Feathered

 Continuing where I left off yesterday, more of the Bird Gallery.

There are dioramas here- a mixture of the species, reproduced landscape in the foreground, and a painted background. The broad-winged hawk is a resident of rural landscapes along the Great Lakes.

The sage grouse can be found in the Prairies.

Three birds are side by side in this diorama. The gray-crowned Rosy-finch, white tailed ptarmigan, and American Pipit are found in the western mountains.

An Aviary

 Ground was broken in 1905 for the building of what is now the Canadian Museum of Nature.

The Geological Survey of Canada set up shop here, including exhibition space.

Early on, it would serve another space. With the destruction by fire of the original Centre Block on Parliament Hill, the building housed a temporary Parliament while the rebuild was on.

Wilfrid Laurier, who had done much in bringing the project to life, laid in state here after his death.

The next gallery space is the Bird Gallery. Many of the display cases are organized thematically.

History

Rounding out this visit today inside the Earth Gallery.

This large rock is rich in copper and nickel.

It was time to move onto the next gallery space. I headed out into the Queens Lantern, where some of the history of the building is examined. It is officially the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, originally built in honour of the Queen. Aside from the natural world collections, this building has housed other elements of the national museums at one point or another.

The administrative side and the larger collections of this museum are over in Gatineau.

There are stories that the building is haunted. Some suggest it's Wilfrid Laurier, whose body laid in state here before his funeral.

There have been renovations over time, including back in the 1990s.

A larger one was undertaken in the first decade of this century. Improvements were made, including additions to galleries, seismic reinforcements, and the addition of the Queens Lantern, which replaced a stone tower of the original building that had to be removed.

The Queens Lantern is a delight inside, very modern, but fitting well with the older architecture. It was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, and is named both for her and for Victoria.

The Moon overhead is irresistible for the photographer.

Cave

 More today inside the cave within the Museum of Nature.

Magmatic rocks rise up out of the depths of the earth.

The minerals within magmatic rock can be very valuable, and very photogenic. Nature has created this work of art that carries a title- The Lovers.