Thus, the name Quaker began as a way of ridiculing George Foxs admonition, Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, and the numbers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680. This was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence and stopped under the Act of Toleration 1689, with the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women, Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing holy conversation in her children and husband. Quaker women were responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in meetings that regulated marriage. The persecution of Quakers in North America began in 1656 when English Quaker missionaries Mary Fisher and they were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the Inner Light. They were imprisoned and banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and their books were burned, and most of their property was confiscated. They were imprisoned in terrible conditions, then deported, in 1660, English Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony
5.
Taxonomy (biology)
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Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
6.
Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)
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Alexander Wilson was a Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, naturalist, and illustrator. Identified by George Ord as the Father of American Ornithology, Wilson is now regarded as the greatest American ornithologist before Audubon, several species of bird are named after Wilson, including the Wilsons storm-petrel, Wilsons plover, Wilsons phalarope, Wilsons snipe, and Wilsons warbler. The now obsolete warbler genus Wilsonia was named for him by Charles Lucien Bonaparte, the Wilson Journal of Ornithology and the Wilson Ornithological Society also bear his name. Wilson was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1779 he was apprenticed as a weaver. The writing of a poem of severe personal satire against a mill owner resulted in his arrest and he was sentenced to burn the work in public and imprisoned. After his release, he emigrated to America, Wilson and his nephew left Scotland for America in May 1794. Here Wilson met the famous naturalist William Bartram, who encouraged Wilsons interest in ornithology, of the 268 species of birds illustrated there,26 had not previously been described. Wilson died during the preparation of the volume, which was completed and published by George Ord. Wilson is buried in Gloria Dei Church cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, George Ord, Wilsons friend, patron, and continuator of his work, is buried not far away in the same cemetery. In Paisley, a memorial and a statue commemorate Wilsons connection to that city, the memorial is inscribed Remember Alexander Wilson 1766-1813. American Ornithology, or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States, list of pieces written by Mr. Alexander Wilson, now in Philadelphia. At head of title, Paisley repository, probable decade of imprint from NSTC. The American blue bird, p. 2-3, The Baltimore bird, rab and Ringan, a tale as delivered in the Pantheon, Edinburgh by the author of Watty and Meg, to which is added The twa cats and the cheese, a tale. Oration, on the power and value of national liberty delivered to an assembly of citizens, at Milestown, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. This material relates to Alexander B, there are notes and copies of letters and documents, including a copy of Wilsons will. There is one poem by Wilson, The Last Wish, the Foresters, A Poem, Descriptive of a Pedestrian Journey to the Falls of Niagara in the Autumn of 1804. Newtown, S. Siegfried & J. Wilson, also published in the magazine The Port Folio in 1809/1810. Alexander Wilson, The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology by Edward H. Burtt, Jr. and William E. Davis, Jr. Harvard UP, Cambridge, the Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson by Clark Hunter
7.
John James Audubon
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John James Audubon was an American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his extensive studies documenting all types of American birds and his major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America, is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon was born in Les Cayes in the French colony of Saint-Domingue on his fathers sugarcane plantation and he was the son of Lieutenant Jean Audubon, a French naval officer from the south of Brittany, and his mistress Jeanne Rabine, a 27-year-old chambermaid from Les Touches, Brittany. They named the boy Jean Rabin and his mother died when the boy was a few months old, as she had suffered from tropical disease since arriving on the island. His father already had an number of mixed-race children, some by his mulatto housekeeper. Following Jeanne Rabins death, Jean Audubon renewed his relationship with Sanitte Bouffard and had a daughter by her, Bouffard also took care of the infant boy Jean. The senior Audubon had commanded ships, during the American Revolution, he had been imprisoned by Britain. After his release, he helped the American cause and he had long worked to save money and secure his familys future with real estate. In 1791 he arranged for his natural children Jean and Muguet, the children were raised in Couëron, near Nantes, France, by Audubon and his French wife Anne Moynet Audubon, whom he had married years before his time in Saint-Domingue. In 1794 they formally adopted both his children to regularize their legal status in France. They renamed the boy Jean-Jacques Fougère Audubon and the girl Rose, when Audubon, at age 18, boarded ship in 1803 to immigrate to the United States, he changed his name to an anglicized form, John James Audubon. From his earliest days, Audubon had an affinity for birds, I felt an intimacy with them. bordering on frenzy must accompany my steps through life. His father encouraged his interest in nature, He would point out the elegant movement of the birds, and he called my attention to their show of pleasure or sense of danger, their perfect forms and splendid attire. He would speak of their departure and return with the seasons, in France during the chaotic years of the French Revolution and its aftermath, the younger Audubon grew up to be a handsome and gregarious man. He played flute and violin, and learned to ride, fence, a great walker, he loved roaming in the woods, often returning with natural curiosities, including birds eggs and nests, of which he made crude drawings. His father planned to make a seaman of his son, at twelve, Audubon went to military school and became a cabin boy. He quickly found out that he was susceptible to seasickness and not fond of mathematics or navigation, after failing the officers qualification test, Audubon ended his incipient naval career. He was cheerfully back on solid ground and exploring the fields again, in 1803, his father obtained a false passport so that Audubon could go to the United States to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic Wars
8.
Cassin's auklet
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Cassin’s auklet is a small, chunky seabird that ranges widely in the North Pacific. It nests in burrows and because of its presence on well studied islands in British Columbia. It is named for John Cassin, a Pennsylvania businessman and naturalist, Cassins auklet is a small nondescript auk. Its plumage is dark above and pale below, with a small white mark above the eye. Its bill is dark with a pale spot, and its feet are blue. Unlike many other auks, Cassins auklet lacks dramatic breeding plumage, at sea it is usually identified by its flight, which is described as looking like a flying tennis ball. Cassins auklet ranges from midway up the Baja California peninsula to Alaskas Aleutian Islands and it nests on offshore islands, with the main population stronghold being Triangle Island off Vancouver Islands Cape Scott, where the population is estimated to be around 550,000 pairs. It is not known to be migratory, however northern birds may move south during the winter. It is divided into two subspecies, P. a. aleuticus –, Aleutian Islands & south Alaska to northern Baja California, P. a. australis –, southern Baja California. An extinct relative or predecessor species, Ptychoramphus tenuis, is known from the Late Pliocene of the San Diego Formation in California, Cassins auklet nests in burrows on small islands, and in the southern area of its range may be found in the breeding colony year round. It either digs holes in the soil or uses natural cracks and crevices to nest in, pairs will show a strong loyalty towards each other and to a nesting site for many years. Both the parents incubate the single egg, returning to swap shifts at night to avoid being taken by predators such as the western gull or peregrine falcon. They also depart from the colony before dawn, the chick fledges alone and makes its way to the sea. Cassins auklet is unusual amongst seabirds in occasionally laying a second clutch after a successful first clutch, at sea Cassins auklets feeds offshore, in clear often pelagic water, often associating with bathymetric landmarks such as underwater canyons and upwellings. Numbers at sea may be underestimated because the bird moves away from ships at a distance of more than a kilometer. Recently their distribution around Triangle Island has been determined by telemetry and it feeds by diving underwater beating its wings for propulsion, hunting down large zooplankton, especially krill. It can dive to 30 m below the surface, and by some estimates 80 m, Cassins auklet is listed as Least Concern. Although some populations have suffered steep declines, overall the species is still numerous, threats to the auklet include introduced carnivores, oil spills and changes in sea surface temperature
