Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
April 23, 2006
Predaceous Diving Beetle.
This image appears here with the kind permission of the photographer, Bev Wigney.
Recently, some bird pals of mine have been discussing some "large bugs" that have been making their appearance "everywhere". They finally settled on the insect's identity as a Predaceous…
April 23, 2006
Male wood duck, Aix sponsa.
Resized (Click image for a truly larger view in its own window).
Photographer: Edenpics.com.
Although it is incredibly difficult to choose, this is probably my favorite poem that I've ever read.
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world…
April 22, 2006
Branch of White Peonies, with Pruning Shears (1864)
by Edouard Manet.
I have always loved (and written) poetry, but on those days following September 11, 2001, I first read a poem by Mary Oliver, who immediately became one of my two favorite living poets.
I was in Seattle Center on several of…
April 21, 2006
Alfred Russel Wallace collected this specimen of
an adult male Red Bird of Paradise, Paradisea rubra.
Museum Victoria (Australia), Ornithology Collection. Photographer: Rodney Start.
I first read this poem in a natural history museum, where I worked awhile ago.
In a Museum
by Thomas Hardy
I
Here'…
April 21, 2006
Today's issue of the top-tier journal, Science, has a special online portal to its current issue about influenza, including several excellent articles about avian influenza. This issue is free to the public if you register with them.
This issue includes;
A complete guide and free access to the 21…
April 21, 2006
The Nature Conservancy has set up a webpage where you can make a difference on Earth Day 2006 by sharing a message of hope for the planet. When you share your Earth Day message, you'll become part of the Conservancy's free online community, the Great Places Network. Also, your message may be…
April 21, 2006
I assume that all my Americans visitors have filed their income taxes by now? Well, if not, just nod your head up and down anyway because the IRS has been looking at my blog this past week (yikes) and who knows what sort of spyware they might be testing!
I mistakenly assumed that all online income…
April 20, 2006
Photographer: Julian Humphries.
Thanks for sending the photo, Dawn!
April 20, 2006
I am excited because today, unexpectedly, I received a wonderful gift in the mail .. the gift of a book! This big, beautiful book, The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins (2004, Houghton Mifflin), is one that I've wanted for a looong time, so I am excited to finally have it! This book, a hardcover,…
April 20, 2006
I know this sounds incredible, especially in view of NYC's nationwide appeal to bribe unsuspecting math and science teachers to teach in the NYC public school system, but a friend just sent me this shocking story that is hot off the presses ...
Teacher Arrested At JFK Airport in NYC
NEW YORK --…
April 20, 2006
Mourning dove, Zenaida macroura, sitting in a tree.
Photo by Pam Shack.
Today is Pam's 70th Birdday, so go to her site and wish her a happy one, with many returns!
Some of you, dear readers, might remember a link I posted last week, Dove Love, that directed you to a reader's photoessay about a…
April 19, 2006
What's so funny?
While sitting in a firehouse in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania,
Rudy Giuliani praises Senator Rick Santorum for being a tightass on security.
Photo: Joseph Kaczmarek/AP
Former New York City Mayor, Rudolph W. "Rudy" Giuliani, who many credit with holding New York City together in the…
April 19, 2006
Last week, the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) asked for your help in protecting the migratory red knot, Calidris canutus rufus, and other shorebirds from the effects of overfishing of horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay (I linked to this request from Monday's Birds in the News). They report that they…
April 19, 2006
Yesterday, I was very upset because I learned that my state and local taxes, which I prepared many weeks ago using an "IRS approved" online tax preparation service, were not e-filed as I thought they would be, but because I was a dork and missed reading the little announcement at the very beginning…
April 18, 2006
tags: Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding, Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen, book review, art, books
Several weeks ago, a good friend of mine who is an aviculturist, businessman and art collector, emailed to tell me about a book he had just purchased. Usually reserved, his praise was so effusive that I…
April 17, 2006
.. or how to transform a yucky hollow chocolate easter bunny into heart-stopping sugary goodness! -- just in time for the 50% off post-easter candy sales! Go on, admit it; you know you can't resist a big sale like that!
The best part; this recipe uses knives and power tools, so you know that the…
April 17, 2006
Mourning dove, Zenaida macroura, gathering nesting materials.
Photo by Pam Shack.
For those of you who would like to look at a pair of nesting mourning doves on a reader's blog, take a peek at Pam Shack's wonderful photo essay.
Update: Pam tells me she has an update coming soon and will share…
April 17, 2006
Link removed to protect my so-called anonymity. Sorry.
Thanks, Ian!
tags: humor, cartoon
April 17, 2006
Dark-eyed junco, Junco hyemalis.
Click image for a larger view in its own window.
Photo by Dawn Bailey and appears here by permission.
Birds in Science
A Duke University evolutionary ecologist reported evidence that aggressive male western bluebirds, Sialia mexicana, out-compete less aggressive…
April 16, 2006
A friend sent a link to this 12-minute long video collection of amazing little machines that are part of a collection of Rube Goldberg-like inventions. Rube Goldberg was Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, author and inventor. However, while most machines make difficult tasks simple,…
April 16, 2006
I know this cartoon is as old as I am so you've all seen it a hundred times already, but it never fails to make me laugh, so I am sharing it with you anyway.
tags: cartoon, easter, humor
April 15, 2006
This test is a little more involved than most, and probably takes 10 minutes to complete, unless your neighbor's wireless connection that you are piggybacking crashes on page eight, as happened to me. In that case, it will take a little longer to complete.
So what are your results according to…
April 15, 2006
You Are Marcia Brady
Confident yet kind. Popular yet down to earth. You're a total dream girl.
You've got the total package - no wonder everyone's a little jealous of you.
What Brady Are You?
Hahaha. Inaccurate, as usual, but I like what it said, anyway.
tags: online quiz
April 14, 2006
After several of you asked me to make a wishlist, I did so. Shortly after that, one of you sent me a book from my wishlist that I've wanted for quite some time, Dinosaurs of the Air, by Gregory Paul (2002). I just received the book today and I want to thank you, Biosparite, for your kindness. As…
April 13, 2006
I am going to try an experiment. For this next month, I will publish Birds in the News on Monday instead of Friday. I want to expose it to a greater readership than it currently enjoys. So this issue will be postponed until Monday.
April 10, 2006
A Malaysian man said he nearly fainted when he received a 806,400,000,000,000.01 ringgit ($218 trillion) phone bill and was ordered to pay up within 10 days or face prosecution, a newspaper, the New Straits Times, reported Monday.
Yes, you read that correctly; a $218 trillion phone bill.
Yahaya…
April 10, 2006
A friend of mine is prescribing medicine without a license; I hope this at least does something .. mood-enhancing. I could use a good bout of the giggles, without any embarassing drool.
Thanks, Dawn!
tags: humor, cartoon
April 10, 2006
As many of you know, I read and comment here about avian influenza fairly often, and you also know that I like to review books as a way of staying in touch with the publishing world without resorting to a life of crime to support my book habit. So I was interested when the publicist at Thomas Dunne…
April 9, 2006
A little while ago, several of you, dear readers, mentioned that you wanted me to set up a wish list, so I did that. You can also find the link on the left sidebar, below the site meter.
As you can see, it's rather long but don't forget that this list has been several years in the making, too. Not…