bird watching
grrlscientist | March 25, 2008tags: birds, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger view].
By the time this image pops up, I will be meeting my hosts, Dave and Elizabeth, at the Kansas City, MO, airport. I'll probably be dragging my dufflebag along, while carrying my precious laptop, digital camera, and binoculars -- all crammed into the super-strong computer bag that I have packed them into. Hopefully, the airlines will treat me well and will allow me to pre-board each flight (I switch planes in Detroit -- another…
grrlscientist | March 24, 2008tags: birds, Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe, ornithology, Image of the Day
Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger view].
With any luck, by the time you are looking at this image, I will have finished running around the city trying to get last minute tasks completed, such as buying food for my birds, cleaning my birds as much as possible (I've given up on cleaning my apartment and caved-in bathroom so both are complete disasters), doing my looong-overdue laundry (I have no idea how I will do this one-handed since it involves hauling a mountain of dirty clothes…
grrlscientist | March 21, 2008tags: birds,California Condor, Gymnogyps californianus, ornithology, Image of the Day
California condor, Gymnogyps californianus, #97,
flying over Bright Angel Lodge at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, August 2006.
Image: Jeff Lanam. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 18, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, birds, aves, ornithology, Zosterops somadikartai, Togian white-eye, Indonesia, Sulawesi
An undated artist's rendering of Zosterops somadikartai, or Togian white-eye.
This small greenish bird that has been playing hide-and-seek with ornithologists on a remote Indonesian island since 1996, but was declared a newly discovered species on March 14, 2008 and promptly recommended for endangered lists.
Image: Agus Prijono.
Sharp-eyed scientists have discovered a new species of bird on a remote Indonesian archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean. A formal description…
grrlscientist | March 18, 2008tags: birds,Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata, ornithology, Image of the Day
Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata,
in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the Southern Yucatan
in the state of Campeche. They are endemic to the region
and are known locally as both Pavo Ocelado or Guajalote Ocelato.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
Kevin writes:
The Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata, is one of only two species of wild turkey. The Ocellated Turkey is near-endemic to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The species' range also extends a bit into Guatemala and Belize, but all total encompasses…
grrlscientist | March 17, 2008tags: birds,Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Immature Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, in the Yucatan.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 16, 2008tags: birds,Roadside Hawk, Buteo magnirostris griseocauda, ornithology, Image of the Day
Roadside Hawk, Buteo magnirostris griseocauda,
in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the southern Yucatan.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 15, 2008tags: birds,Ruddy Turnstones, Arenaria interpres, ornithology, Image of the Day
Ruddy Turnstones, Arenaria interpres, in the Yucatan.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 14, 2008tags: birds, parrots, White-fronted Parrots, Spectacled Amazons, Amazona albifrons nana, ornithology, Image of the Day
White-fronted Parrots, Amazona albifrons nana,
otherwise known as Spectacled Amazons. This picture
was taken near the Maya village of El Senor in the south central Yucatan.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 13, 2008tags: birds, Magnificent Frigatebird, Fregata magnificens, ornithology, Image of the Day
Magnificent Frigatebird, Fregata magnificens,
taken on the east coast of the Yucatan in Quintana Roo.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 11, 2008tags: birds, Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla, ornithology, Image of the Day
Soaring Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla, in the Yucatan.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 10, 2008tags: courting black scoters, seaducks, Melanitta nigra, streaming video
A bird pal of mine, Al Wagar, who lives in the Seattle area, took this video of calling and courting black scoters, Melanitta nigra, that were on the coast near Edmonds, Washington. Black scoters are a large species of sea duck that dive for their dinner, eating mainly mollusks. They breed on ponds in northern boreal forests and spend the rest of their lives on oceans and salt water bays. Black scoter numbers show a long-term decline, possibly due to loss of boreal forest and coastal oil spills [0:43].
One of the cuter…
grrlscientist | March 7, 2008tags: Finding Your Wings, bird watching, birding, outdoors, Burton Guttman, book review
As a long-time professor of biology, Burton Guttman has learned two major concepts from his students about learning: first, people learn best by actively participating in the learning process and second; people often try to learn at the wrong time. To address these two challenges, Guttman used his teaching experiences to design a workbook that teaches beginners how to watch birds in the field -- the first such book that I've ever seen published on this topic (I've since learned that there are two other…
grrlscientist | February 21, 2008
The Oblivious Birder.
Jeff created this photo for use in a recent keynote address given at the Spacecoast Bird & Wildlife Fest. Clearly this was tongue in cheek as the birder is completely unaware of the oncoming traffic. However, when he gave the example all admitted that they had seen someone on past field trips where folks had to be asked to get out of the road to allow traffic to pass! He also used this photo as a segue into his look at "birder fashion"!
Image: Jeff Bouton [larger size].
Below the fold is the latest installment of the blog carnival, I and the Bird. I have arranged…
grrlscientist | February 16, 2008tags: birds, ornithology, Image of the Day
This photo was taken in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Have you any idea what it is? The photographer thought it was an owl, but a friend of the photographer thinks it may be a young red-shouldered hawk -- but in Colorado? [larger view].
My guess is below the fold;
I guess this is a partial leucistic red-tailed hawk, but it's really hard to tell!
grrlscientist | February 12, 2008tags: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Living Bird magazine
The quarterly magazine, Living Bird, that is published by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, is now available online for free. It includes stories (some are "web only"), streaming video and lots of wonderful images for you to enjoy.
grrlscientist | February 12, 2008tags: birding, online games, eagle eyes, Audubon Society
Eagle Eyes is a fun online game that focuses on teaching you to see minor differences between two seemingly identical images, such as those shown above. I earned my "Eagle Eyes" ranking (25/25) and am going to try more demanding versions of the game now. How did you do?
grrlscientist | December 14, 2007tags: Northern cardinal, Aix sponsa, birds, NYC, Central Park, Image of the Day
Male wood duck, Aix sponsa, in Central Park, NYC.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [wallpaper size].
The photographer writes: I was so lucky to get this shot that I had to create an entirely new file for it. After sunset, I started on my way home down the path along the Riviera (i.e. a section of the northern shore of Central Park Lake). I noticed a group of Mallards coming out of the water. They began to forage along the shoreline where they were joined by a male Wood Duck. Only a few Wood Ducks -- if…
grrlscientist | December 13, 2007tags: I and the Bird, blog carnivals
The 64th edition of I and the Bird blog carnival is now available for you to enjoy. This is the Iowa caucuses edition because the host lives in Iowa and because Iowa is the first state to host a caucus for the presidential candidates. Fortunately, they included a piece that I wrote, so I am happy about that.
grrlscientist | December 12, 2007tags: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, birds, Image of the Day
Thanks to Greg Scott, who has offered to share his gorgeous images with me and all of you here, I am running a series of his hummingbird images starting on 5 December and going daily through the 12th of December. I will likely be publishing more of his images here in the future, as well. But until then, be sure to peek in here daily for yet another hummingbird to brighten your day and also check out Greg's webpage, where he sells images -- yet another wonderful holiday gift idea!
Male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird,…