grrlscientist | November 21, 2009tags: Plumed Whistling Ducks, Eyton Tree Ducks, Dendrocygna eytoni, identify these birds, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Plumed Whistling Ducks, also known as Eyton Tree Ducks, Dendrocygna eytoni, photographed at Atherton, Queensland, Australia. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 26 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 20, 2009tags: Australian Darter, Anhinga novaehollandiae, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Australian Darter, Anhinga novaehollandiae, photographed at Mareeba Wetlands, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 26 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 20, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
I love cicadas, and this video about a cicada who learns the "wrong" song is just so sweet! The star of this video was introduced to salsa music while still in his egg, but he still manages to find true love.
Can anyone tell me if there are cicadas in Frankfurt?
grrlscientist | November 19, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
About the true love of two apple worms becoming separated during harvest times, but like my love story, this one has a happy ending
grrlscientist | November 19, 2009When this publishes, it will be 8 am in Germany and my plane will have landed in Frankfurt a few minutes ago. As you are getting ready to snuggle into a warm bed, I will be jet-lagged, waiting to collect my checked bags and to work my way through Customs with my birds. Hopefully, I have all my permits, certificates and other paperwork in order so the authorities will simply wave me through and let me go home -- to a place I've never seen -- and take a hot shower! Even though I've said I will collapse and sleep for three days after reaching Frankfurt, this is unlikely (based on what I do after…
grrlscientist | November 19, 2009By the time this publishes, I will be on the plane with my parrots somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean (hopefully not in it!), flying to Frankfurt! So while I am preoccupied with doing that, I thought I would write this list to amuse you (and to remind you that I am thinking about all of you, even while relocating);
Why I WILL miss living in NYC:
NYC's vibrant cash economy, which made it possible (barely) for me to pay my rent without having a "real job." As much as I love Seattle (my home), I am well aware that I could not have survived in Seattle if I had to rely on their cash economy.…
grrlscientist | November 19, 2009tags: Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, photographed at Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Art McLeod, 18 August 2009 [larger view].
Canon 40d 400mm 5.6 lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 19, 2009tags: satire, comedy, humor, president obama, teleprompter, ONN, Onion News Network, streaming video
Imagine the crisis that occurred when President Obama's teleprompter unexpectedly stopped functioning during a family dinner. Fortunately, he is capable of remembering his script, unlike the moron who was in office one year ago....
Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner
grrlscientist | November 18, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
A love story, starring those sweet little ladybugs. But this love story has a hidden message under all the gooey kisses.
grrlscientist | November 18, 2009tags: Long-tailed Duck, Oldsquaw, Clangula hyemalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Long-tailed Duck, formerly known as Oldsquaw, Clangula hyemalis, photographed at Bodega Bay, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 23 December 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 18, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
Now this is a very cute video. It follows the story of a honeybee that flies into a house and becomes a prisoner inside. A fly discovers the trapped bee on the opposite side of the window glass and then the unexpected happens.
grrlscientist | November 17, 2009tags: Greater Roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Greater Roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus, photographed at Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 March 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 17, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
This video shows ant culture and society as you've never seen it before!
These videos are so education, don't you think?
grrlscientist | November 16, 2009Today is far more stressful than it deserves to be. I spent a good part of today either bleeding all over my apartment (one of my lories bit me) or on the telephone, talking with the police department, trying to determine if my "good citizen certificate" is ready to pick up. Even though I saw at least two police officers with desks that had functioning telephones on them while I was there, I was told there are no telephones into that office. WTF?
After being bounced a dozen times between operator 2231 and operator 174 (or whatever their names were), my throbbing finger wrapped in half a roll…
grrlscientist | November 16, 2009I am leaving on Thursday (19 November), and still have a mountain of books to give away. I could give them to NYPL or I could give them to you (if you pay postage). I prefer to give them to you, but you have to act quickly because I have tons of things I need to take care of before I leave. I'll give you 24 hours to (1) claim the book in comments below (so everyone knows the book is claimed), and then (2) you MUST send me your mailing address via email. If you don't do both things, I will take all the unclaimed books to NYPL to add to their fund-raising book auction. I am really stressed out…
grrlscientist | November 16, 2009tags: Savannah Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Savannah Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 31 October 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 16, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
This poor ladybug can't even find someone to play with! Those flies are just too greedy to be good playmates.
grrlscientist | November 15, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
If only NASA had watched this video before spending billions of dollars on the space program!
grrlscientist | November 15, 2009Things are moving really quickly now, and of course, I also had several emergencies I had to take care of, plus I have several other things I must do, such as must notify my DonorsChoose prize winners, and finish rewrites on a Nature piece that are overdue. (I've never missed a deadline before, so this alone is extremely stressful). So basically, my stress levels are still extremely high, but I've just traded one source of stressors for another.
All last week was a nightmare, since I had been calling all the East Coast offices of USFWS -- as many as a dozen phone calls per day, trying to…