birds
grrlscientist | April 14, 2009tags: Abert's Towhee, Pipilo aberti, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Abert's Towhee, Pipilo aberti, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 22 February 2009 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2009:02:22 16:36:34
Exposure Time: 1/400
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 250
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
A big, long-tailed, pot-bellied, heavy-billed sparrow -- aka, a towhee.
The only towhee…
grrlscientist | April 13, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
The only egg known to be collected by Charles Darwin, recently rediscovered.
Image: University of Cambridge.
Birds and American Law
The American Federation of Aviculture Inc. (AFA), the Avicultural Society of America (ASA) and the National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA) issued an action alert together that opposes H.R. 669, a bill banning most nonnative animals in the United States. "H.R. 669 is an 'anti-animal bill'. There is no amendment that can fix this bill," states the action alert. H.R. 669 is a bill that…
grrlscientist | April 13, 2009tags: Lesser Black-backed Gull, Larus fuscus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Black-backed Gull, Larus fuscus, photographed in Quintana, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Yes, it's a gull -- but don't panic. I think you'll agree…
grrlscientist | April 12, 2009tags: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, photographed in Brandon, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 1 September 2008 [larger view].
Photo taken with a Canon 20D, 400 5.6L lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | April 11, 2009tags: Female Gadwall, Anas strepera, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Female Gadwall, Anas strepera, photographed in San Bernard Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
My usual harping is sort of beside the point when we have no…
grrlscientist | April 10, 2009tags: Fledgling Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Fledgling Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 21 June 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:06:21 08:39:09
Exposure Time: 1/40
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 800
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This bird may have been a stumper for many of us. When we…
grrlscientist | April 9, 2009tags: Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata, photographed in San Bernard Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This is a great illustration of how it pays to know more…
grrlscientist | April 8, 2009tags: lories, Loriinae, Loriidae, ornithology, molecular biology, natural history museums
A young pair of Meyer's Lories (Lorikeets), Trichoglossus flavoviridis meyeri.
Image: Iggino [larger view].
"Can you help us identify a mystery lory in our collection?"
I was pleasantly surprised to find this email request from Donna Dittmann, Collections Manager and Museum Preparator for the Section of Genetic Resources at Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"Sure," I wrote back. "Send it to me and I'll see what I can do."
I, and some of my lories,…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2009tags: Lazuli x Indigo Bunting Hybrid, Passerina amoena X Passerina cyanea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lazuli x Indigo Bunting Hybrid, Passerina amoena X Passerina cyanea, photographed in South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 18 December 2008.
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
A blue bird with a conical bill can be only a Passerina bunting. The absence of cinnamon on the wing…
grrlscientist | April 6, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
In a dramatic discovery, BirdLife has filmed Common Cuckoos calling with a "Ooo-Cuck, Ooo-Cuck". (April fools?)
Image: Greg & Yvonne Dean/WorldWildlifeImages.com.
Birds in Science and Technology
Count your chickens after they hatch, and they may do a little arithmetic themselves. Chicks only 3 or 4 days old manage an animal version of adding and subtracting, says Rosa Rugani of the University of Trento Center for Mind/Brain Sciences in Rovereto, Italy. Inspired by experiments with human babies, Rugani and her…
grrlscientist | April 6, 2009tags: Sora, Porzana carolina, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Sora, Porzana carolina, photographed in San Bernard Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
A pudgy-bodied, short-tailed, short-billed bird creeping cautiously through the marsh is a crake. Only one species,…
grrlscientist | April 5, 2009tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and enjoyment. Below the fold is this week's issue of The Birdbooker Report which…
grrlscientist | April 5, 2009tags: Ferruginous Hawk, Buteo regalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ferruginous Hawk, Buteo regalis, photographed on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands south of Pierre, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 16 February 2009 [larger view].
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Here's a long-winged, long-tailed buteo with a dull white tail. For many of us, that might have been enough to…
grrlscientist | April 4, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos, photographed in Brazos Bend State Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Another view;
American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos, photographed in Brazos Bend State Park, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 March 2009 [larger view].…
grrlscientist | April 3, 2009tags: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 24 December 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:12:24 08:21:25
Exposure Time: 1/200
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 320
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | April 2, 2009tags: Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps, photographed in Brazoria Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s 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 | April 1, 2009tags: Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, photographed at the Unitarian/Universalist Fellowship building in Manhattan Kansas [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: photographed by Thomas Manney, this image appears here at the suggestion of Dave Rintoul.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
[Mystery bird] photographed at the Unitarian/Universalist Fellowship building in Manhattan Kansas [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: photographed by Thomas…
grrlscientist | March 31, 2009tags: Snow Bunting, Plectrophenax nivali, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Snow Bunting, Plectrophenax nivali, photographed in Minnehaha County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 19 January 2009 [larger view].
Photo taken with Canon 50D, 400 5.6L lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
The angled commissure of emberizid buntings always makes them look like they're smiling, don't you think? The bright white plumage, pale…
grrlscientist | March 30, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
American Avocet chick, Recurvirostra americana.
Image: Richard Ditch, 2007 [larger view].
Birds in Science and Technology
Researchers have discovered the first direct evidence that exposure to stress in young birds affects the way they react to stress when adult. Exposure to stressful events soon after birth has significant effects on a range of physiological and behavioral responses later in life. Previous work in mammals has been unable to work out whether this is due to raised stress hormone levels produced by…
grrlscientist | March 30, 2009tags: Gray Jay, Perisoreus canadensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Gray Jay, Perisoreus canadensis, photographed during a snowstorm on Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Olympic Peninsula, Washington [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Lee Rentz, March 2009.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
A big fluffy gray bird in the north woods is almost certainly a Gray Jay. Even from this angle, we can see the contrasting dark cap that confirms…