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 
tags: nature, Helsinki, travel
330 in the Morning.
Photographed at 0330 in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I awoke at 3am (Helsinki time), ravenously hungry. After snacking on left-over dinner (a delicious cold salad made from fresh corn, peas, red Bell peppers, kale, cantaloupe, shrimp and seedless red grapes), I decided I had to share a photograph taken from the balcony of where I am staying showing you what it looks like in Helsinki at 330 in the morning. In short, the sun dips below the horizon -- barely -- for less than two hours before popping up into sight again, and it never really gets dark at all. As you are reading this, it is 2200 in NYC, and it is as bright in Helsinki at this time as it is at 11am in NYC. It's also quite warm and the humidity is somewhat less than what I experience in NYC but is surprisingly higher than what I experienced in Seattle.
I also thought I'd mention that I got a bit of sun yesterday while walking around Helsinki and today, my red face is looking delightfully tanned. As I write this to you, the doors to the balcony are open and I can hear common swifts*, several gull species, what sounds like a species of warbler (?) and magpies calling and chattering as the breezes rustle the birch trees. I plan to record the birds' calls to share with you as an mp3 file, so stay tuned for that.
* = new addition to my Life List
Environment
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
White Nights!
Posted by: anon | July 2, 2009 11:45 PM