travel
grrlscientist | October 7, 2009tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Common Nighthawk, also commonly known as the Bullbat, Chordeiles minor, photographed at Smith Point Hawk Watch, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 23 August 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 6, 2009tags: dock, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Public dock in downtown Helsinki, Finland.
Photographed as I walked through Helsinki, Finland, from Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Here is a lovely public dock located in downtown Helsinki (yes, that's a waterfall in the center). Standing there reminded me -- powerfully -- of the day when I sailed across Lake Washington from Seattle to Bellevue, tied up in a waterpark there that looks remarkably similar to this while I got a cup of coffee before sailing back to Seattle.
Below is the…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2009tags: Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons, photographed at Tom Bass Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 11 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s 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 5, 2009tags: flowers, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Canna Lily cultivar, probably "The President".
Photographed as I walked through Helsinki, Finland, to Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
aardvarchaeology | October 5, 2009
I forgot to mention the variety show on Saturday night. It was headlined by comedian Robin Ince (you may have seen his MAGIC MAN DUNNIT clip) and offered a lot of funny and musical and skeptical and cynical acts of high standard. I was particularly impressed by high-brow rapper Baba Brinkman. Not only is he witty and knowledgeable, he also made me feel that hmm, rapping really can involve a lot of technical mastery. When I told him I like him not rapping about bitches and bling, he replied, "But I do, in other bits of my Darwin rhymes. I say that bling is peacock feathers evolved by sexual…
grrlscientist | October 4, 2009tags: flowers, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Flower blossom (Ginger? Canna Lily cultivar).
Photographed as I walked through Helsinki, Finland, to Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Is this one of the many domestic ginger cultivars or is it a real species? If so, which one?
grrlscientist | October 4, 2009tags: Tropical Boubou, Laniarius aethiopicus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Tropical Boubou, Laniarius aethiopicus, photographed in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 8 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, ISO 800, 200-400 VR lens at 360 mm. 1/60 sec, f/4.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Regarding distinguishing the Tropical Boubou vs Black-backed Puffback, the photographer writes;
The Tropical Boubou has a black eye, the puffback a red eye.
Boubou…
aardvarchaeology | October 3, 2009
I'm at The Amazing Meeting London, an Old World instance of the skeptical conferences organised by the James Randi Educational Foundation. (Or more correctly, I am waiting for breakfast at my threadbare Bayswater hotel, where I sleep in a basement closet.) I came to London Friday night and started off with a few social hours with other Swedish skeptics at a pub. Yesterday was the first of two conference days, and I've been making acquaintances left and right. Apart from the locals, I've met a lot of Norwegians and Americans. Among the locals, these days, is Rebecca Watson. She promised me to…
grrlscientist | October 3, 2009tags: beach house, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Beach house.
Photographed on the shores of Seurasaari (Helsinki, Finland).
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Have I shown you this house yet? I know I have roughly one dozen photographs of it from various angles, so I am sure it has appeared here at least once, but just in case, here is a close look at this beautiful house.
This photograph was difficult to get, and I am not entirely happy with it because the lines in the image are all akimbo: even though they are straight lines, they are not…
grrlscientist | October 3, 2009tags: Coqui Francolin, Francolinus coqui, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Male Coqui Francolin, Francolinus coqui, photographed in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 31 August 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 VR lens at 250 mm ISO 400 1/350 f/4.5.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 2, 2009Not much to report today except, as I expected, the USFWS has still not responded to my application for CITES permits for my birds. So as I predicted, I am panicking. Instead of going out for a beer or two tonight to relieve my stress, I am at home and now I am suffering intense foot cramps that have almost paralyzed my feet and make me want to scream. Is it time for some codeine-based pain relief or maybe just some alcohol?
The moving company representative had to reschedule visiting my apartment to look at my things until Friday evening next week. It sounds like the company where he works…
grrlscientist | October 2, 2009tags: artwork, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Hevoset "Horses" (dark granite; 1940).
Gunnar Finne (1886 - 1952).
(Bäcksbacka collection donated to The City of Helsinki in the 1970's)
Photographed outside Taidemuseo Meilahti (Meilahti art museum)
in Helsinki, Finland, as I walked to Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
This sculpture was photographed outside the front doors of the Taidemuseo Meilahti (Meilahti art museum) as I walked to Seurasaari, in Helsinki, Finland. I think I've shown this sculpture to you before since I certainly did…
grrlscientist | October 2, 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.
aardvarchaeology | October 2, 2009
I've been called in to help my friend Arne, retired art historian, whack a manuscript into shape. So the other day I drove down to the manor on Vikbolandet and spent 24 enjoyable hours there, writing and chatting and walking in the park.
grrlscientist | October 1, 2009You might not know this, but I am planning to leave America and move overseas -- permanently. There are a lot of reasons I am doing this, not the least of which is the fact that I am in love with a British scientist and that, even as a child growing up in a farming community, I always took it for granted that I would relocate overseas (it just took a helluva lot longer to accomplish than I ever thought it would).
Originally, I thought I'd be moving to Finland -- comparatively easy for me since I'm Finnish and I've fallen in love with that beautiful country, the people and the language.…
grrlscientist | October 1, 2009tags: food, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Lunch in Helsinki, Finland, as I walked to Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
As you can see from this amazing lunch, I am a piscivore, when not constrained by finances.
Dessert in Helsinki, Finland, as I walked to Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
This picture didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I am sharing it to let you know that my affections can be bought: chocolate (preferably dark chocolate) or licorice (preferably not too salty) will do…
grrlscientist | October 1, 2009tags: White morph Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White morph Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 26 September 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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | September 30, 2009tags: house, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
A road through the woods in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | September 30, 2009tags: nature, birds, Antarctica, emperor penguins, Aptenodytes forsteri, David Attenborough, streaming video
This is a chance to see amazing images from deep inside the frozen inland areas of Antarctica. The BBC natural history masterpiece, Planet Earth, documents the gruelling and heroic winter life of male Emperor Penguins, Aptenodytes forsteri, that breed in almost impossibly cold temperatures. Narrated by the incomparable David Attenborough.
grrlscientist | September 29, 2009tags: house, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Bench in front of house on the way to Seurasaari (Helsinki, Finland).
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
This house is located on the Helsinki side on the way to Seurasaari.