birds
grrlscientist | February 8, 2008tags: birds, Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera, ornithology, Image of the Day
Okay, I have to brag a little bit. I have been invited to Manhattan, Kansas, to go birding with Dave Rintoul and his ornithology students for one week at the end of March. I am almost beside myself with excitement right now as I look through Dave's many bird images -- which remind me of my own years of springtime birding on the west coast of this country. How I miss those days, and those birds!
This is the third image in this series of Dave's beautiful pictures.
Male cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera, in breeding…
grrlscientist | February 7, 2008tags: birds, Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus, ornithology, Image of the Day
Okay, I have to brag a little bit. I have been invited to Manhattan, Kansas, to go birding with Dave Rintoul and his ornithology students for one week at the end of March. I am almost beside myself with excitement right now as I look through Dave's many bird images -- which remind me of my own years of springtime birding on the west coast of this country. How I miss those days, and those birds!
This is the second image in this series.
Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus,
Bear River Migratory Bird…
revere | February 7, 2008Because he's too fat. Broiler chickens (the ones raised for meat) are essentially a cash crop, grown much like wheat or corn. When the chicken is ripe it's harvested. The Grim Reaper. We admit to not knowing much about poultry science and the business it supports, but because of our interest in bird flu we have been learning. There is a some well founded suspicion intensive poultry farming is one of the enabling conditions for the evolution and spread of bird flu.
These birds are raised under very difficult conditions and lead their short lives in extraordinary population densities, often…
grrlscientist | February 6, 2008tags: birds, American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, ornithology, Image of the Day
Okay, I have to brag a little bit. I have been invited to Manhattan, Kansas, to go birding with Dave Rintoul and his ornithology students for one week at the end of March. I am almost beside myself with excitement right now as I look through Dave's many bird images -- which remind me of my own years of springtime birding on the west coast of this country. How I miss those days, and those birds!
And yes, I would be thrilled to meet any of you who are in Manhattan Kansas -- "the little apple" as Dave calls it…
laelaps | February 6, 2008
"Toucan Sam" might be the most famous toucan, but the Toco Toucan (Ramphastos toco) is the one you're most likely to see during a visit to the zoo. This particular species prefers more open habitats than other related species which prefer closed forest, and it may be that the toco toucan ultimately benefits from reductions in closed forest. This isn't to say that we should stop caring about South American rain forests, only that some species will certainly take advantage of the changing situation. The pair pictured above were photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
revere | February 6, 2008Bird flu is all over the Indian state of West Bengal and the country that borders it on the east, Bangladesh. The Ganges River flows through West Bengal, dividing in two, with one branch headed into Bangladesh. The Gangetic alluvium and delta region also has another unhappy claim to fame: it is the site of an enormous chronic poisoning from groundwater containing naturally occurring arsenic.
The mass poisoning that is occurring in West Bengal and Bangladesh is another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. Drinking water is one of the most important resources for any community and the…
laelaps | February 5, 2008Update: The paper this post discusses is available online and is open access. It can be found here.
A new ScienceDaily piece reports on new molecular clock data that suggests modern birds have an "ancient origin" about 100 million years ago. My first thought upon reading the brief article was "This is news?" yet the details of what the paper actually says is going to be important in any discussion of the results.
I haven't read the actual paper yet, but article notes that the authors are referring to the diversification of modern birds, or Neornithes (see comments below, & thank you to…
grrlscientist | February 5, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, birds, Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia, Prinia burnesii nipalensis, ornithology, speciation, new species, Nepal
A new subspecies of the Rufous-vented Prinia, Prinia burnesii,
has been found in Nepal. This new bird is now known as the
Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia, Prinia burnesii nipalensis.
[larger view].
A new subspecies of bird has been discovered on marshy grasslands located on small islands in Nepal's Koshi River. This new subspecies is similar to two other previously described subspecies of the Rufous-vented Prinia that are found along rivers in Pakistan and…
grrlscientist | February 5, 2008tags: birds, House finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, ornithology, Image of the Day
Male house finch, Carpodacus mexicanus,
in a hawthorne tree in Central Park, near the Metropolitan Musum of Art.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
The photogrpaher writes: For a few weeks I have consistently found a small flock of House Finches near the playground adjacent to the southeastern edge of the Metropolitan Museum of Art between East 80th and 79th streets close to Fifth Avenue. The playground has a decorative entrance known as the Levy Gate upon which a prominent but tasteful…
grrlscientist | February 4, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Male Wood Duck, Aix sponsa, 2005.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [larger view].
