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Concisus Vitae
GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in OpenLab2009.
Online interviews with GrrlScientist: Kolibri Expeditions, ScienceOnline09, Nature Blog Network and ScienceBlogs.
GrrlScientist's banner was designed by graphic artist, Jeff Hebert, whose other work can be viewed here.
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November 5, 2009
Category: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching • Travel
tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] photographed at Elmer Bailey Road, West Harris County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 9 March 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 9:59 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 4, 2009
Category: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching • Travel
tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] photographed at the Frontera Audubon Sanctuary, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 April 2008 [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.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 9:59 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Streaming videos
tags: Glenn Beck, comedy, humor, satire, funny, ONN, Onion News Network, streaming video
As the grieving mother says, it's a tragedy to watch Glenn Beck outlive your child.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 5:59 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 3, 2009
Category: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching • Travel
tags: Red Knot, Calidris canutus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red Knot, Calidris canutus, photographed at Quintana, 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.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 9:59 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Humor • Streaming videos
tags: humor, funny, rational thought, belief systems, bill bailey, streaming video
Bill Bailey gives Rosie O'Donnell (and mothers like her) some advice: "Nuke every country that hasn't sent us a Christmas card in the last 20 years."
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 6:59 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 2, 2009
Category:
I receive a fair number of books to review each month, so I thought I should do what several magazines and other publications do; list those books that have arrived in my mailbox so you know that this is the pool of books from which I will be reading and reviewing on my blog.
I should point out that (sadly!), my book reviewing days may be (possibly) ending soon because I will be relocating to Frankfurt, Germany in two weeks. According to my experiences, postage to Germany is at least three times what it is to anywhere in the USA, and I get an impressive headache when I read electronic PDFs, so unless the publishers decide I am worth the extra cost of shipping a hard copy of their books to Germany, I doubt I will be receiving (m)any more books for review after I leave. In that case, here's hoping that I receive a substantial pile of books to bring with me so I can review them on my blog for the next few months while I wait to begin taking German language classes in January.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 10:59 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Art • Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching
tags: Short-tailed Magpie, Cissa thalassina, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Short-tailed Magpie, Cissa thalassina, endemic to the South Pacific Maritime
Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Java. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Watercolour and gouache sketch on paper.
Image: Thomas Lewin, early 1800s [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 9:59 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Humor • Streaming videos
tags: forklift accident, jobs, humor, funny, oh SHIT!, streaming video
This video is one of those where you find yourself laughing while you secretly hope that this will never be you. This fork lift operator backs up a little too fast and bumps into the edge of large pallet rack. He hits it just hard enough to start a domino effect bringing down all the shelving in the entire warehouse.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 6:59 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Humor • Streaming videos
tags: mobile home commercial, television, humor, funny, streaming video
This is a real commercial for a real mobile home company. Everything Robert says in it is true. (If more commercials were like this, no one would Tivo past them).
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 5:59 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 1, 2009
Category: Ethics • Godlessness • Religion
tags: religion, belief system, ethics, values, lifestyle
Here's my results from Belief-o-matic, an online questionnaire that uses a series of 20 questions to help identify your belief system;
What did this quiz tell you your belief system should be?
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 12:59 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Birdbooker Report
tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"How does one distinguish a truly civilized nation from an aggregation of
barbarians? That is easy. A civilized country produces much good bird
literature."
--Edgar Kincaid
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and enjoyment. Below the fold is this week's issue of The Birdbooker Report which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 11:59 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching • Travel
tags: Crested Hawk, Aviceda subcristata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Crested Hawk, Aviceda subcristata, 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 1/2500 & 1/1250 sec, f/4 iso 200.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 9:59 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category:
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is almost here once more and it is still seeking submissions for tomorrow's edition of this blog carnival! Can you help by sending URLs for well-written blog essays to the host?
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 8:59 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion • Streaming videos • Teaching
tags: religion, evangelism, fundamentalism, belief systems, ray comfort, streaming video
Ray Comfort's ministry hits a snag. It's all going so well, when suddenly.... Way of the Master - but who's the master?
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 5:59 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 31, 2009
Category:
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Have you read an especially good essay about science, nature or medicine lately? If so, why not share it with the world by submitting the URL for this essay to a blog carnival designed to share excellent writing with others? You don't need to be the author of an essay to submit it for consideration, and this is one way that blog carnivals grow in size and influence: by sharing with others.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 11:59 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching • Travel
tags: Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus, photographed in Boulia Shire, far west Queensland, Australia [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Ann Britton [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 9:59 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Behavior • Streaming videos • Your Inner Child
tags: piano stairway, Sweden, behavior, social experiment, streaming video
This video documents an interesting social experiment in Stockholm, Sweden, where students changed stairs into a piano, and compared before-and-after video of stairway use to escalator use. Brilliant!
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 8:59 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Streaming videos
tags: prank, Halloween, funny, streaming video
This bratty brother scares the hell out of his sister so she will, no doubt, be plotting her revenge.
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 7:59 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Streaming videos • Your Inner Child
tags: pumpkin carving, Halloween, funny, streaming video
What do you think: might this pumpkin carving design make Martha Stewart jealous?
Read on »
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 6:59 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
