birds
grrlscientist | August 20, 2008tags: Northern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, birds, nature, Image of the Day
These Northern fulmar chicks, Fulmarus glacialis, are from the northern end of the Isle of Lewis (aka the Butt of Lewis) in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.
Image: Dave Rintoul, August 2008 [larger view].
edyong | August 20, 2008
Owls may be are known for their trademark hooting noises, but a new study shows that they don't just rely on sound for communication. With some species having very large and sensitive eyes, you might expect that they would use visual signals too and that's exactly what a pair of Spanish biologists have found. Vincenzo Penteriani and Maria del Mar Delgado studied the eagle owl, and found that it marks its territories by recycling its meals - in more ways than one.
The eagle owl is the world's largest and is found in mountains and hilly forests throughout Europe and Asia. As breeding…
grrlscientist | August 19, 2008tags: cognition, behavior, self-recognition, self awareness, tool use, memory, brain architecture, birds, European magpie, Pica pica, researchblogging.org
Figure 1. European magpie, Pica pica, with yellow mark [larger view].
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060202.
Birds have been disparaged publicly as "bird brains" for so long that most people have lost the ability to view them as intelligent and sentient beings. However, a group of researchers in Germany have conducted a series of studies with several captive European magpies, Pica pica, that challenge the average person's view of birds and…
grrlscientist | August 19, 2008tags: Northern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, birds, nature, Image of the Day
The Northern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, in flight is from the ferry that took the photographer and his wife to the Orkneys, Scotland.
Image: Dave Rintoul, August 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | August 18, 2008tags: Eurasian blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
This Eurasian Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus, is from the photographer's ancestral village of Rintoul, near Kinross, which is north of the Firth of Forth, about 20 miles from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Image: Dave Rintoul, August 2008.
grrlscientist | August 18, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Orange phase Dusky Lory, Pseudeos fuscata.
Image: John Del Rio. [larger view].
Birds in Science News
Ever since Darwin, evolutionary biologists have wondered why some lineages have diversified more than others. Over 20 years ago, Jeff Wyles, Allan Wilson, and Joseph Kunkel proposed that big brains might favor adaptive evolutionary diversification in animals by facilitating the behavioral changes needed to use new resources or environments, a theory known as the behavioral drive hypothesis. When these authors…
grrlscientist | August 17, 2008tags: new bird species, African forest robin, Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus, Gamba Complex, Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, ornithology, birds, avian, Smithsonian, researchblogging.org
A male specimen of the newly-discovered olive-backed forest robin, Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus, is carefully examined in the hand of Brian Schmidt, the Smithsonian ornithologist who discovered the species.
Image: Brian Schmidt.
A new species of bird has been identified by ornithologists from the Smithsonian Institution. The bird, which was first discovered in Gabon, a small country in Africa, was unknown to the…
grrlscientist | August 17, 2008tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, at Bolivar Flats, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 July 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1600s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | August 17, 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).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase. This edition is absolutely packed with book titles that you will want to read!
FEATURED TITLE:
James, Jamie. The Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge. 2008. Hyperion. Hardbound: 260 pages. Price…
grrlscientist | August 16, 2008tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, at Bolivar Flats, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 July 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/2000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | August 15, 2008tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, at Bolivar Flats, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 July 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/2000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
laelaps | August 15, 2008
Two nesting American flamingoes (Phoenicopterus ruber), photographed at the Philadelphia zoo.
grrlscientist | August 14, 2008tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, at Bolivar Flats, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 July 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1600s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
clock | August 13, 2008I got some old, old pictures of me, in the animal room at NCSU, holding one male and one female Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica):
grrlscientist | August 13, 2008tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, at Bolivar Flats, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 July 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1600s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | August 12, 2008tags: Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, at Bolivar Flats, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 July 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/2000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | August 11, 2008tags: American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, birds, nature, Image of the Day
American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, at Bolivar Flats, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 May 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | August 11, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
ABSTRACT: Chattering Lory, sometimes known as the Scarlet Lory, Lorius garrulus.
Image: John Del Rio [larger view].
Birds in Science News
The Horsfield's bronze-cuckoo, Chalcites basalis, specializes in laying a single egg in the nests of fairy-wrens, but sometimes parasitizes nests of other species such as thornbills or robins. The cuckoo chick has a shorter incubation period than the hosts' chicks, and after the cuckoo chick hatches, it pushes the host's eggs out of the nest and imitates the begging calls of the…
grrlscientist | August 10, 2008tags: American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, birds, nature, Image of the Day
Reflection.
American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, at Bolivar Flats, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 20 July 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | August 10, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
FEATURED TITLE:
Newton, Ian. The Migration Ecology of Birds. 2008. Academic Press. Hardbound: 976 pages. Price: $74.95 U.S. [Amazon: $67.46]. SUMMARY: An up-to-date, detailed and thorough review of bird migration.
New and…