Birds in Science
A species of hummingbird makes a chirping noise with its tail feathers, not its throat, a study using high-speed video has suggested. The exact source of the noise from male Anna's hummingbirds has been the subject of debate among researchers. The loud chirp sound is produced by male Anna's hummingbirds, Calypte anna, as the birds dive towards the ground at speeds that exceed 50mph (80km/h) during their displays for nearby…
grrlscientist | February 4, 2008tags: starling flocks, birds, streaming video
This flock of starlings at dusk is an amazing thing to see, near Oxford, England. The area is an RSPB reserve called Ot Moor. The road from the village to the parking lot is closed from January 7th to March so beware -- you can still see the starlings but it is a long walk. The music is from a company called CSS Music. The track is "soaring with the sun". This video was shot by Dylan Winter on a high definition camera. [5:28]
grrlscientist | February 3, 2008tags: birds, House Sparrow, English Sparrow, Passer domesticus, ornithology, Image of the Day
"Don't think we're ungrateful. We really do appreciate the free cold buffet
but just once couldn't you serve hot hors d'oeuvres?"
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
grrlscientist | February 2, 2008tags: birds, Bismarck Kingfisher, Alcedo websteri, ornithology, Image of the Day
Bismarck Kingfisher, Alcedo websteri,
a specialist of lowland forest streams has lost a fifth of its habitat during the previous ten years.
Image: Nik Borrow.
grrlscientist | February 1, 2008tags: birds, Northern Bald Ibis, Geronticus eremita, ornithology, Image of the Day
One of the tagged Northern Bald Ibis, Geronticus eremita,
helping to elucidate the migration routes of this species.
Image: Cagan Sekercioglu.
grrlscientist | January 31, 2008tags: birds, White-necked Picathartes, Picathartes gymnocephalus, ornithology, Image of the Day
White-necked Picathartes, Picathartes gymnocephalus:
one of the species to benefit from Gola Forest being declared a national park.
Image: Jason D Weckstein, Ben D Marks/NCRC.
grrlscientist | January 30, 2008tags: birds, Atlantic+Puffin, Fratercula arctica, ornithology, Image of the Day
Atlantic Puffin, Fratercula arctica,
was one of the species badly hit by the Erika oil disaster,
which killed about 72,000 birds.
Image: RSPB.
retrospectacle | January 30, 2008I'm already so excited to read and review this!
Irene Pepperberg's memoir, tentatively titled "Alex and Me," covers her 30 years with the parrot that could count to six, identify colors and even express frustration with repetitive scientific trials. It will be released this fall by Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins.
In a statement Thursday, the publisher called the book a story "of bonds built over time that transcend species barriers," and how Alex and Dr. Pepperberg "battled against the prejudices of the academic establishment, which debated rigorously the ability of any other species to…
grrlscientist | January 29, 2008tags: birds, Black Grouse, Tetrao tetrix, ornithology, Image of the Day
Data in the climatic atlas show that the distribution of the Black Grouse, Tetrao tetrix,
is likely to be affected by climate change
Image: Chris Gomersall/RSPB Images.
grrlscientist | January 29, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, avian flight, ornithology, birds, avian, researchblogging
Chukar, Alectoris chukar;
Capitol Reef National Park (Utah, USA) 2004.
Image: Wikipedia [larger view].
For more than 150 years, the evolution of flight in birds has one of the most controversial topics that one can discuss at a professional meeting because this topic splits evolutionary biologists into one of two camps; the "ground up" people who think that birds evolved from dinosaurs that ran along the ground and flapped their wings, either to collect food or to escape predators, and the "…
grrlscientist | January 29, 2008tags: hummingbird nest, birds, ornithology, streaming video
This video was sent to me by a friend who works at National Geographic (and later, by an aviculturist whom I know) and it seems appropriate for today, considering that winter has closed her icy hand around us all. This video is a small glimpse into the lives of two hummingbird chicks, from when they are mere eggs until the moment when they fledge. I am amazed to see how deeply the mother puts her long beak into the chicks' mouths when feeding them -- it seems almost as though she might pierce the bottom of their crops! The music is "…