I don't think anyone's ever mentioned it in this forum, but OSU's Museum of Biological Diversity holds an Open House every year about this time, in this case tomorrow, from 10-4, to which the public is invited. At this time, many Museum collections invite folks to come in, view displays, and ask questions of curators and graduate students. Usually over a thousand visitors--kids are welcome--come by. All the University's biological collections, except for fossils, are housed in the Museum, including fishes, plants, insects, molluscs, spiders, birds, etc. The Open Houses are always lively and intriguing. Readers of Ohiobirds are likely to stop by the bird collection, which is part of the Tetrapods area ('Vertebrates' in the old vernacular). 99% of the collection is stored away in drawers and boxes in off-limits areas, but a special display, based on this year's theme "Everybody Eats," will be up, and staff and volunteers will be available to answer questions. Mounted birds, many of them from generations ago, generally lack data such as accompany the specimens in storage, but hundreds of them are stored in the open, and always stimulate conversation. Giant sea turtles, jungle cats, and jugged snakes loom in the background. The Museum is at 1315 Kinnear Rd on the west side of campus. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]