ornithology
grrlscientist | June 23, 2010tags: Western Scrub-jay, California Jay, Aphelocoma californica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Scrub-jay, also known as the California Jay, Aphelocoma californica, 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.
This mystery bird species performs a remarkable behavior that has intrigued scientists and even…
grrlscientist | June 22, 2010tags: Killdeer, Charadrius vociferus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] newly hatched Killdeer, Charadrius vociferus, photographed at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Anahuac, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 June 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This cute little bird was or will be, at some point during its youth, protected by a spectacular display by one of its parents. Can…
grrlscientist | June 21, 2010tags: Marbled Godwit, Limosa fedoa, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Marbled Godwit, Limosa fedoa, photographed at Galveston Island East Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 June 2010 [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.
This species is comprised of a seemingly homogeneous population of birds. However, scientists have recently found that this species shows some geographic variation…
tetrapodzoology | June 20, 2010More waterfowl weirdness...
Most waterfowl can walk fine on land, and the majority of species are pretty agile in terms of their terrestrial abilities. But some species are so specialised for life on water, and have their legs placed so far back on their bodies, that any terrestrial abilities are poor, if not hilarious. One often reads of how divers (or loons) are only able to move on land with an awkward shuffle; less well known is that some waterfowl are pretty much the same.
One of the weirdest of waterfowl has to be the Musk duck Biziura lobata [image above from wikipedia]. This is a…
grrlscientist | June 20, 2010tags: Bristle-thighed Curlew, Numenius tahitiensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bristle-thighed Curlew, Numenius tahitiensis, photographed on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge -- one of the most remote coral atolls on earth -- a US territory in the north Pacific Ocean [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joe Fuhrman, 2010. I encourage you to purchase images from this professional photographer. [larger view] I encourage you to purchase images from this professional photographer.
NOTE: Please name at least one field mark that supports your…
tetrapodzoology | June 20, 2010
Another waterfowl fact. This one is gonna be brief. In the previous article we looked at the wing spurs of Plectropterus. They're pretty cool, but they're far from unique, and even more incredible are the much larger, dagger-like spikes seen in screamers...
Screamers (Anhimidae) are a small group (three species) of South American* waterfowl... well, they're not referred to as 'waterfowl' as often as are other members of Anseriformes, but I think they should be. One species (Horned screamer Anhima cornuta: shown in adjacent illustration) has - as you might guess - a horn! (though, technically…
grrlscientist | June 19, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black Redstart, Phoenicurus ochruros a newly-fledged youngster, photographed at Arberes, Ariege, France. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Adrian White, June 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D40x with 70-300AF.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This is a very challenging mystery bird to identify, but the bird -- a fledgling -- is just so cute (and the picture is so nice) that I just had to share it with you. Any ideas as to what species this is?
Review all mystery birds to date.
tetrapodzoology | June 18, 2010
Yesterday we looked briefly at goose digestion. Pretty incredible stuff, I'm sure you'll agree. Hey: wouldn't it be weird if some waterfowl were poisonous? Yeah, wouldn't it. Well... guess what?
One of the most dangerous birds in the world - I'm not kidding here - is the African spur-winged goose Plectropterus gambensis [the adjacent painting - from wikipedia - is by Louis A. Fuertes, one of the greatest zoological artists of all time]. Weighing as much as 7 kg, this formidable bird (not a goose in the strict sense, but a member of the shelduck/sheldgoose clade Tadorninae*) bears sharp…
tetrapodzoology | June 18, 2010
I've just been writing about waterfowl for the day job. Which is fine, because waterfowl are among my favourite animals (as if that isn't obvious from Tet Zoo... what, you mean it isn't obvious?). Entirely because they're on my mind at the moment, here is the first of several, entirely random waterfowl facts...
Geese are consummate herbivores, and should be regarded as the avian equivalents of grazing artiodactyls and perissodactyls...
Except that they can fly. And they're much smaller. And they can't digest cellulose (by which I mean: they lack a gut flora that breaks down cellulose).…
grrlscientist | June 18, 2010tags: Brant Goose, Brent Goose, Brant, Black Brant, Branta bernicla, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Brant Goose, also known as Brant or Brent Goose, and, on the west coast as the Black Brant, Branta bernicla nigricans, photographed in Moss Landing, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 May 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This lovely bird is found all along the west coast…
grrlscientist | June 17, 2010tags: Eared Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Podiceps nigricollis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Eared Grebe, also known as the Black-necked Grebe, Podiceps nigricollis, photographed in Monterey Bay, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 May 2010 [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.
This migratory species, photographed in California, is challenging to distinguish from another, closely-…
grrlscientist | June 16, 2010tags: Pacific Loon, Pacific Diver, Gavia pacifica, Gavia arctica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pacific Loon, known in Europe as the Pacific Diver, Gavia pacifica (formerly lumped with Gavia arctica), photographed in Monterey Bay, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 7 May 2010 [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.
This elegant mystery bird's common and scientific names have a…
grrlscientist | June 15, 2010tags: Sedge Wren, Short-billed Marsh Wren, Cistothorus platensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Sedge Wren, formerly known as the Short-billed Marsh Wren, Cistothorus platensis, photographed in in Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 21 April 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This small bird is a member of a group of New World birds that includes some very complex groups, including this one. Can you identify this species?…
grrlscientist | June 14, 2010tags: Western Gull, Larus occidentalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Gull, Larus occidentalis, photographed in Monterey Bay, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 May 2010 [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.
This challenging mystery bird resides on the western coast of the USA -- the individuals in Seattle are much paler in appearance than the ones in California, such…
grrlscientist | June 13, 2010tags: Northern Gannet, Morus bassanus, Sula bassana, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Northern Gannet, also known by a suite of common names, including solan, solan goose and the solant bird, Morus bassanus (formerly; Sula bassana), photographed from the Channel ferry near Calais, France. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Adrian White [larger view].
Nikon D40x with Tamron 70-300AF.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This mystery seabird, photographed in France, has a special character that allows it to make a living in its own…
grrlscientist | June 12, 2010tags: Horned Screamer, Anhima cornuta, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Horned Screamer, Anhima cornuta, photographed in Brazil along the Rio Negro, 3 degrees, 5 min S and 60 degrees, 26 minutes W. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dave Rintoul, 2010 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Today's Mystery Bird is the only species in its genus and, along with two other species in a "sister" genus, is placed into a peculiar taxonomic family. Can you tell me what family these birds are placed into and tell…
grrlscientist | June 11, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] feet [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
I have some questions about each foot depicted above. Can you tell me;
what each foot is used for?
for each foot type, can you tell me if its possessor walks or hops when on land?
one foot type is found only in one genus worldwide, can you tell me which foot that is and the species that has that foot? This foot has a special character that it shares with another (much larger) taxonomic…
grrlscientist | June 10, 2010tags: Red Knot, Calidris canutus, Tringa canutus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red Knot, Calidris (Tringa) canutus photographed at Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 26 April 2010 [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.
There is something very sad about this beautiful migratory species, can you tell me what that is?
The red knot stopover on the Delaware…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2010tags: Brandt's Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Brandt's Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus, photographed in Monterey, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 May 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Its specific name, penicillatus is Latin for a painter's brush ("pencil of hairs"), in reference to white plumes on its neck and back during…
grrlscientist | June 8, 2010tags: Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba, photographed in Monterey, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 May 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This bird of the north Pacific Ocean has very distinctive feet, but is very similar to a close relative: can you identify both species and tell me how to distinguish…