aves

This being Boston, we are completely cool with lesbian swans cohabitating in public. And little duckies, this is your doom: Seriously, I'm curious if they hunt ducklings this year (and now that I have a snazzy new iPhone, I'll try to get video if they do).

No, I'm not referring to the Radical Homosexual Pirate Menance. I'm referring to Boston's ongoing fight with the galliform hordes. Unspeakable, I tell you.

Just when we thought the Turkey Menace had disappeared, they're back: Thanksgiving II: The Revenge A Gardner Road [Brookline, MA] man told police that he and his 9-month-old son were "surrounded and attacked by six turkeys" at about 12:14 p.m. on Dec. 12. Police offered to dispatch EMS to treat any injuries, but EMS was refused, according to the police log. I wish the far right would stop trying to convince people to invade Mexico (um, yes, really), and, instead, deal with our own native evildoers.

A new species of stork has been identified from Flores, which is the Indonesian island on which the famous "hobbit" fossils have been found. The "hobbit" is a form of hominid (human relative) that seems to be a diminutive form of Homo erectus but different enough from that widespread species to give it a distinct taxonomic status, Homo floresiensis. The Flores hominids were probably about 120 centimeters in height, and the new stork was probably about 180 centimeters in height. The following artist reconstruction is meant to demonstrate bigness of the stork in relation to our diminutive…

(from here) One of the models for the evolution of new species is allopatric speciation, where a small isolated population diverges from a larger ancestral population. Many of these peripheral populations become extinct, but some persist and give rise to new species if they can remain reproductively isolated (unable to breed with each other). Lots of things can cause populations to diverge to the point where they can't interbreed, but one key factor is the divergence in sexual signals--that is, individuals don't mate with each other because they don't think they are in the same species (…

Last week, I described how the pair of swans living on Boston's Public Garden's Lagoon* have a predilection for attacking ducklings. Last night, the swans were at it again. But last night, this took a very sinister turn: I think Juliet got a duckling. I could have counted wrong, but I think the Lagoon now has n - 1 ducklings. No idea if this was Juliet I or Juliet II (LESBIAN SWANZ!! AAAIIEEE!!). Oh, the... avianity?!? *Why the pond is called a lagoon when it is not a lagoon has always puzzled me.

I need some help from 'swanologists.' So do Boston's ducklings. In the middle of Boston's Public Garden, there is a large pond (although for some reason it's called a lagoon, even though it's not a lagoon). Every year, two swans, Romeo and Juliet, are brought to the Lagoon and released to build a nest (it turns out that both swans are female. LESBIAN SWANS!! AAAIEEE!!!). Last weekend, I happened to be in the Public Garden all three days (long weekend), and every day I saw a swan (no idea if it was Romeo, Juliet, or both) that was chasing after ducklings. By chasing, I mean that it would…

A laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae), photographed at the Bronx Zoo.

On this Patriot's Day, we must never forget that the Heroic Struggle Against Our Demonic Turkey Overlords has not abated. Now they are assaulting the basic workings of our government: click to embiggen (from here) Preventing the Boston Transportation Department from the appointed rounds! (and Intelligent Designer knows, we need the revenue). Have they no decency?

Admittedly, that would be a great name for a band, but, by way of Yves Smith, I came across this hysterical video of zebra finches (it gets really good past the one minute mark):

Remember that it is far better to eat turkey than to be eaten by them... On a more serious note, if you have enough to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, consider giving to your local food bank. If you're in the Boston area, these people do good work.

Well.  I'm off to host a photography workshop.  But in the meantime I can't resist passing along this video. In honor of Michael Jackson, of course. ht: nyt

Tweet? (and not the internet kind). At the recent ASM meeting, I saw a poster presented by Mark Schroeder of Ohio Wesleyan University about the prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococci in wild song birds (the staphylococci include several potential pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermis). Based on my notes (Note to wee lil' scientists: If you're presenting a poster, always bring lots of page sized copies. Always.), roughly ten percent of birds had staphylococci (I think they were isolated from the plumage, but I can't be certain). Among the mannitol-positive…

"Fear the drumstick!" (Globe Staff Photo/Mark Wilson) I've written before about the nefarious scourge of turkeys in the Boston area. Once again, Boston's turkey terrorists are on the march: I saw two in Longwood Mall and took a step toward them with my cell-phone camera at the ready. Tough as any gangbangers, the creatures aggressively advanced toward me. I took a careful step or two backward, very measured. Then they charged. I ran, half speed, slightly amused at the thought of turning tail to a couple of toms, but when I looked back, the fuckers were gaining on me. So I sprinted across…

Scientists have long been torn about the exact evolution of birds since fossil and molecular dating techniques have yielded different answers. But by studying the DNA of birds in the parrot and cockatoo families, which do not migrate like most other birds, researchers were able to discern the times of species divergence and concluded that "parrots are an ancient lineage without any close evolutionary relationships," according to ScienceBlogger Grrl Scientist.

I've written before about the scourge of turkeys that are terrorizing the greater Boston area. One thing I've noticed is that the turkeys have gone missing this year. Apparently, one such turkey named "Sully" (by turkey-loving sympathizers) that established an enclave in South Boston is nowhere to be found: Sully reportedly arrived in the neighborhood more than six months ago with a half-dozen other turkeys, but they all left and he stayed behind and set up a territory in the area around Dorchester Heights. His fame was immediate - There's a wild turkey! Living in Southie! - but the more he…

tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, speciation, ring species, phylogeography, landscape genetics, crimson rosella, Platycercus elegans, parrots, birds, Australia Crimson Rosella, Platycercus elegans. Image: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. One of the challenges facing those who believe that evolution cannot create new species is explaining the problem of "ring species." Ring species are a group of geographically connected populations that can interbreed with nearby populations, but cannot breed with those populations that exist at each end of the cline (figure A). These populations…

tags: Aves, photography, subway art, AMNH, NYC, NYCLife I think this might be a Common Black Hawk, Buteogallus anthracinus, (although it lacks the broad white terminal tail band) as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the West 77th street entrance to the NYC subway stop (A-B-C) at 81st and Central Park West. (ISO, no zoom, no flash). Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [wallpaper size]. Read more about the AMNH tile artworks and see the AMNH tile artworks photographic archives -- with all the animals identified.

tags: aves, photography, subway art, AMNH, NYC, NYCLife A hummingbird species as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the West 77th street entrance to the NYC subway stop (A-B-C) at 81st and Central Park West. (ISO, no zoom, no flash). Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [wallpaper size]. Read more about the AMNH tile artworks and see the AMNH tile artworks photographic archives -- with all the animals identified.

A while back, I wrote about the full out assault by demonic flocks of turkeys on the good city of Boston. Now, I have personally witnessed the horror up close. Last weekend, I was in Kendall Square, Boston, about a block away from the Kendall Square T station around noon. And what did I see, but a rather large turkey wandering around (no doubt it was an advance scout for the rampaging turkey hordes). It was rather skittish around people--although that might be part of the master plan to soften we humans up in preparation for the onslaught. Seriously, this is an urban area. There are no…