birds
grrlscientist | March 10, 2008tags: birds, Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, in Central Park.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
The photographer writes: The plaintive hawk-alarm call of a Gray Squirrel alerted me that a raptor was in my immediate vicinity. As I headed in the direction of the sound I scanned the open branches on the periphery of a meadow where from experience I have learned hunting hawks will often perch. In hardly any time at all I was looking up at a large juvenile female Red-tailed Hawk only about twenty feet…
grrlscientist | March 10, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Populations of the Southern cassowary, Casuarius casuarius,
around Mission Beach in North Queensland, Australia, are still suffering
from the effects of Cyclone Larry two years ago.
Image: iStockphoto.
Birds in Science
In humans, as in all mammals, sleep consists of two phases: deep, dreamless slow-wave-sleep (SWS) alternates with dream phases, called Rapid Eye Movement (REM)-sleep. In newly published study, sleep researchers found that pigeons can engage in "power sleep" just as mammals can to make up for lost sleep…
grrlscientist | March 10, 2008tags: courting black scoters, seaducks, Melanitta nigra, streaming video
A bird pal of mine, Al Wagar, who lives in the Seattle area, took this video of calling and courting black scoters, Melanitta nigra, that were on the coast near Edmonds, Washington. Black scoters are a large species of sea duck that dive for their dinner, eating mainly mollusks. They breed on ponds in northern boreal forests and spend the rest of their lives on oceans and salt water bays. Black scoter numbers show a long-term decline, possibly due to loss of boreal forest and coastal oil spills [0:43].
One of the cuter…
grrlscientist | March 9, 2008tags: birds, Wilson's snipe, Gallinago delicata, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". He referred to these as "some friends to help you tend your wing".
Wilson's snipe, Gallinago delicata. It is a little unusual to see a shorebird off the the ground, but this fellow decided he needed a higher perch to take in some of the scenery.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 9, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history 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 Paulsen, which lists bird and natural history books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
FEATURED TITLE:
Chang, Mee-mann, Editor-in-Chief. The Jehol Fossils: The Emergence of Feathered Dinosaurs, Beaked Birds and Flowering Plants. 2008. Academic Press. Hardbound: 208 pages. Price: $69.95 US [Amazon: $63.20]. SUMMARY: This coffee table book is richly illustrated with…
grrlscientist | March 8, 2008tags: birds, Swainson's Hawk, Buteo swainsoni, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". He referred to these as "some friends to help you tend your wing".
Swainson's Hawk, Buteo swainsoni.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 7, 2008tags: birds, Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". He referred to these as "some friends to help you tend your wing".
Red-tail hawk, Buteo jamaicensis.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
laelaps | March 7, 2008
One of Gerhard Heilmann's color illustrations of Archaeopteryx that graced his classic book The Origin of Birds. For more of Heilmann's excellent artwork, see this website.
Birds are extant dinosaurs; it's a phrase that (while initially quite stimulating) has been expressed so often that it borders on being trite. There are dozens of technical papers, popular books, collections of scholarly essays, and feathered dinosaur toys to drive the point home, but I've often been led to wonder what ornithologists make of all this. Paleontologists have been the main architects that have strengthened…
clock | March 7, 2008News from SCONC:
On Thursday, March 27 at 4 p.m., the Zoology Department at NCSU will host a seminar from Patricia Brennan of Yale University entitled "The Biology of Avian Genitalia: Form and Function." Brennan's work on the genital anatomy of waterfowl has revealed the existence of a "sexual arms race" between males and females. Unlike 97 percent of bird species, male waterfowl have a phallus, and it can range "from a half-inch to more than 15 inches long." The seminar will be held in 101 David Clark Labs. Refreshments will be served in the lobby at 3:45.
Related:
Friday Weird Sex Blogging…
grrlscientist | March 6, 2008tags: birds, least sandpiper, Calidris minutilla, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". He referred to these as "some friends to help you tend your wing".
Some road construction created some temporary mudflats where many shorebirds found excellent feeding, including this least sandpiper, Calidris minutilla. I like this picture because of the texture the rippling water adds.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
sheril | March 6, 2008
Introduction by Sparticus Maximus the Great
Sure, he's landbound with arguably lackluster plumage, but get past those superficial shortcomings and Chris Mooney is alright... eh, for a human at least.
