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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.
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Topic Categories: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Ornithology • Photography • Teaching
Posted on: April 28, 2009 9:59 AM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: Roseate Spoonbill, Ajaia ajaj, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Roseate Spoonbill, Ajaia ajaj, photographed at Tom Bass Park, 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 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Comments
Roseate Spoonbill? Field marks - the pink color of the body coupled with the whitish neck, and the spoon-shaped bill.
Posted by: Robyn | April 28, 2009 10:59 AM
Roseate spoonbill. Long legs, pink color of body. But most of all the long, flat bill indicates a roseate spoonbill.
Posted by: Hollie | April 28, 2009 11:04 AM
Those are funny birds to watch feed.
Posted by: Russell | April 28, 2009 11:16 AM
Finally one I knew right off and Robyn and Hollie beat me to it. The color and the bill are both give-aways.
Posted by: Apikoros | April 28, 2009 11:51 AM
Great camera angle. This would be a "'tocks" shot on Cute Overload.
Posted by: Quiet Desperation | April 28, 2009 12:03 PM
Shoot, I actually knew one and got beaten to the punch.
Posted by: CyberLizard | April 28, 2009 2:38 PM
This is actually the Texas Inversabird. By some strange freak of evolution, its head is where its tail should be and vice-versa, as you can see in the photo. The ass-backward nature of the bird is why it has become the emblem of the Texas Board of Education.
Healthwise, the bird is obviously in the pink.
Posted by: Ian | April 29, 2009 7:13 AM