birds
grrlscientist | February 20, 2010tags: African Golden-breasted Bunting, Emberiza flaviventris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] African Golden-breasted Bunting, Emberiza flaviventris, photographed in Mikumi, Tanzania, Africa. Surely one of the prettiest little birds in Tanzania. They were quite common farther south, especially around Mikumi National Park. This one was near Mikumi town, not in the park. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 9 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens. ISO 500, f/6.3, 1/800 sec. Exposure Compensation 0.
Please name at least one field…
laelaps | February 20, 2010A gull stands at the edge of the surf while sanderlings scuttle about in the background. Photographed at Spring Lake, New Jersey.
grrlscientist | February 19, 2010tags: African Orange-bellied Parrot, African Red-bellied Parrot, Poicephalus rufiventris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] African Red-bellied Parrot, Poicephalus rufiventris, photographed at the Pangani River Campground, Tanzania, Africa. This bird flew in with a few friends, hung around for only a minute, then went on. The Pangani River Campground is a wonderful rustic campground along the Pangani River, a couple hours south of Moshi. Fee is $5 per person per night. Lots of birds in the area, and Greater Galagos come out every night. They spent the night eating palm nuts…
grrlscientist | February 18, 2010tags: Bufflehead, Bucephala albeola, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bufflehead, Bucephala albeola, photographed in California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
This mystery bird species was chosen by my spouse (today is his birthday) and photographed by a friend who lives in California. I'd like to honor all my mystery bird commenters and photographers by asking you to choose the daily "mystery bird" species for your birthdate. If you have a favorite photograph that you'd like…
grrlscientist | February 17, 2010tags: Night Heron, Black-crowned Night-heron, Nycticorax nycticorax,birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black-crowned Night-heron, sometimes known just as the Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, photographed in California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 16, 2010tags: Butterbutt, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Dendroica coronata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Yellow-rumped Warbler, also known as a Butterbutt, Dendroica coronata, photographed on the Katy Prairie, Katy, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
Note to my readers: I am currently without an internet connection…
grrlscientist | February 15, 2010tags: Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla, photographed on the Katy Prairie, Katy, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s 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 | February 14, 2010tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"How does one distinguish a truly civilized nation from an aggregation of
barbarians? That is easy. A civilized country produces much good bird
literature."
--Edgar Kincaid
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and…
grrlscientist | February 14, 2010tags: Maasai Barbet, Masai Barbet, Usambiro Barbet, Trachyphonus usambiro, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Usambiro Barbet, also known as the Maasai (Masai) Barbet, Trachyphonus usambiro, photographed outside the visitor's center for the Serengeti National Park headquarters, Tanzania, Africa. They have a wonderful visitor center with a short trail through a Kopje, interpretive signage, and a small pool for birds and mammals to drink at. This bird was hanging out at the pool, drinking and looking for handouts. It was so tame that it would eat from your hand, and one of our…
grrlscientist | February 13, 2010tags: Common Egret, Great White Egret, Great Egret, Ardea alba, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Great Egret, also known as the Great White Egret or the Common Egret, Ardea alba, photographed in California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 12, 2010tags: faith-based birding, mass hysteria, endangered species, extinct species, conservation, politics, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, IBWO, ornithology, birds, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has posted a reward of $50,000
to be given to anyone who can provide "video, photographic, or
other compelling information and lead a project scientist to a
living wild Ivory-billed Woodpecker."
Mass hysteria is that strange psychological phenomenon where a group of people experience the same hallucination at the same…
grrlscientist | February 12, 2010tags: Curlew Sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea, Ruff, Calidris pugnax, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Curlew Sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea, and Ruff, Calidris pugnax, photographed in the Nyumba ya Mungu reservoir, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens x 1.4. ISO 320, 1/800 sec, f/6.3.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
laelaps | February 12, 2010I love anatomy. With a little bit of background knowledge it becomes easy to see the similarities and disparities between any two organisms you wish to compare, and it is always exciting to see how the bones of my arms correspond to the flippers of a whale, the forelegs of a horse, the wings of a bird, and so on.
In order to highlight the resemblances between our skeleton and other vertebrates, though, illustrators have sometimes created some rather odd diagrams. While searching for grist for my writing mill I happened upon this one in the Boys' Airplane Book which purports to show the "…
clock | February 11, 2010Aves 3D is a 'three dimensional database of avian skeletal morphology' and it is awesome!
This is an NSF-funded project led by Leon Claessens, Scott Edwards and Abby Drake. What they are doing is making surface scans of various bones of different bird species and placing the 3D scans on the website for everyone to see and use. With simple use of the mouse or arrow buttons, one can move, zoom and rotate each image any way one wants.
The collection is growing steadily and already contains some very interesting bones from a number of species, both extinct and extant. You can see examples of…
grrlscientist | February 11, 2010tags: San Lucas Nighthawk, Sharp-Winged Nighthawk,Texas Nighthawk, Trilling Nighthawk, Lesser Nighthawk, Chordeiles acutipennis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Nighthawk, also known by a suite of other common names, including San Lucas Nighthawk, Sharp-Winged Nighthawk, Texas Nighthawk, and Trilling Nighthawk, Chordeiles acutipennis photographed on the South Padre Island Convention Center, South Padre Island, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 March 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera…
grrlscientist | February 10, 2010tags: Orange-crowned Warbler, Vermivora celata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Orange-crowned Warbler, Vermivora celata, photographed on the Katy Prairie, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
The same individual, facing the camera:
Orange-crowned Warbler, Vermivora celata, photographed on the…
grrlscientist | February 9, 2010tags: Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureus, photographed at the Big Sioux Recreation Area near Brandon, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 4 November 2007 [larger view]. You are encouraged to purchase photographs from this photographer. I am happy to email his contact information to you.
Canon 20D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 8, 2010tags: Eagle Hawk, Gopher Hawk, Squirrel Hawk, Ferruginous Rough-legged Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Buteo regalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ferruginous Hawk, also known by a variety of other common names such as Eagle Hawk, Gopher Hawk, Squirrel Hawk or Ferruginous Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo regalis, photographed in Lyman County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 17 January 2010 [larger view]. You are encouraged to purchase photographs from this photographer. I am happy to email his contact information to you.
Canon 50D, 400…
grrlscientist | February 7, 2010tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"How does one distinguish a truly civilized nation from an aggregation of
barbarians? That is easy. A civilized country produces much good bird
literature."
--Edgar Kincaid
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and…
grrlscientist | February 7, 2010tags: Jackson's Widowbird, Euplectes jacksoni, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Jackson's Widowbird, Euplectes jacksoni, photographed in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 600 x 1.4, ISO 320, f/5.6, 1/800 sec.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.