he Denver Museum of Nature & Science bird collection contains approximately 53,000 specimens from around the world (1842 to the present), with a focus on the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains regions. The collection is worldwide in scope (six out of seven continents represented) with excellent taxonomic coverage of class Aves (205 out of ~224 families represented). Ordinal representation is excellent; however, more than half of the birds in the collection belong to Passeriformes. The collection includes study skins, skeletal material (~5,000, most with associated skin), taxidermy mounts, frozen tissue samples (~12,000), and associated parasites (ecto- and endoparasites). Growth of the collection continues primarily through salvage activities. The 7,000 egg sets/nests are curated separately - this collection is also global in scope with a focus on North America and Europe.