birds
grrlscientist | February 3, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
"What species of bird was in the shortest Superbowl commercial in history?"
[Mystery bird] Glaucous-winged Gull, Larus glaucescens, an image grab from the television in Seattle during the Superbowl 2009 .. this bird was featured in shortest Superbowl commercial ever shown (0.5 sec) -- can you identify this mystery bird?
Image: a Tweeters list subscriber, 1 February 2009. [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Here's another look [0:03]:
And here's the original image…
grrlscientist | February 2, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Nonggang Babbler, Stachyris nonggangensis, a newly discovered bird species, is found only in southwestern Guangxi province, part of the south-east Chinese Mountains Endemic Bird Area.
Image: James Eaton; Birdtour Asia.
Birds in Science
For many decades, the white-eyes (Family: Zosteropidae) were known as the "Great Speciators" in honor of their apparent ability to rapidly give rise to new species while other birds in the same areas showed little or no diversification. But the Great Speciator hypothesis could only…
laelaps | February 2, 2009
The right hip of Basilosaurus as seen in Lucas' 1900 description.
If you were a 19th century American paleontologist and you wanted a Basilosaurus skeleton there was only one place to look; Alabama. Even though fossils of the ancient whale had been found elsewhere their bones were most abundant in Alabama, and S.B. Buckley, Albert Koch, and others exhumed multiple specimens of the extinct whale from the southern state. Unfortunately, however, most of the skeletons were fragmentary. Even though long chains of vertebrae were often found intact other parts of the skeleton, most notably the…
grrlscientist | February 2, 2009tags: Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Adult male Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica, in breeding plumage, photographed on the grounds of the USGS EROS Data Center in Minnehaha County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 22 May 2008 [larger view].
Photo taken with Canon 40D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
revere | February 2, 2009Yesterday there was a fairly long story from the wire service Canadian Press that wasn't written by their ace flu reporter, Helen Branswell. It carried the byline of Greg Joyce. I'll come back to why I mention this at the end of this post, but first, here's what it was about:
Three of four of the most recent avian flu outbreaks in Canada have broken out in British Columbia's Fraser Valley but despite years of trying to figure it out, they still can't explain why the valley attracts the virus.
In the latest outbreak, 60,000 turkeys were culled on an Abbotsford, B.C., farm last week.
Tests so…
grrlscientist | February 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…
grrlscientist | February 1, 2009tags: Surfbird, Aphriza virgata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Surfbird, Aphriza virgata, photographed at "Land's End", an area in San Francisco on the Pacific Coast. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 18 December 2008 [larger view].
Photo taken with Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | January 31, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] photographed on the island of Labrador. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Orphaned [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | January 30, 2009tags: Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo lagopus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo lagopus, photographed on Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 4 January 2009 [larger view].
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | January 29, 2009tags: Le Conte's Sparrow, Ammodramus leconteii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Le Conte's Sparrow, Ammodramus leconteii, 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 1/250s 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 | January 28, 2009tags: Wilson's Snipe, Gallinago delicata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Wilson's Snipe, Gallinago delicata, remains were found under a spruce stand adjacent to an open spring-fed pond in the mountains near Canmore, Alberta, Canada (about an hour west of Calgary). [short of microscopic examination of these feathers or DNA analysis, this bird will probably never be definitively identified, sorry]
Image: Marcel Gahbauer, 20 December 2008 [larger view].
Scanned, not photographed.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The story behind […
edyong | January 28, 2009The emperor penguin - caring parent, extreme survivor and unwitting movie-star - could be marching to extinction by the turn of the next century. In its Antarctic home, the penguins frequently have to deal with prolonged bouts of starvation, frosty temperatures of -40 degrees Celsius, and biting polar winds that blow at 90 miles per hour. And yet this icy environment that so brutally tests the penguins' endurance is also critical to their survival. This is a species that depends on sea ice for breeding and feeding.
So what will happen to the emperor penguin as Antarctica's sea ice shrinks,…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2009tags: evolution, speciation, diversification rate, Zosterops, White-eyes, ornithology, birds, molecular phylogeny, South Pacific Islands
The Splendid (Ranongga) White-eye, Zosterops splendidus,
endemic to Ranongga Island in the Solomon Islands archipelago.
This species' home range is smaller than Manhattan Island.
Image: Chris Filardi [larger view].
For many decades, the white-eyes (Family: Zosteropidae) were known as the "Great Speciators" in honor of their apparent ability to rapidly give rise to new species while other birds in the same areas showed little or no diversification. But…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2009tags: Mexican Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis lucida, Joel Sartore, National Geographic, image of the day
Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida)
An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 remain.
Image: Joel Sartore/National Geographic [larger view].
Joel Sartore has shared some of his work on this blog before, so I am thrilled to tell you that National Geographic also appreciates his exemplary work. You can view more endangered animals of the United States that were photographed by the talented Joel Sartore here at National Geographic online. All images appear here by permission of National…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Caspian Tern, Sterna caspia, photographed the Quintana Beach and Jetty area, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 18 November 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200 1/1250s 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 | January 26, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Yellow-eyed Junco, Junco phaeonotus, Cave Creek Canyon AZ
Image: Dave Rintoul, June 2008 [larger view].
People Hurting Birds
The Greater Sage-Grouse, a species whose population has declined 93% from historic numbers and that is on the U.S. WatchList of birds of highest conservation concern, is facing a severe decline in the amount of suitable breeding habitat due to energy development. Oil and gas drilling in the region have been booming, driving the birds out of many breeding areas, or leks. In addition, wind farm…
grrlscientist | January 26, 2009tags: Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, photographed in Falcon State 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 | January 25, 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…