birding
grrlscientist | April 23, 2008tags: Japanese White-Eye, Zosterops japonicus, birds, Image of the Day
Japanese White-Eye, Zosterops japonicus (Osaka Prefecture, Japan).
Image: Bardiac [larger].
grrlscientist | April 22, 2008tags: Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, birds, Image of the Day
Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea (Kumamoto, Japan).
Image: Bardiac [larger].
grrlscientist | April 21, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
People Hurting Birds
Jerrould Smith, a dumbass good ol' boy from Sarasota Florida, is charged with animal cruelty after deputies say he deliberately swerved off the road to run over a protected bird species. Smith admitted he hit a sandhill crane and told deputies it was a "spur of the moment" decision and knew the bird was a protected species. The bird died.
New research debunks the common belief that cats and raccoons are to blame…
grrlscientist | April 20, 2008tags: Flights Against the Sunset, short stories, memoir, birding, bird watching, Kenn Kaufman, book review
When Kenn Kaufman was sixteen, he left home in pursuit of a dream; to see more species of birds in the United States in one calendar year than had ever been seen before. Instead of preventing him from trying to achieve this dream as most people would have done, his parents allowed him to go with their blessing. Now, as an adult, a famous birder and field guide who travels the world, we find Kaufman in a nursing facility in Wichita, Kansas, visiting his seriously ill mother after having…
grrlscientist | April 20, 2008tags: birds, Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Note the paper teabag wrapper in the photo. I think it adds a "New Yorkish touch" to its construction.
Nest of the Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, located in a tree in the traffic circle in front of the Museum's parking garage.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger view].
Did you notice the pale blue eggs in the nest?
grrlscientist | April 19, 2008tags: birds, Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Papa Museum's left eye was unwaveringly fixed on mine.
Male Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger view].
Bob Levy writes:
A sure sign that "spring hath sprunged" is the appearance of songbird nests. I found my first one this season in an unexpected fashion but then I have come to expect the unexpected when bird-watching. For several minutes I had been standing beside a wrought iron fence where the sight and sound of a singing male House Finch mesmerized…
grrlscientist | April 18, 2008tags: mountain bluebird, Sialia currucoides, birds, Image of the Day
Female mountain bluebird, Sialia currucoides.
This bird surprised birders in Washington state by visiting Bainbridge Island this past weekend.
Image: Eva Gerdts, April 2008. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 17, 2008tags: mountain bluebird, Sialia currucoides, birds, Image of the Day
Male mountain bluebird, Sialia currucoides.
This bird surprised birders in Washington state by visiting Bainbridge Island this past weekend.
Image: Eva Gerdts, April 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 15, 2008tags: Harlequin Duck, Histrionicus histrionicus, birds, Image of the Day
Last in a series of duck images by this photographer. Stay tuned: there are plenty more images by John that will appear soon!
ABSTRACT: Male Harlequin Duck, Histrionicus histrionicus.
Image: John Del Rio. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 14, 2008tags: Long-tailed Duck, Clangula hyemalis, birds, Image of the Day
Next-to-last in a series of duck images by this photographer. But there are plenty more images by John that will appear soon!
Long-tailed Duck (formerly: Oldsquaw), Clangula hyemalis.
Image: John Del Rio. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 14, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
"Thy Fearful Symmetry"
Male greater Prairie-chicken, Tympanuchus cupido.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger view].
More of Dave's Greater Prairie-chicken images.
Birds in Science
Seven feathers that either belonged to a non-avian dinosaur or an early bird have been discovered encased in amber in a remarkably vivid state of preservation, according to a recent Proceedings of the Royal Society B study. The 100-million-year-old amber, excavated from a Charente-Maritime quarry in western France, was found near the…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008tags: Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, Manhattan, Kansas, birds, Image of the Day
Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo,
seen at Fancy Creek and Randolph - North end of Tuttle Creek Reservoir in Kansas.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Common merganser, Mergus merganser, and chicks.
