birds
grrlscientist | March 9, 2009tags: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, photographed in Starr County Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope 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, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Now here's a little bird, barely bigger than the menacing thorns it's paused…
bioephemera | March 8, 2009
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
--WB Yeats, "Sailing to Byzantium"
My coveted bauble of the week is this fabulous, foot-high Gladiator Raven from Anthropologie. Maybe it's not hammered gold and gold enamelling, but the patina and quirky textures in this piece should satisfy any ephemeraphile with $648 to spare.
grrlscientist | March 7, 2009tags: Streak-backed Oriole, Icterus pustulatus microstictus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Streak-backed Oriole, Icterus pustulatus microstictus, photographed at the Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 15 December 2006 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Any doubt that this is an oriole? Good. Confused about just what an oriole is? Better.
The English word was first applied, naturally…
grrlscientist | March 5, 2009tags: Attwater's Prairie Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido attwateri, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Attwater's Prairie Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido attwateri, photographed in Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 December 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope 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 | March 4, 2009tags: Brewer's Sparrow, Spizella breweri, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Brewer's Sparrow, Spizella breweri, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:03:13 09:12:01
Exposure Time: 1/319
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | March 2, 2009tags: Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 16 April 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:04:16 08:46:29
Exposure Time: 1/319
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 320
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | March 1, 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…
clock | February 28, 2009Gunnar Engblom explains Facebook to newbies.
Just go to Facebook and search for 'Birding' - people, groups, events.
grrlscientist | February 28, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Grasshopper Sparrow, Ammodramus savannarum, photographed in Attwater Prairie Chicken Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 December 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/90s 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 | February 24, 2009tags: White-tailed Kite, Elanus leucurus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White-tailed Kite, Elanus leucurus, photographed in Sacramento, California. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: John del Rio, autumn 2007 [larger view].
More images by this photographer can be seen on the front page and in the gallery.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
laelaps | February 24, 2009
A great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), photographed at the Turtleback Zoo.
grrlscientist | February 23, 2009tags: Costa's Hummingbird, Calypte costae, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Costa's Hummingbird, Calypte costae, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 15 May 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:05:15 07:47:40
Exposure Time: 1/30
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 320
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
edyong | February 23, 2009In late 2007, seabirds off the coast of California began to die in record numbers. The waterproof nature of their feathers and been wrecked, and they were soaked to the skin. Without an insulating layer of air trapped within their plumage, the damp birds were suffering from extreme cold. These are exactly the type of problems that seabirds face when they blunder into oil spills, but in this case, not a drop of petroleum had entered the water. The problem was a biological one.
At the same time, Monterey Bay in California was plagued by a massive "red tide" - a bloom of microscopic algae…
laelaps | February 23, 2009
A bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), photographed at the Turtleback Zoo.
grrlscientist | February 21, 2009tags: Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps grisegena, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps grisegena, photographed in Kearny, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 23 November 2006 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 20, 2009tags: Curve-billed Thrasher, Toxostoma curvirostre, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Curve-billed Thrasher, Toxostoma curvirostre, photographed in Starr County Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s 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 | February 19, 2009tags: White-collared Seedeater, Sporophila torqueola, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western White-collared Seedeater, Sporophila torqueola, discovered by the photographer and photographed at the Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 3 October 2008 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 18, 2009tags: juvenile Northern Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
The prior owner of these feathers, a probable juvenile Northern Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, met a plate-glass window at high speed and apparently was fatally injured. The feathers were what was remaining after a dog scavenged the carcass. Location is on the east side of Tuttle Creek Reservoir, Pottawatomie County Kansas (39.272N, 96.558W, altitude 1150 ft or 351 m). [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dave Rintoul, 29 January 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that…
grrlscientist | February 17, 2009tags: Central Park Wildlife, New York City, Bob Levy, image of the day
Northern Cardinal Gets His Turn In The Spotlight
Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger view].
The photographer writes;
A shaft of sunlight fortuitously fell on this male Northern Cardinal at just the right moment. I regularly visit a set of cardinal families. I wish I knew which of the Central Park clans this fella was from but I don't. It does not take away from the enjoyment of this image, does it?
grrlscientist | February 17, 2009tags: Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus, photographed at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 22 January 2006 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.