birds
grrlscientist | October 20, 2008tags: Black-throated Magpie-Jay, Calocitta colliei, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black-throated Magpie-Jay, Calocitta colliei,, photographed in Mexico [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Rick Wright.
This mystery bird quiz has a twist: Name ten other bird species that share this mystery bird's habitat. Or, to put it another way, if you see this species while out birding, what other species are likely to also appear on your bird list for this area? Hint: to answer this quiz, you have to correctly identify this bird, learn where its range is and identify…
grrlscientist | October 20, 2008tags: Parrots in the Land of Oz, parrots, behavior, Australia, nature, ornithology, streaming video
Did you know that several species of cockatoos are black instead of white in color? Did you know that the Black Palm Cockatoos, Probosciger aterrimus, use tools -- tree limbs that they use to beat on their chosen nest cavity -- to attract a mate? Below the fold is a clip of the courtship of a pair of Black Palm Cockatoos from the Nature program Parrots in the Land of Oz, which airs on PBS on 19, 20 and 21 October [1:56]
laelaps | October 20, 2008
A white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis), photographed at a friend's residence in New Jersey.
grrlscientist | October 19, 2008tags: 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 wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that 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 published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird…
grrlscientist | October 19, 2008tags: Northern Saw-Whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Northern Saw-Whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:01:03 16:32:23
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 11.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
I think it's an ash, but whatever the identity of the foliage, those would have to be mighty leaves indeed were…
grrlscientist | October 19, 2008tags: Parrots in the Land of Oz, parrots, behavior, Australia, nature, ornithology, streaming video
There are rare days when I wish I had a TV, but today is certainly one of those days. This is a trailer from the Nature program Parrots in the Land of Oz, which airs on PBS on 19, 20 and 21 October -- that's TONIGHT! I guarantee you will enjoy this program [0:31]
grrlscientist | October 18, 2008tags: Lesser Nighthawk, Chordeiles acutipennis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Nighthawk, Chordeiles acutipennis, photographed at Desert Botanical Gardens, Phoenix, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2005 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2005:07:12 07:24:54
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 16.00
ISO: 200
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Cryptic of plumage, large of eye, tiny of bill, this can only be a nightjar. The folded wingtip reaches more or less to the tip of the tail -- hard to…
grrlscientist | October 17, 2008tags: Yellow-billed Loon, Gavia adamsii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Yellow-billed Loon, Gavia adamsii, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:05:23 06:41:10
Exposure Time: 1/350
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 320
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Here's a long, lean bird floating low in the water. All waterfowl -- in the strict sense: ducks, geese, swans -- are obviously more buoyant, and with the exception of the larger mergansers, obviously…
edyong | October 16, 2008Looking at Britain's overcrowded prisons, Wembley stadium or the continual dithering over solid climate change policies, it would seem that many of us are really quite bad at planning for the future. Even so, most of us can still do it (even though some may do it very badly). This abilty isn't there from birth; children only develop a sense of a future at the age of two and they can only plan for it from four or five. But eventually, everyone picks up the skill and up till recently, scientists believed that we were the only species that did.
Many animals show behaviour that could be…
grrlscientist | October 16, 2008tags: Wood Duck, Aix sponsa, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Wood Duck, Aix sponsa, photographed at Hermann Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 January 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/160s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
What a sweet bird, friendly-looking and gentle! From near-extinction less than a century ago, this species has rebounded in its North American range to be the most abundant breeding duck…
grrlscientist | October 15, 2008tags: House Sparrow, English Sparrow, Passer domesticus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] House (English) Sparrow, Passer domesticus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2006 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2006:12:27 10:51:37
Exposure Time: 1/159
F-Number: 9.00
ISO: 400
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This is an oddly shaped bird. We might at first have thought it was an emberizid sparrow, all streaky and brown, but if we start at the rear, we find a strikingly inadequate…
grrlscientist | October 14, 2008tags: Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, photographed in Hermann Park Lagoon, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 December 2005 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/160s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This is a fine image of the bill color and pattern of Lesser Scaup: note how the jet black of the bill tip is strictly limited to the nail, with no "bleed" to the sides. The…
grrlscientist | October 13, 2008tags: Greater Scaup, Aythya marila, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Greater Scaup, Aythya marila, photographed in Oakland, California. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 December 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Push me into a corner and I guess I'd call this a Greater Scaup. The bill is very broad, and the black, though it doesn't reach the edge of the bill, does "bleed" outwards from the…
grrlscientist | October 12, 2008tags: 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 wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that 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 published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird…
grrlscientist | October 12, 2008tags: Greater Scaup, Aythya marila, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Greater Scaup, Aythya marila, photographed at Oakland, California. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 December 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Another scaup to light my way to the fall! This bird's full nape continues without a break or notch to the high point of the crown, which is above or perhaps even slightly ahead of the…
grrlscientist | October 11, 2008tags: Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, photographed at Hermann Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 14 March 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
I wish that I could see the tail of this bird. But even without that, we can tell that we're looking at a diving duck: the head and body are clad in great monotone swaths rather…
grrlscientist | October 10, 2008tags: parrot, Lories, Lorikeet, Loriinae, Loriidae, Rimatara Lorikeet, Kuhl's Lory, Vini kuhlii, conservation, ornithology, South Pacific Islands
Endangered Rimatara Island (Kuhl's) lory, Vini kuhlii,
peer down upon their fledgling chick
in a nest hollow of an albizia tree, Falcataria moluccana,
on the island of Atiu, in the Cook Islands.
Image: Gerald McCormack [larger view].
Those of you who have been following the story of the endangered Kura, or Rimatara Lory, Vini kuhlii, will be very excited to know that these rare birds are producing babies! Last year, 27 Rimatara lories, or Kura…
grrlscientist | October 10, 2008tags: 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, 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:04:16 08:46:29
Exposure Time: 1/319
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 320
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Start at the back, start at the back! We see a short-tailed bird with a long wingtip, and both wing and tail show yellow: simple feather edgings in the wing, but a significant basal patch in the tail. Off the…
grrlscientist | October 9, 2008tags: Inca Dove, Columbina inca, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Inca Dove, Columbina inca, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2005 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2005:03:26 18:18:03
Exposure Time: 1/25
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 800
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Aww! This bird just looks small and harmless, like a baby bird that's lost its momma (more about that below). That said, I'm at a momentary loss as to how I'd go about identifying it if I didn't know the species well…