ornithology
grrlscientist | November 30, 2009tags: Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, photographed at Illinois Beach State Park, Lake County, Illinois. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Janice Sweet, 20 October 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
I am helping you prepare for the Christmas Bird Count by posting so many images of the Chipping Sparrow, since this is a commonly misidentified CBC species (in Illinois, at least).
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 29, 2009tags: Australian Pelican, Pelecanus conspicillatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Australian Pelican, Pelecanus conspicillatus, photographed at Atherton, Queensland, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 26 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The Australian Pelican is found throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea and western Indonesia, with occasional reports in New Zealand and various western Pacific islands. Pelicans are…
tetrapodzoology | November 29, 2009Carnivorous animals often die from choking, and field biologists have done a good job of recording many such instances in the literature.
This image shows an unlucky young Roadrunner Geococcyx californicus found dead in Brisco County, Texas, in 1998. The bird had tried swallowing a Texas horned lizard Phrynosoma cornutum, and things clearly went horribly wrong. Other instances of this sort of thing are on record. Remind me to post the goanna vs echidna photo some time. The photo used here is from...
Holte, A. E. & Houck, M. A. 2000. Juvenile Greater roadrunner (Cuculidae) killed by…
grrlscientist | November 27, 2009tags: Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus banksii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus banksii, also known as Bank's Black Cockatoo, photographed at Walgett, New South Wales, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 18 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 26, 2009tags: White-tailed Hawk, Buteo albicaudatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White-tailed Hawk, Buteo albicaudatus, photographed at the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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grrlscientist | November 25, 2009tags: Western Gull, Larus occidentalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Gull, Larus occidentalis, photographed at Pt. Reyes, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 21 December 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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grrlscientist | November 24, 2009tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] photographed at Bolivar East Beach, Galveston County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 17 October 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This image features a cluster of bird species; can you tell me how many species are present, what species they are, and how many individuals of each species you see?
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grrlscientist | November 23, 2009tags: Least Tern, Sterna antillarum, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Least Tern, Sterna antillarum, photographed at Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 24 July 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 22, 2009tags: Swainson's Blue Mountain Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Swainson's Blue Mountain Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus, photographed at Yungaburra, Queensland, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 26 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 21, 2009tags: Plumed Whistling Ducks, Eyton Tree Ducks, Dendrocygna eytoni, identify these birds, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Plumed Whistling Ducks, also known as Eyton Tree Ducks, Dendrocygna eytoni, photographed at Atherton, Queensland, Australia. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 26 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 20, 2009tags: Australian Darter, Anhinga novaehollandiae, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Australian Darter, Anhinga novaehollandiae, photographed at Mareeba Wetlands, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 26 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 19, 2009tags: Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, photographed at Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Art McLeod, 18 August 2009 [larger view].
Canon 40d 400mm 5.6 lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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grrlscientist | November 18, 2009tags: Long-tailed Duck, Oldsquaw, Clangula hyemalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Long-tailed Duck, formerly known as Oldsquaw, Clangula hyemalis, photographed at Bodega Bay, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 23 December 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 17, 2009tags: Greater Roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Greater Roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus, photographed at Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 March 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 16, 2009tags: Savannah Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Savannah Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 31 October 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
tetrapodzoology | November 15, 2009By now you might have read my two previous articles (part I, part II) on the assorted tetrapods I encountered in Libya last month. Here's the third and final part in the series [image below shows chital at left, melanistic fallow top-centre, nilgai bottom-centre, blackbuck at right].
It's a bit unusual for a Tet Zoo article, as it contains a whole paragraph of boring travel-writing stuff, but I hope you can grit your teeth and get through this - the meat and potatoes on obscure subspecies and so on is delivered towards the end, I promise. So, without further ado...
Having spent our time in…
grrlscientist | November 15, 2009tags: Crested Tern, Great Crested-tern, Swift Tern, Thalasseus bergii, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Crested Tern, also known as the Swift Tern or Great Crested-tern, Thalasseus (Sterna) bergii, photographed at Michealmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 24 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 14, 2009tags: Australian Lapwing, Masked Lapwing, birds, mystery bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Australian (Masked or Spur-winged) Lapwing, Vanellus miles, (formerly; Masked Plover, Spur-winged Plover), photographed at Atherton, Queensland, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 26 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 14, 2009tags: birds, flock behavior, denmark, wildlife, wow, streaming video
This astonishing video from Denmark documents a flock of 300,000 birds in flight. I've seen flocks of as many as a million (or more) shorebirds in flight, but despite that, the sight never ceases to amaze me. For example, how do birds fly at such high speeds in such close quarters, changing directions seemingly at random, without crashing into each other?
What is the largest flock of birds you've ever seen? What species were in this flock? Do mixed-species flocks move differently than same-species flocks?
grrlscientist | November 13, 2009tags: Bar-shouldered Dove, Geopelia humeralis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bar-shouldered Dove, Geopelia humeralis, photographed at Cooya Beach, Queensland, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 25 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 1/2000 sec, f/4 iso 400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.