National Bird Collection The Division of Birds, National Museum
of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, houses and
maintains the third largest bird collection in the world with
over 640,000 specimens. Our National Collection, known in the
ornithological literature by the acronym USNM (referring to our
old name of United States National Museum), has representatives
of about 80% of the approximately 9,600 known species in the
world's avifauna. This collection supports scientific research
by resident staff and associates, as well as numerous visting
scientists. Specimens are made available to researchers
worldwide through collections visits, loans, and through our
online database. In addition to the Smithsonian staff,
zoologists from the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, U.S.
Geological Survey are permanently stationed in the division and
work closely with colleagues and specimens at the Museum. These
specialists focus primarily on North American birds. News and
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