travel
grrlscientist | October 29, 2009tags: Cooper's Hawk, Chicken Hawk, Blue Darter, Accipiter cooperii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter striatus, Cooper's Hawk, also known as a Chicken Hawk or Blue Darter (?!), Accipiter cooperii, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 2009 [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.
I added more images of the same bird, taken…
grrlscientist | October 28, 2009tags: Rough-billed Pelican, American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] American White Pelican, sometimes known as the Rough-billed Pelican due to the structure that develops on the upper mandible of breeding adults, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. Numerous Broad-winged hawks, Buteo platypterus (background) with two red-tailed hawks, Buteo jamaicensis (right of center, lower left) [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours -- If you can convince me there's other species in this image, feel free to…
grrlscientist | October 27, 2009tags: Mississippi Kite, Ictinia mississippiensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Mississippi Kite, Ictinia mississippiensis, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 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 | October 26, 2009tags: Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 2009 [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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: horses, carriage horses, Helsinki, Finland, travel
Helsinki has carriage horses in its parks, just as NYC does.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view].
I only photographed these horses, I didn't go for a carriage ride, although I think a carriage ride would have been fun (even though it was raining frequently throughout this day).
Unlike NYC carriage horses, most of which are quite fond of people, these horses were quite cross and seemed to really hate people.
Helsinki has carriage horses in its parks, just as NYC does.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view].…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: Juvenile Martial Eagle, Polemaetus bellicosus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Martial Eagle, Polemaetus bellicosus, photographed in Nakuru National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 29 July 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 VR lens at 200. ISO 200, 1/2000, f 5.6.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Here's another look at this bird.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 24, 2009tags: Bearded Vulture, Lamb Vulture, Lammergeyer, Gypaetus barbatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lammergeyer, also known as the Bearded or Lamb Vulture (for reasons that I'll bet you can correctly guess at), Gypaetus barbatus, photographed on Mt Kilimanjaro, at just under 15000 feet, at Barafu Camp. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 24 July 2006 [larger view].
NIkon D2X 70-200 VR lens at 200, ISO 200, 1/1250, f 6.3.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
According to legend, the Greek playwright…
aardvarchaeology | October 23, 2009Next week, 29-31 October, I'll be in Helsinki for the Nordic Bronze Age symposium. The organisers have been kind enough to ask me to chair one of the sessions, but I'd love to meet up with some Aard readers too. Drop me a line!
grrlscientist | October 23, 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 these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Janice Sweet, 20 October 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 22, 2009This week has not gone very well, probably because I've been ill since Sunday with some sort of illness that makes me vomit a lot. Last week, I thought I had everything figured out, but this week, I've been confronted by an increasingly complex tangle of paperwork and problems and with having to make decisions about how to spend huge sums of money (well, huge sums in the view of this unemployed scientist). All the while, I am reminded how intelligent I was to resist the pressure put on me to relocate anywhere unless I knew I had a job first.
Here's a list of everything that has gone wrong so…
grrlscientist | October 22, 2009tags: Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorous rufus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorous rufus, photographed at Smith Point Hawk Watch, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 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.
grrlscientist | October 21, 2009tags: Crested Caracara, Southern Caracara, Common Caracara, Mexican Eagle, Polyborus plancus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Crested Caracara, also known as the Southern or Common Caracara, or as the Mexican Eagle, Polyborus plancus, photographed at Smith Point Hawk Watch, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 2009 [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.
Review all mystery birds…
grrlscientist | October 20, 2009tags: food, Kauppatori Open Air Market, Helsinki, Finland, travel
A look out from under a coffee tent at the Kauppatori open air market.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view].
Here's a look at the Kauppatori open air market from a little coffee tent that my friend and I (and close to 50 other people) hid under after it started to rain.
The Kauppatori open air market looks like almost any other open air market in the United States, and probably in most European countries.
Fresh produce, Kauppatori open air market, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger…
grrlscientist | October 20, 2009tags: Gambel's Quail, Callipepla gambelii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Gambel's Quail, Callipepla gambelii, photographed near San Manuel, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 17 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D300 and 600 mm VR lens ISO 320, f/8, 1/640.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 19, 2009tags: food, Helsinki, Finland, travel
Traditional Finnish lunch, prepared at the Kauppatori open air market.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view].
Here's a look at this traditional lunch as it was being prepared in front of my friend and I at the Kauppatori open air market.
A look at the finished meal, waiting to be served to hungry people (and gulls!);
Traditional Finnish lunch, prepared at the Kauppatori open air market.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view].
This meal was as good as it looks;
Traditional Finnish lunch, prepared at the Kauppatori open air…
grrlscientist | October 19, 2009tags: Green Parakeet, Green Conure, Aratinga holochlora, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Green Parakeets, also known as Green Conures, Aratinga holochlora, photographed at Elizabeth Street Parrotry, Brownsville, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 7 April 2008 [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.
The Green Parakeet, Aratinga holochlora, is a medium-sized parrot that is native to Central…
grrlscientist | October 18, 2009tags: 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt Messe, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, image of the day
Frankfurt Messe.
Frankfurt Book Fair 2009.
Image: Bob O'Hara, 18 October 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | October 18, 2009tags: Black Crake, Amaurornis flavirostris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black Crake, Amaurornis flavirostris, photographed at Amboseli National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 6 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, ISO 200, 200-400 VR lens at 400 mm. 1/180 sec, f/4.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 17, 2009The good news is that things are really falling into place now -- something I thought would never ever happen.
First, I walked through icy winds and a light dusting of snow to bring my ailing lory to my veterinarian, Simon Starkey, on Thursday morning to get blood drawn so they could look again to see if she's diabetic. The blood tests came back Friday morning, showing that she had blood glucose levels that were twice the normal values, which is something that can result from stress or from mild diabetes. Since she was so ill when I initially brought her in (yay, for poverty for making me…
grrlscientist | October 17, 2009tags: Bhutan Laughing-thrush, Garrulax imbricatum, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bhutan Laughing-thrush, Garrulax imbricatum, photographed in Bhutan.
Image: Larry Gardella, spring 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.