grrlscientist | July 1, 2009tags: Dahlia, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, image of the day
Dahlias.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side on West 81st street at Central Park West. Actor Alec Baldwin lives in this building, by the way.
Image: GrrlScientist, 29 June 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | July 1, 2009Due to our incredibly crappy economy, there has been a change in the advertising policies at ScienceBlogs recently. Which leads me to ask, what do you think of those Russian Brides ads that are popping up here recently? I ask because I think they are incredibly tacky, offensively sexist and worse, I wonder if "Russian brides" aren't somehow tied in with human trafficking? Does anyone else know about the human trafficking angle, or can you point me in the direction of information related to the Russian Brides racket and human trafficking? I'd appreciate your comments about the ads, since I've…
grrlscientist | July 1, 2009tags: Helsinki Finland, travel
The Gates to HEL.
Image: GrrlScientist, 17 February 2009 [larger view].
I am somewhere at the airport, waiting for my flight to glorious Helsinki, Finland. Since I've spent some time visiting this lovely city during the winter months, I am visiting in the summer: I've been told that Helsinki is two different cities from one season to the next.
Hopefully, my flight will not crash into a bird or be zapped by lightning before I escape the dangerous NYC airspace. Last night, the storms were so heavy and dangerous that all the area airports were experiencing…
grrlscientist | July 1, 2009tags: White-rumped Sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] White-rumped Sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis, photographed at Galveston, East Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 May 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 1, 2009tags: Harry Potter, ADHD, humor, funny, satire, streaming video
I thought this video spoof might bring a smile to your face while we all wait for the upcoming premier of the Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on 17 July [2:22]
grrlscientist | July 1, 2009tags: Taco Bell, Onion News, humor, funny, satire, streaming video
In this ONN report, we learn that Taco Bell has a new menu: it boasts zero environmental impact because they will rely solely on synthetic, lab-produced ingredients. [2:21]
grrlscientist | June 30, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days. Currently, there are only 24 submissions for the upcoming carnival -- we clearly need more!
To send your submissions to Scientia Pro Publica, either use this automated submission form or use the cute little widget on the right (…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 579 - 520 - 192 - 178 - 169 out of 195 candidates registered. I am in second place.
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay. Voting ends 30 September and there is one vote allowed per valid email address (registration required).
Once again, I spent several hours writing emails to the…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2009tags: Michael Jackson, Moonwalking Bird, birds, behavior, funny, streaming video
I am an ornithologist and aviculturist, which means that I research birds scientifically as well as breeding and raising them. So after the shock of Michael Jackson's sudden death wore off, I wanted to share a bird lover's farewell to Michael with you [1:15]
grrlscientist | June 30, 2009tags: Ranunculaceae, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, image of the day
Purple Clematis, in the Ranunculaceae family (not sure which species this is).
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side on West 81st street at
Central Park West. Passersby were curious as to why I was crawling into
a shrub, until after I emerged and they saw my camera in-hand.
Image: GrrlScientist, 29 June 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 30, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Wattled Starlings, Creatophora cinerea, perched on Plains (Grant's) Zebra, Equus quagga boehmi, Amboseli National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 3 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2H, 200-400 VR lens at 400, ISO 200, 1/320, f/8.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 30, 2009tags: Bat Falcon, Falco rufigularis, South America, nature, National Geographic, streaming video
This female bat falcon, Falco rufigularis, makes dazzling mid-air catches over Mayan ruins in Guatemala to feed her chicks [2:15]
grrlscientist | June 29, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 504 - 481 - 180 - 158 - 140 out of 183 candidates registered. I am in second place.
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay. Voting ends 30 September and there is one vote allowed per valid email address (registration required).
grrlscientist | June 29, 2009tags: Dahlia, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, image of the day
Dahlias.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side on West 81st street at Central Park West.
Image: GrrlScientist, 29 June 2009 [larger view].
On the opposite side of the continent, a friend of mine was murdered by her husband, who then committed suicide. Their teen-aged daughter found their bodies. My friend was very active in the avicultural community, and bred her own flock of rare parrots. If I lived a few thousand miles closer, I would immediately drop everything to care for her flock of parrots as long as…
grrlscientist | June 29, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
The first Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher chicks, Terpsiphone corvina,
to fledge successfully outside La Digue Island, Seychelles for over 60 years
are flying on Denis Island.
Image: David Hosking [larger view].
Birds in Science
One of the fifteen Frisian 'transmitter godwits', which was still in Friesland on one week ago on Saturday, arrived in Senegal in West Africa on Tuesday morning. The bird, nicknamed Heidenskip, appears to have flown from Friesland via Spain and over the Sahara in one go. The distance, over…
grrlscientist | June 29, 2009tags: Pelagic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pelagic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, photographed at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon. It is taking nesting materials back to the rock, where many of these birds were busy nesting. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 8 June 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 29, 2009tags: Antarctica, environment, nature, streaming video
This is a video of a trip to Antarctica, including some lovely images of seals, penguins, gulls and other seabirds and breaching humpback whales! [4:48]
Thanks to one of my readers, I learned recently that Quark Expeditions is searching for an Official Blogger to join a voyage to Antarctica. To select this person, they are asking blog writers to enter a competition where the public votes for whom they think would be best for the job. I am a wonderful candidate for this job as the official blogger for Quark Expeditions because I have…
grrlscientist | June 28, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 436 - 377 - 170 - 145 - 138 out of 167 candidates registered.
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay. Voting ends 30 September and there is one vote allowed per valid email address (registration required).
grrlscientist | June 28, 2009tags: book review, Sleeping Naked is Green, green living, environment, Vanessa Farquharson
Carbon footprints, global warming, green living -- are these phrases an inconvenient truth that keep you awake at night, wondering how you can live in a more environmentally friendly way? For many people, merely contemplating these things is enough to make them give up trying to help the earth before they even start! But before you allow yourself to become discouraged, there is a book out there that will inspire you to make changes in your life that are beneficial to the earth; Sleeping Naked Is Green:…
grrlscientist | June 28, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days. To send your submissions to Scientia Pro Publica, either use this automated submission form or use the cute little widget on the right (sometimes that widget doesn't upload when the mother site is sick). Be sure to include the URL or "…