teaching
grrlscientist | May 11, 2009tags: Green-winged Teal, Anas carolinensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Green-winged Teal, Anas carolinensis, photographed at San Bernard Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 8 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
I can't see the toes to know whether they're webbed…
grrlscientist | May 10, 2009tags: Lesser Goldfinch, Carduelis psaltria, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Goldfinch, Carduelis psaltria, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 15 May 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:05:15 08:07:26
Exposure Time: 1/45
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 500
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Now comes a teeny, short-tailed, yellowish bird from Arizona. The short tail…
grrlscientist | May 9, 2009tags: Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, photographed at Paul Rushing Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 28 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
There's really nothing else that looks like a…
khannula | May 8, 2009So you're a fairly new professor, done with classes for the summer, ready to dive into research. And then you get your course evaluations back. What do you do?
If the course evaluations were excellent, yay! You can walk around feeling good about yourself for a while, and then go back to the research. (Even at a teaching-intensive school, you've got to publish something to get tenure.)
If the course evaluations weren't so good, well...
First, put them aside and do something that makes you feel good. Talk to someone who likes you. Go for a run. Garden. Read your favorite novel. Go to a movie.…
grrlscientist | May 8, 2009tags: Wilson's Snipe, Gallinago delicata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Wilson's Snipe, Gallinago delicata, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 16 March 2005 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2005:03:16 10:19:09
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 16.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
"Start at the rear," indeed! As if this beautiful and humorous image left us any…
grrlscientist | May 8, 2009tags: Cow Tipping, humor, funny,streaming video
Growing up near a dairy farm, I can tell you stories. But city boyz have a few lessons to learn: first and foremost among them is cow tipping. Cow-tipping is legendary, yet animal experts say it's nearly impossible to do. Here's how to "tip" the odds in your favor. [2:19]
grrlscientist | May 7, 2009tags: Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, photographed at San Bernard Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 20 March 2009 [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.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
A couple of years ago I was leading a…
grrlscientist | May 7, 2009tags: TEDTalks, Laurie Garrett, H5N1 Influenza, influenza, virology, epidemics, streaming video
Recorded in 2007, as the world worried about a possible avian flu epidemic, Laurie Garrett, author of "The Coming Plague," gave this powerful talk to a small TED University audience. Her insights from past pandemics are suddenly more relevant than ever. [21:05]
grrlscientist | May 6, 2009tags: Hoopoe, Epupa epops, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Hoopoe, Epupa epops, feeding its chick [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Orphaned -- contact me for attribution [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Can you tell me where this bird species is endemic?
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | May 5, 2009tags: White Ibis, Eudocimus albus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] White Ibis, Eudocimus albus, photographed at the San Bernard Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 March 2009 [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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | May 4, 2009tags: Jamaican Euphonia, Euphonia jamaica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Jamaican Euphonia, Euphonia jamaica, photographed in Jamaica [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Paul Jones [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
khannula | May 3, 2009I'm deep in class-by-class planning for the summer session class that I start teaching tomorrow. I've decided not to blog about the class once it starts, in part because I'm going to be encouraging the use of Internet sources, and I expect my students to run across the geoblogosphere and Science Blogs, and I don't want my own thoughts about course topics to get in the way of their thinking.
However, I'm lurking along, checking to see what volcanoes are erupting and what landslides are happening. And I'm keeping my eye on the H1N1 influenza strain formerly known as swine flu, because I've got…
grrlscientist | May 3, 2009tags: Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 21 June 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:06:21 08:39:09
Exposure Time: 1/40
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 800
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | May 2, 2009tags: Black and White Warbler, Mniotilta varia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Black and White Warbler, Mniotilta varia, photographed in Quintana and Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 20 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/350s 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 | May 1, 2009tags: Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 12 November 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:11:12 09:10:55
Exposure Time: 1/124
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
khannula | April 30, 2009I should have finished designing the new version of my disasters class. I've been thinking about it forever. But then I was trying to get a paper written, and then I went to a conference, and then there were senior thesis presentations and end-of-semester grading and a six-year-old's birthday, and, well...
Yes, I am frantically trying to get a syllabus ready for class on Monday.
I've got three more days (though they include a discussion with my soon-to-graduate thesis student, graduation, and a birthday party, so it can't be non-stop syllabus work). That means that, although I should be…
grrlscientist | April 30, 2009tags: Horned Lark, Eremophila alpestris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Horned Lark, Eremophila alpestris, photographed in Paul Rushing Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/200s 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 | April 30, 2009tags: TEDTalks, Margaret Wertheim, mathematics, evolution, sea slugs, coral reefs, streaming video
This interesting video discusses evolution, mathematics, sea slugs, corals and crocheting as presented by science writer Margaret Wertheim [16:37]
sciencewoman | April 29, 2009Let me now sing the praises of NASA's Earth Observatory, a phenomenal web-based public education resource that is celebrating its 10th birthday today. Every day for the past decade, NASA has been uploading spectacular remote sensing images and astronaut photographs and accompanying them with clearly written, jargon-free but scientifically accurate explanations of the pictured phenomena. The Earth Observatory is one of my favorite web destinations, and I get their weekly email newsletter, and follow them on twitter. (Follow me!)
On numerous occasions, I've used Earth Observatory images to…
grrlscientist | April 29, 2009tags: Blue Mountain Vireo, Vireo osburni, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Blue Mountain Vireo, Vireo osburni, photographed at Portland Gap, Blue Mountains, Jamaica. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Paul Jones, 18 March 2009 [larger view].
Canon 30-D, 300f4 lens, 1/250 at f4, 320 ISO.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.