avian
grrlscientist | October 20, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
These Northern fulmar chicks, Fulmarus glacialis, are from the northern end of the Isle of Lewis (aka the Butt of Lewis) in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.
Image: Dave Rintoul, August 2008 [larger view].
Birds in Science
U.S. and Costa Rican scientists say their research suggests parrots -- with more than 90 species facing extinction -- might be more adaptable than thought. Donald Brightsmith, a Texas A&M University bird specialist, and Greg Matuzak from Amigos de las Aves USA, studied six parrot communities in…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Red-crowned Amazon parrot, Amazona viridigenalis, at Elizabeth Street Parrotry, Brownsville, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 7 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Birds in Science
Scientists have found a new huge and well-preserved fossil of a goose and duck relative that swam around what is now England 50 million years ago flashing sharp, toothy smiles. The skull, discovered on the Isle of Sheppey off the southeast coast of England in the…
grrlscientist | September 22, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
The cassowary, Casuarius casuarius,
is a large, flightless bird that is native to Australia and New Guinea.
Image: Orphaned [larger view].
Canaries in Our Coal Mine
Common birds are in decline across the world, providing evidence of a rapid deterioration in the global environment that is affecting all life on earth -- including human life. All the world's governments have committed themselves to slowing or halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010. But reluctance to commit what are often trivial sums in terms of…
grrlscientist | September 15, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
ABSTRACT: Rainbow Lory, Trichoglossus haematodus.
Image: John Del Rio. [larger view].
Birds in Science
UK Scientists have found bird fossils dating back around 55 million years that could help shed light on a period of time before humans and most mammals had evolved. The fossils, including two complete bird skulls, a pelvis and several bones, appear to be the remains of parrot-like birds and were found by a local archaeologist on marshland Seasalter Levels near Whitstable, Kent. "Birds' skeletons are so fragile, the…
grrlscientist | September 2, 2008tags: London Zoo, Black-cheeked lovebirds, Agapornis nigrigenis, ornithology, birds, parrots, avian
Black-cheeked lovebirds, Agapornis nigrigenis, a native of the African nation of Zambia. Image taken at the London Zoo.
Image: GrrlScientist 2 September 2008 [larger view].
Yesterday, I went to the London Zoo with one of my blog colleagues and reader, Bob O'Hara. Despite the fact that I dragged him through all the aviaries on the grounds, and spent the entire day snapping pictures of birds, he still speaks to me (I did bring him to a pub afterwards, so perhaps he forgot his resenment?).…
grrlscientist | August 18, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Orange phase Dusky Lory, Pseudeos fuscata.
Image: John Del Rio. [larger view].
Birds in Science News
Ever since Darwin, evolutionary biologists have wondered why some lineages have diversified more than others. Over 20 years ago, Jeff Wyles, Allan Wilson, and Joseph Kunkel proposed that big brains might favor adaptive evolutionary diversification in animals by facilitating the behavioral changes needed to use new resources or environments, a theory known as the behavioral drive hypothesis. When these authors…
grrlscientist | August 17, 2008tags: new bird species, African forest robin, Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus, Gamba Complex, Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, ornithology, birds, avian, Smithsonian, researchblogging.org
A male specimen of the newly-discovered olive-backed forest robin, Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus, is carefully examined in the hand of Brian Schmidt, the Smithsonian ornithologist who discovered the species.
Image: Brian Schmidt.
A new species of bird has been identified by ornithologists from the Smithsonian Institution. The bird, which was first discovered in Gabon, a small country in Africa, was unknown to the…
grrlscientist | August 11, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
ABSTRACT: Chattering Lory, sometimes known as the Scarlet Lory, Lorius garrulus.
Image: John Del Rio [larger view].
Birds in Science News
The Horsfield's bronze-cuckoo, Chalcites basalis, specializes in laying a single egg in the nests of fairy-wrens, but sometimes parasitizes nests of other species such as thornbills or robins. The cuckoo chick has a shorter incubation period than the hosts' chicks, and after the cuckoo chick hatches, it pushes the host's eggs out of the nest and imitates the begging calls of the…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Brown Lory, also known as the Duyvenbode's Lory, Chalcopsitta duivenbodei. This species is endemic to the island of New Guinea.
Image: John Del Rio [larger view].
Birds in Science News
One of the challenges facing those who believe that evolution cannot create new species is explaining the problem of "ring species." Ring species are a group of geographically connected populations that can interbreed with nearby populations, but cannot breed with those populations that exist at each end of the cline. These populations…
grrlscientist | July 28, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
A Marsh Wren, Cistothorus palustris, gathers cattail material
for its nest along the shore of Lost Lake in North Central Washington
just 10 miles south of the Canadian Border.
Image: Jeff Larsen, Writer/Photographer [larger view].
View more images by this photographer.
