Nature
awild | October 10, 2008
Languria sp. Lizard Beetle (Erotylidae), California
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon D60
ISO 100, f/13, 1/200 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
grrlscientist | October 9, 2008tags: hydrangias, flowers, photography, Image of the Day
Hydrangias.
Image: David Warman [larger view].
When I met David in Seattle last week, he explained his flower photography as his wish to get down inside the blossoms.
grrlscientist | October 8, 2008tags: Lesnes Abbey flowers, London England, travel, Image of the Day
Lesnes Abbey wildflowers.
Lesnes Abbey is near London, England.
Image: David Warman June 2007 [larger view].
Read more about Lesnes Abbey.
grrlscientist | October 7, 2008tags: Lesnes Abbey flowers, London England, travel, Image of the Day
Lesnes Abbey flowers.
Lesnes Abbey is near London, England.
Image: David Warman June 2007 [larger view].
Read more about Lesnes Abbey.
grrlscientist | October 6, 2008tags: Lesnes Abbey Tree, London England, travel, Image of the Day
Lesnes Abbey Tree.
Lesnes Abbey is a ruin near London, England.
Image: David Warman, June 2007 [larger view].
Read more about Lesnes Abbey.
grrlscientist | October 6, 2008tags: DonorsChoose2008, education, public school education, fund raising, evolution education, nature education, bird education
Today's featured project is below the fold.
This teacher's proposal has only 26 days left to be funded, but only $25 has been donated so far! Mrs. R, who is starting her second year as a teacher, needs another $513 to add a special science lesson to her curricula. I think that Mrs. R has shown a lot of initiative by completing summer workshops that prepare her to teach science in her classroom, and when you read her proposal, you will find that she is especially…
awild | October 5, 2008
Coccinella septempunctata
This weekend's project: to shoot a beetle in flight. I chose ladybirds not because they are pretty, but because they are the slowiest, clumsiest beetles I could find in any number.  An easy target.
I had a cast of several beetles from two species, the seven-spotted ladybird Coccinella septempunctata and the multi-colored ladybird Harmonia axyridis. I placed the beetles inside a whitebox with a backdrop of leaves, along with my Canon 550 speedlite flash, and tried to capture the beetles as they launched themselves into the air. The timing was tricky, as it…
grrlscientist | October 5, 2008tags: Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, Wildlife of Scotland, Image of the Day
Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, near Bridge of Orchy, Scotland.
Known in Europe as "the" wren, and in North America as the Winter Wren.
Image: Dave Rintoul, Summer 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | October 3, 2008tags: DonorsChoose2008, education, public school education, fund raising, evolution education, nature education, bird education
Today's featured project is below the fold.
This is a rural high-poverty school in North Carolina. The teacher is a bird watcher who also lives with pet birds, and she seeks to instill this love for birds into her students. In this proposal, she and her students will learn about the diets of owls by dissecting owl pellets and examining the remains of insects and bones from small animals that the owls cannot digest.
"Whooo's in the Forest?" Part II
I teach a…
awild | October 2, 2008
Prenolepis imparis - The Winter Ant
Champaign, Illinois
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
grrlscientist | October 2, 2008tags: DonorsChoose2008, education, public school education, fund raising, evolution education, nature education, bird education
One of the highest poverty areas in America is in Washington DC, our nation's capital. That's just disgusting. But we do not need to let the kids who live there succumb to the rampant despair of broken dreams, poor health and poverty. This proposal seeks to give these kids wings by teaching them about birds. Birds are a magical gateway into biological sciences; drawing kids into learning about the wonders of evolution and behavioral ecology and conservation. I know…
grrlscientist | October 1, 2008tags: fishing hole, River Orchy, Scottish highlands, Image of the Day
Fishing hole on the River Orchy in the Scottish Highlands.
Image: Dave Rintoul, Summer 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | October 1, 2008tags: DonorsChoose2008, education, public school education, fund raising, evolution education, nature education, bird education
Mrs. G is seeking supplies for a microbiology lab. I, as a microbiologist, recognize the value (and the intense fascination!) of teaching students about the natural world, particularly microbes!
I teach 7th grade Science in a school where the majority of the students are classified as Title 1, meaning that they need remedial help with their basic skills. Even without that classification, students this age are hard to motivate, especially in the content area of…
grrlscientist | September 30, 2008tags: DonorsChoose2008, education, public school education, fund raising, evolution education, nature education, bird education
Today is a special day because today is the first day of my DonorsChoose Challenge. DonorsChoose is a fund-raising campaign where the public can help classrooms throughout the United States to raise the funds necessary for educating children in grades K-12. Each ScienceBlog writer who is participating will raise funds for the entire month of October. Each participant has chosen a subset of the listed classroom proposals to fund based on their own special criteria.…
awild | September 30, 2008...are queens in the African driver ant genus Dorylus, captured on video here:
awild | September 30, 2008
Phymata ambush bug - Champaign, Illinois
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
awild | September 27, 2008
Atta texana queen and worker
Ant queens are those individuals in a nest that lay the eggs. They're pretty important, of course, as without reproduction the colony dwindles and disappears.
Understandably, ant-keepers have an interest in making sure their pet colonies have queens. Conversely, pest control folks trying to get rid of ant colonies need to be sure that they've eliminated queens. Whether your interest is live ants or dead ants, I'll give some pointers in this post for recognizing queens.
In many species the difference between workers and queens is obvious. Consider the…
awild | September 26, 2008
Popillia japonica - Champaign, Illinois
The ever colorful Popillia japonica has been in North America for nearly a century. In spite of an unmistakable charisma, the charms of this unintentional visitor are largely lost among the ruins of chewed up rose bushes, grape vines, and raspberry plants left in its wake. This beetle is a serious pest, and I don't know many gardeners who have welcomed its spread across the continent.
For those with a camera, however, Japanese beetles are hard-to-resist eye candy. The insects' metallic surfaces render photography a bit tricky, though, as glare…
grrlscientist | September 25, 2008
Image: donated by a reader who likes to remain anonymous [larger view].
awild | September 24, 2008Can't devote much to blogging at the moment, but since we're feeling sorry for the dipterists this week here's a fly for you to look at:
Gall Midge, Cecidomyiidae - California
Maybe one of you fly folks could explain in the comments why Cecidomyiids are so cool. Aside from looking like little fairies, that is.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon D60
ISO 100, f/13, 1/200 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper