In the 1930s, Robert T. Moore—explorer, poet, and ornithologist—set out to describe the birds of Mexico. He employed Los Angeles naturalist Chester C. Lamb who, by 1955, had collected 39,000 specimens from over 300 locations.
After Moore died, the collection remained preserved, its wealth of knowledge waiting to be examined. Meanwhile, the habitats Lamb visited were forever altered by natural resource extraction, reshaping both the landscape and its bird communities.
In 2017, researchers at the Moore Laboratory of Zoology at Occidental College, where Moore’s collection came to reside, began revisiting Lamb’s sites to see how human impacts had changed the landscape – and its birdlife.
Click on a location to explore. Interested in a site? Get in touch via the About page.
Records of Change | bioGraphic
Retracing Chester Lamb’s footsteps to learn how and why Mexico’s bird fauna has changed over time.
In the 1930s, Robert T. Moore—explorer, poet, and ornithologist—set out to describe the birds of Mexico. He employed Los Angeles naturalist Chester C. Lamb to collect the birds. By the time Lamb was finished in 1955, he had 39,000 specimens from over 300 locations.
After Moore died, the collection remained preserved, its wealth of knowledge waiting to be examined. Meanwhile, the habitats Lamb visited were forever altered by natural resource extraction, reshaping both the landscape and its bird communities.
In 2017, researchers at the Moore Laboratory of Zoology at Occidental College, where Moore’s bird collection came to reside, began revisiting Lamb’s sites to see how human impacts had changed the landscape – and its birdlife.
Select a location to explore. Interested in a site? Get in touch via the About page.
Records of Change | bioGraphic
Retracing Chester Lamb’s footsteps to learn how and why Mexico’s bird fauna has changed over time.
Records of Change | bioGraphic
Retracing Chester Lamb’s footsteps to learn how and why Mexico’s bird fauna has changed over time.