Birds in Science News
Now here's a fascinating research paper that I've been trying to get my hands on: The chicks of a species of Australian cuckoo can adjust their call in order to fool other species into rearing them, despite never having heard…
grrlscientist | July 22, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, dichromatism, mating system, plumage color, sex allocation, eclectus parrots, Eclectus roratus, ornithology, birds, avian, parrots
Elektra, my female Solomon Islands eclectus parrot, Eclectus roratus solomonensis.
This is the smallest and most distinctively marked of all the subspecies of eclectus parrots.
Image: GrrlScientist 4 July 2008 [larger view].
Some of you might recall the recent story about scientists learning to identify plumage coloration from fossilized feathers. This might seem a sort of esoteric pursuit meant to entertain scientists with access…
grrlscientist | July 21, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Female black-chinned Hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri, Cave Creek Canyon, AZ.
Image: Dave Rintoul, June 2008 [larger view].
More images from Dave's recent Arizona vacation.
Birds in Science News
The fossil record suggests that much of the biodiversity we see arose quickly in response to ecological opportunities: abundant resources combined with few, or no, potential competitors. As the niche became more crowded, the rate of speciation decreased. This process is known as density-dependent diversification. But can…
grrlscientist | July 14, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Juvenile male Blue-throated Hummingbird, Lampornis clemenciae, Cave Creek Canyon, AZ.
Image: Dave Rintoul, June 2008 [larger view].
For comparison, an adult male of the species -- also read the comments section to learn more about how to identify juvenile males of this species.
Birds in Science News
A new analysis indicates that birds don't fly alone when migrating at night. Some birds, at least, keep together on their migratory journeys, flying in tandem even when they are 200 meters or more apart. The study, from…
grrlscientist | July 7, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Canyon Towhee, Pipilo fuscus, in Chaco Canyon.
Image: Dave Rintoul, June 2008 [larger view].
News of Birds in Science
According to an article that was just published in the journal BioScience, penguin populations are declining sharply due to the combined effects of overfishing and pollution from offshore oil operations and shipping. Dee Boersma, professor of biology and the Wadsworth Endowed Chair in Conservation Science at the University of Washington in Seattle, reports that Patagonian (magellanic) penguins,…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula, with insect egg or pupa in its beak.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [larger view].
News of Birds in Science
A fascinating paper was just published by some of my colleagues in the top-tier journal, Science, that analyzes the largest collection of DNA data ever assembled for birds. This analysis effectively redraws avian phylogeny, or family tree, thus shaking up our current understanding of the early, or "deep", evolutionary relationships of birds. For example, one of the most…
grrlscientist | June 23, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Yellow-rumped warbler, Dendroica coronata, After Hatch Year male.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [larger view].
People Hurting Birds
The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) in South Africa said it was out of options trying to prevent a bird hunt organised by the High School Hans Strijdom in Mookgophong (Naboomspruit). The school apparently organised a bird hunt to take place over the weekend to raise funds, but the NSPCA condemned it as unethical. "The linking of a school with flagrant slaughter, turning killing into sport…
grrlscientist | June 16, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
"Blue enough for ya?"
Male Eastern Bluebird, Sialia sialis.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [larger view].
Birds and Dads News
I stop for pileated woodpeckers. That'd be my life's bumper sticker. These days, I know my birds. Not because I ever saw them as a kid, but because on the way home from hikes with my dad, I'd grab his Golden field guide, Birds of North America, and read up on what we just spent the whole day not seeing. Pileated, by the way, means capped, a reference to its distinctive triangular red crest. Woody…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Male prothonotary warbler, Protonotaria citrea in breeding plumage.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [OMG view].
Birds in Science
New research led by Dr Melanie Massaro and Dr Jim Briskie at the University of Canterbury, which found that the New Zealand bellbird is capable of changing its nesting behaviour to protect itself from predators, could be good news for island birds around the world at risk of extinction. The introduction of predatory mammals such as rats, cats and stoats to oceanic islands has led to the extinction…
grrlscientist | June 2, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
"Not skulking"
Lincoln's Sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [larger view].
People Hurting Birds
The number of lesser scaup is dwindling, and it could be an invasive species that does them in. Invasive snails and parasites are attacking these and other ducks on the Upper Mississippi. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials say with no natural predators, the snails and the parasites are thriving, and killing off a duck population that is already in trouble. The snail has helped kill nearly 50,000…
grrlscientist | May 26, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Red-crested Turaco, Tauraco erythrolophus.
Image: John Del Rio [larger view].
Birds in Science
Surface tension can be a wonderful thing. It helps some insects walk on water. It allows the dappling of raindrops on the hood of a car. And, a new study in Science shows, it enables certain birds to eat. Like many birds, phalaropes, small shorebirds with long, thin beaks, feed by pecking, but phalaropes peck at water, capturing droplets, on the order of a tenth of an inch in diameter, which can contain tiny crustaceans or…