birding
grrlscientist | December 15, 2008tags: Lark Sparrow, Chondestes grammacus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lark Sparrow, Chondestes grammacus, photographed at the Potholes, Grant County, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Marv Breece, 25 May 2008 [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D 1/500s f/7.1 at 300.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Look hard and you can just see the tail of this handsome bird, lying parallel to the gray twigs it's perched among. At…
grrlscientist | December 14, 2008tags: book review, Peterson Field Guide, field guide to the birds, birding, North American birds, Roger Tory Peterson
No one has done more to advance and popularize birdwatching than artist and naturalist, Roger Tory Peterson (RTP), who published his first field guide to the birds in 1934 at the ripe old age of 26. No doubt, many of you probably grew up using RTP's seminal field guides to identify wild birds, but did you know that the Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds and the Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds were combined into one large Sibley-esque type volume for the first time?…
grrlscientist | December 14, 2008tags: Snow Bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Snow Bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis, photographed near Cameran Lake Road, Okanogan County, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Marv Breece, 26 November 2008 [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D 1/800s f/8.0 at 300.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Now here's a Christmas cookie of a bird, all white sugar and maple frosting! If we can turn for a…
grrlscientist | December 13, 2008tags: Pine Grosbeak, Pinicola enucleator, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pine Grosbeak, Pinicola enucleator, photographed near Molson, Okanogan County, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Marv Breece, 25 November 2008 [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D 1/500s f/6.3 at 300.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Pride and the fall: until I saw this picture, I would have laughed anyone down the stairs who'd claimed to see a…
grrlscientist | December 12, 2008tags: Gadwall, Anas strepera, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Gadwall drake, Anas strepera, photographed in Hermann Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 16 November 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200 Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/180s f/1.0 iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
What seems at first a dull duck becomes on closer inspection a marvelously subtle beauty, delicately variegated grays and…
grrlscientist | December 11, 2008tags: Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Rick Wright [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
A pretty bird but not a hard one: the long tail, black upperparts, chestnut sides, and black-and-white head identify this bird readily enough as a drake Hooded Merganser. What this photo illustrates well,…
grrlscientist | December 10, 2008tags: free book, Endemic Birds of Sri Lanka, birding, bird watching
Image: Sample plate from Endemic Birds of Sri Lanka [larger view].
Would you like a free book for birders about the birds of Sri Lanka (Ceylon)? A reader sent me a PDF for a book entitled, Endemic Birds of Sri Lanka, which includes color images (of variable quality). I have added it to my RapidShare account so anyone who is interested to receive this book can download it for free [free PDF].
Of course, there are several other free books there too, that you can download for free:
Handbook of Avian Anatomy: Nomina…
grrlscientist | December 10, 2008tags: Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus, photographed at Samish Flats, Skagit County, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Marv Breece, 22 January 2008 [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D 1/1000s f/5.0 at 165.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This bird's slight mistrust of humans bearing lenses provides an excellent opportunity to practice our "bottoms first"…
grrlscientist | December 9, 2008tags: Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, Leucosticte tephrocotis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, Leucosticte tephrocotis, Photographed at Meadows Campground, Hart's Pass, in the Okanagan of Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Lee Rentz, 19 October 2008.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Undistinguished in shape -- sort of finch-like, sparrow-like, birdish -- but what colors this bird has! The combination of…
grrlscientist | December 8, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Female Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna, sitting on her nest.
Notice her long tongue sticking out of her mouth and the uncommonly bright colors on her gorget.
This bird nested on Bainbridge Island in Washington state earlier this year.
Image: Eva Gerdts, May 2008. [larger view].
Christmas Bird Count News
The Annual Christmas Bird Counts are rapidly approaching, so I am publishing links to all of the counts here; who to contact, and where and when they are being held, so if you have a link to a Christmas Bird Count…
grrlscientist | December 8, 2008tags: Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2006 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Now comes a tiny bird, barley bigger than the leaves of the desert hackberry it's perched among. The gray plumage, hint of a wingbar, and conspicuous but broken eyering are characteristic of two common…
grrlscientist | December 7, 2008tags: Fox Sparrow, Passerella iliaca, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Fox Sparrow, Passerella iliaca (sooty form), photographed in the Naches Pass Area, King County, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Marv Breece, 9 August 2007 [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D 1/400s f/5.6 at 300.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Sometimes we take the coward's way out. Instead of rising to the challenge, we let a bird that is at first…
grrlscientist | December 6, 2008tags: Great tit, Parus major, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Great tit, Parus major, photographed in Helsinki, Finland. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: GrrlScientist, 24 November 2008 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Chickadees all look alike: chubby, rather long-tailed little birds with fluffy plumage, big heads, and black-and-white faces. In North America, our chickadees are a colorless lot, only Chestnut-sided straying from…
grrlscientist | December 5, 2008tags: birding, bird watching, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Vermilion Flycatcher, Pyrocephalus rubinus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Rick Wright [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Neatly hidden away in the mesquite leaves, this bird's tail isn't going to be of much use to us, beyond ruling out any species that is caudally either extravagantly short or long. Those leaves help us as much as they hinder…
grrlscientist | December 4, 2008tags: Female Mountain Bluebird, Sialia currucoides, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Female Mountain Bluebird, Sialia currucoides, photographed on Bainbridge Island in Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Eva Gerdts, April 2008 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Most of us will have identified this bird at a glance -- the challenge is not in the identifying, but in the unraveling of the intellectual process that…
grrlscientist | December 3, 2008tags: Crested Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Crested Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Rick Wright [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Millennia of selective breeding have produced domestic ducks that are meaty, or manageable, or, as in the case of this quiz bird, just goofy.
Mallards have been domesticated for thousands of years, and virtually all…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2008tags: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, photographed at Sabine Woods and Sabine Pass area, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 28 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Every birder has a "trigger" bird, and most of us have…
grrlscientist | December 1, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus at Bolivar Flats, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 July 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/2000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Christmas Bird Count News
The Annual Christmas Bird Counts are rapidly approaching, so I am publishing links to all of the counts here; who to contact, and where and when they are being held, so if you have a link to a Christmas Bird Count for your state, please let me know so I can include it in the list:
Alabama (Thanks…
grrlscientist | December 1, 2008tags: Male Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Male Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Rick Wright.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
The challenge of this mystery bird is less to diagnose its identity than to figure out how you identified this fine male Hooded Merganser. The responses from readers point to two very different modes of…
grrlscientist | November 30, 2008tags: Baltimore Oriole, Icterus galbula, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird Baltimore Oriole, Icterus galbula, photographed at the east end of Galveston Island, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 16 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
The computer screen and middle-aged eyes give an oddly warm cast to what I know…