It was with great interest I read his thought-provoking piece last October on the plight of the marbeled murrelet. Aside from the obvious urgency of the situation, his article brings us one step closer to breaking down avian bias in the blogosphere. So today I introduce Sheril's post in order to highlight her co-blogger's brave leadership in taking on mammalism at it's worst. Despite his…
grrlscientist | March 5, 2008tags: birds, Great Egret, Ardea alba, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". He referred to these as "some friends to help you tend your wing".
Some road construction created some temporary mudflats where many shorebirds found excellent feeding, including this great egret, Ardea alba.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 3, 2008tags: birds, Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Male Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, in Central Park.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
The photographer, Bob Levy, writes; On Friday February 22, arguably the most wintry of days so far this season, as six inches of snow covered Central Park and more was falling I heard a male Northern Cardinal sing. That was the first cardinal song I detected this year and I took it as a musical sign that Spring is near. Since then I have heard other males sing and just yesterday I saw…
laelaps | March 3, 2008
Gerhard Heilmann's often-reproduced illustration of running Iguanodon. This is the version I am most familiar with, but there was actually an earlier version in which the dinosaurs lacked the crest of scutes they possess in the above drawing.
Last night I picked up Gerhard Heilmann's The Origin of Birds and rediscovered a passage that is one of my favorites in the whole of paleontological literature. Addressing an absurd hypothesis for the origins of birds (and flight), Heilmann sarcastically tears down the fanciful speculation and provides a wise warning about books written by authors…
revere | March 3, 2008Highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza A of the subtype H5N1 is here to stay, at least in the world's poultry population. While it's around it continues to cause sporadic but deadly human infections, some 369 of them of whom 234 have died (official WHO figures as of 28 February 2008). So this virus can infect humans and make them seriously or fatally ill. There is truly massive exposure because people live in close contact with infected domestic poultry in many countries. And the human population has not seen this subtype of virus before so there is little natural immunity. All that's…
grrlscientist | March 2, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history 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 Paulsen, which lists bird and natural history books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
New and Recent Titles:
Crump, Marty & Alan. Headless Males Make Great Lovers: And other unusual Natural Histories. 2007. University of Chicago Press. Paperback: 216 pages. Price: $14.00. [Amazon: $11.90]. SUMMARY: Essays on unique animal behaviors.
Guttman, Burton S. Finding…
grrlscientist | March 1, 2008tags: birds, long-eared owl, Asia otus, ornithology, Image of the Day
Long-eared Owl, Asia otus, in Central Park.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
Bob Levy writes: Did you know there are two Long-eared owls in Central Park this winter? They perch together in the Pinetum. My camera is not powerful enough to get a decent shot of them. Here's a not-ready-for-prime-time-posting-image of one. The other perches too deep inside an adjacent tree. There have been reports of a third but I have never seen it.
laelaps | March 1, 2008
I took this photograph about one year ago at the Bronx Zoo (coincidentally I'm returning there today), but I don't know what species of bird this is. If you do, please feel free to identify it in the comments.
Update: Thanks to everyone who replied in the comments. It indeed seems to be a Guira (Guira guira), and I appreciate those of you who took the time to respond! I didn't get to walk through the "World of Birds" this weekend to try and get another look at this bird, but perhaps next time.
grrlscientist | February 25, 2008tags: birds, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Eurynorhynchus pygmeus, Image of the Day
New wintering sites for
critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers, Eurynorhynchus pygmeus,
have been discovered in Myanmar.
(another picture of this species).
Image: Peter Ericsson. [larger view].
grrlscientist | February 25, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
King penguins, Aptenodytes patagonicus, swim off the Crozet Islands in the Indian Ocean near Antarctica. Scientists estimate that a rise in ocean surface temperature of less than half a degree over the next 20 years would lead to a population collapse.
Image: Yvon Le Maho, French National Center for Scientific Research.
Birds in Science
Primitive feathers that represent a key missing link in their evolution have been found, fossilized in 100-million-year-old amber from France. As long as scientists have studied birds…