I've seen this picture before. Does anyone know where its from?

Whoa. Stuff and more stuff and babies, too. And not even one kayak rack loaded with 12 matching blue boats. But wait...a room full of globes. Hootchie mama.

I, too, enjoy having my dead birds neatly organized.

LOL, Kathy B !

The photograph is the collection of bird specimens at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The woman standing in the front is Roxie Laybourne who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology.

finally! I was looking for a fun way to organize my shipping containers!

what's up with the dead birds?

They're not dead. They're resting ...

Yeah, not sure about the dead macaws.

catspajamas, my first thought when I saw them was "ahh, they're pinin' for the fjords"

the bird pictures are from the smithsonian! my cousin was a scientist in their ornithology department and i got to visit and look through those very drawers! it was amazing.

Whoa, whoooaaaaaaaaaaa. The birds. I thought it was corn on the cob at first.I figured it was some kind of science-related thing. These are so interesting.

Beautiful plumage...

I saw the picture and read the title. First thought: The Art of Derangement. But if this indeed the Smithsonian's drawers, I retract with humility....

it's weird how arranging all of your dead birds can really clear your schedule for other, more exciting tasks, like arranging your dead rat collection.

Catspajamas: that was hilarious!

That first picture looks like a Monty Python sketch gone mad

@puella, I thought so, too, until I read the comments. Glad I wasn't the only one.

I love this picture! My husband grew up in a house across the street from Roxie Laybourne! A truly amazing lady...

I find the ornithology collection disturbing. I know it's for science, but it creeps me out all the same.

Also, arranging things neatly suggests to me that you can then ACCESS them, so photo 2 is my kind of organizing nightmare! It might be neat, sort of, but it's still awful.

The tool chest made my heart flutter. So beautiful!

@ Gibbler: SO JEALOUS!

I remember she was on some kids PBS show, and you could just tell the lady was SMART. I'm not into dead animals but seeing her on the show has made me forever want to visit the Smithsonian ornithology department.

This post has to be a giant tease aimed at the folks creeped out by the dead animal trend. "You thought deer heads were bad? Try hundreds of dead birds on for size!"

Yah, the toolchest..so delightful to see these useful things neatly organised! I´m not a collector nor the most organized person, but i love to see useful stuff in resting harmony, just waiting for next project.

Ohhh... I honestly thought they were unshucked ears of corn!

You know you're a Museum Studies major when your first thought isn't, "Eeek, dead birds!", it's, "Ooh, are those Australian? I think I see crimson rosellas and galahs, and maybe the white ones are cockatoos..."

But really, I've been in the ornithology rooms at the Australian Museum. And seen an owl being prepared. Did you know most of their bird collection is (well-intact) roadkill? And there's a ton of different types of preservation - the ones that are mounted for museum display are pretty rare. A lot of them are like this, and they have a lot of skeletal remains - both loose and recontructed. Stomach contents, too, sometimes get preserved - it can tell you a lot about the animal.

I've gone off on a tangent, haven't I.