Orphaned image [larger view].
People Hurting Birds
The number of migratory songbirds returning to North America has gone into sharp decline due to the unregulated use of highly toxic pesticides and other chemicals across Latin America. Ornithologists blame the demand for out-of-season fruit and vegetables and other crops in North America and Europe for the destruction of tens of millions of passerine birds. By some counts, half of the songbirds that warbled across…
grrlscientist | April 3, 2008My recent visit to Manhattan Kansas and the Platte River, Nebraska, was the first time I've ever set foot into either state, so this is my complete bird list for that region. Life list birds are noted with red font.
Eastern Kansas/Nebraska Bird List
Snow goose, white and blue phases
Canada goose
Cackling goose
Wood duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged teal (plentiful)
Northern shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged teal
Canvasback
Redhead (only one pair, but they were very close to the road)
Ring-necked duck
Greater scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded merganser
Red-breasted merganser
Ruddy…
grrlscientist | April 2, 2008tags: migrating sandhill cranes, Grus canadensis, Platte River, birds, birding, bird watching
Sign about the Platte River in Nebraska.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2008. [wallpaper size].
This past weekend, Dave, Elizabeth and I drove from Manhattan, Kansas to the Platte River in next-door Nebraska to see the migrating sandhill cranes, Grus canadensis. These flocks of migratory cranes are a mixture of greater and lesser sandhill cranes along with some hybrids between these two subspecies, often referred to as intermediate sandhill cranes. (There also are sedentary subspecies of sandhill cranes,…
grrlscientist | March 31, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Female 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].
Birds in Science
If you read nothing else in this issue of Birds in the News, then this is the story to read. A serious affliction has been observed in birds in the Pacific Northwest, including Alaska, British Columbia and Washington state; Long-billed Syndrome…
grrlscientist | March 30, 2008tags: Sandhill cranes, Grus canadensis, birds, Platte River, image of the day
Dave, Elizabeth and I were in Nebraska yesterday, watching migrating Sandhill cranes, Grus canadensis, over the Platte River in the evening. This is one of the images that Dave took of the sunset that we saw while we were there. (I also have a bunch of images of the Platte River and its Sandhill cranes to share with you).
Migrating Sandhill cranes, Grus canadensis,
over the Platte River, Nebraska.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | March 28, 2008tags: LBJ Journal, avian life: literary arts, nature, poetry, birds, birding
I have no connection whatsoever to this new journal, but my friend, professor of poetry at KSU, Elizabeth Dodd, told me about it last night, and I am very very excited about it.
There is a new biannual journal that is dedicated to birds and creative writing, The LBJ: Avian Life, Literary Arts. Those of you who are birders will recognize the title of this new journal, LBJ, as the birders' acronym for "little brown job" -- a name applied to that group of small brown birds that move quickly and are difficult to…
grrlscientist | March 27, 2008
Portrait of a male Greater Prairie-Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. 2007.
This morning, I had the great privilege to watch male Greater Prairie-chickens, Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus, perform on a lek site located on the Konza Prairie in Kansas, along with Dave Rintoul's ornithology class. Not only was this the first time I'd seen lekking behavior for this species, but this was the first time I'd ever seen this species in the wild.
To do this, I crawled out of bed at 430am, so I had enough time to comb the tangles out of my hair (I learned that all hair conditioners…
grrlscientist | March 25, 2008I made it! After a day spent sitting in a variety of places (planes, trains and automobiles). I am already having a good time, watching my host, Dave, who is armed with a sling-shot being outwitted by two red squirrels who were stealing seeds and suet from his backyard birdfeeders. I have already seen bird species along the drive from the airport in Kansas City, Missouri to Manhattan, Kansas;
Cackling geese
Canada geese
Mallard
Wild Turkeys (4)
Common loon (1, winter plumage)
Eared grebes (many dozens)
American white pelican (dozens, including several with the nuptial "knob" on beak)
Double-…