grrlscientist | May 4, 2008tags: red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, Central Park, Image of the Day
Gerry or George IV.
Male Central Park red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger].
Here is George IV (or Gerry if you prefer) in a more dignified pose. This is more befitting royalty, don't you think?
grrlscientist | May 4, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists bird and natural history books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
FEATURED TITLE:
Hölldobler, Bert and Edward O. Wilson. The Ants. 1990. Belknap/Harvard University Press. Hardbound: 732 pages. Price: $108.50 U.S. [Amazon: $86.60]. SUMMARY: This title was the winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction…
grrlscientist | May 3, 2008tags: Kentucky Derby, horse racing, racetrack surfaces, racehorses, injuries and fatalities report, Eight Belles, Barbaro
Thoroughbred racehorse filly, Eight Belles,
who finished second in today's Kentucky Derby, and then was killed moments later.
This morning, the book, My Guy, Barbaro: A Jockey's Journey Through Love, Triumph, and Heartbreak with America's Favorite Horse co-written by Barbaro's jockey Edgar Prado and John Eisenberg, was presciently announced on National Public Radio. They were interviewing Barbaro's jockey as part of their show about today's upcoming 134th running of…
grrlscientist | May 3, 2008tags: chambers street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Chambers Street Subway Art #16
as seen at NYC's Chambers Street stop for the A and C trains.
I am not proud of this image because it is blurry, but because I
snapped it while recovering from a broken shoulder, I guess I
shouldn't expect much. I plan to return to retake this image so it
is clearer. If I have managed to do this, you will not even be
reading this message!
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | May 3, 2008tags: red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, Central Park, Image of the Day
Gerry or George IV.
Male Central Park red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger].
Bob Levy writes;
I believe there have been three successive male Red-winged Blackbirds holding the territory on the western half of Turtle Pond in Central Park since the main protagonist of my book Club George reigned there. I have given these males names. I call this one Gerry but the name "George" has become a kind of honorary title at the pond where visitors routinely call…
grrlscientist | May 2, 2008tags: chambers street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Chambers Street Subway Art #15
as seen at NYC's Chambers Street stop for the A and C trains.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | May 2, 2008tags: Elizabeth Blackburn, Joan Steitz, Albany Medical Center Prize
I learned this afternoon that America's highest prize in medicine, the Albany Medical Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, was awarded to two women for the first time in its history. The recipients, Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, and Joan Steitz of Yale University will share the $500,000 prize, which is second only to the $1.4 million Nobel Prize. The two medical scientists, who work independently of each other, study proteins associated with DNA and RNA, and their work will likely…
grrlscientist | May 2, 2008tags: Rufous-crowned Roller, Coracias naevia, birds, Image of the Day
This is the last bird that I will be showing you by this photographer this week. More of John's images are waiting in the queue, and will appear next week.
Rufous-crowned Roller, Coracias naevia.
Image: John Del Rio. [larger view].
grrlscientist | May 2, 2008tags: Microcosmos, Radiohead, music, All I Need, nature, streaming video
This wonderful streaming video shows an unlikely combination of a series of clips from the 1996 French film, Microcosmos, with Radiohead's "All I Need" as the accompanying soundtrack. It's really beautiful. The editor writes; "The sensual pace and delicate melody of the song reminded me of a world much smaller than ours, with all the love and violence we experience. All credits go to the film and Radiohead. Hope you like." [3:54].
grrlscientist | May 1, 2008tags: chambers street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Chambers Street Subway Art #14
as seen at NYC's Chambers Street stop for the A and C trains.
A vandal defaced this artwork with green chalk, but fortunately,
chalk is easily removed without harming the art.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | May 1, 2008tags: eclectus, Solomon Islands Eclectus parrot, Eclectus roratus solomonensis, parrots, birds, photograph
Elektra.
Female Solomon Islands Eclectus parrot, Eclectus roratus solomonensis, April 2008.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
Last night, I was feeling rather depressed, so instead of writing, I watched The Golden Compass on DVD with my parrots. I crawled into bed and under the covers because it was cold, and Orpheus sat in front of my laptop screen, watching the movie while Elektra snuggled down on my side and pulled the blankets around herself into a cup nest there. She made…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2008tags: duckling crossing, Washington state, SR-512, People Helping Birds, nature, streaming video
Mallard ducklings snoozing in the sunshine.
Image: curiousLee, 2003.
Springtime means ducklings .. everywhere, right? Well, if you live in western Washington state, then you certainly see plenty of ducklings. But this past Monday, 28-year-old Lakewood police officer, Dustin Carrell, stopped morning rush hour traffic in western Washington state near Seattle just so a female mallard and her ten ducklings could jaywalk the busy interstate.
At 9am, Carrell was off-duty and was returning his patrol…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2008tags: Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Rupicola peruvianus, birds, Image of the Day
This is the fourth image of a passerine taken by this photographer.
Male Andean (red) Cock-of-the-rock, Rupicola peruvianus.
Image: John Del Rio. [larger view].
This dimorphic species is a medium-sized bird that is native to the cloud forests in the Andes Mountains in South America, being found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This species is frugivorous and the females choose their mates from among a group of males that display on a communal lek. The species gets its name from the females' habit…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2008tags: Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, humor, music, You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore, culture, streaming video
This truly odd streaming video was sent by a friend who learned that I will be going to London in August. I guess she thinks that I need to have a bit of a cultural adjustment prior to going there .. [4:09].
grrlscientist | April 30, 2008tags: chambers street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Chambers Street Subway Art #13
as seen at NYC's Chambers Street stop for the A and C trains.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 30, 2008tags: red fan parrot, hawk-headed parrot, Deroptyus accipitrinus accipitrinus, parrots, birds, photograph
I took this picture yesterday morning to share with you;
Orpheus.
Male Hawk-headed (red fan) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus, April 2008.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
This species originates in the New World tropics; Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana and the extreme northwest portion of Brazil. This bird was captive-bred and was purchased for me by a friend. He was shipped to me by the breeder when he was only four and a half months old, so he was quite young…
grrlscientist | April 30, 2008tags: Yellow-Throated Laughing Thrush, Garrulax galbanus, birds, Image of the Day
This is the third in a series of passerine images by this photographer.
Yellow-Throated Laughing Thrush, Garrulax galbanus.
Image: John Del Rio. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 30, 2008Wow, you guys! I learned that the National Geographic Traveler blog has picked up on my subway art series. The author wrote an amusing little story and included lots of links to the AMNH subway art series of photographs, which you helped with by helping me ID some of the animal species.
grrlscientist | April 30, 2008Approximately 500 migratory ducks are dead or dying in Alberta Canada because an oilsands company did not prevent them from landing on a manmade lake filled with toxic sludge. The offending company, Syncrude Canada Ltd., neglected to use propane-fueled noise-making cannons to scare the ducks away from the toxic ponds, as required by law. Further, they claim that ice surrounding the lake is preventing rescue efforts.
"This is the first time a large flock of birds has landed on a settling basin in Syncrude's 30 years of operation," the Syncrude press release stated, attempting to portray this…
grrlscientist | April 30, 2008tags: Bag of Bones, Dunya Mikhail, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I posted one poem per day every day this month for you to enjoy. You have sent me so many poems and suggestions that I plan to use all of them in the coming weeks; I will post one poem per week, on Wednesdays at noon, for as long as you send suggestions for me to share with my readers.
Today's poem, the last one to appear here during National Poetry Month, is one that I heard the poet read in person when I visited Kansas State University. The poet, a native Iraqi, fled from her home in…