birds
grrlscientist | December 9, 2009tags: Sedge Wren, Cistothorus platensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Sedge Wren, Cistothorus platensis, photographed in Minnehaha County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 19 September 2009 [larger view]
Canon 50D, 400 5.6L lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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edyong | December 8, 2009On Nicobar Island, in the Indian Ocean, a most unusual hunting party is searching for food. Through the branches of the forest, the tiny Nicobar treeshrew scuttles about searching for insects. They're followed by the racket-tailed drongo, a small bird that picks off juicy morsels flushed out by the foraging treeshrews. So far, this isn't unusual - many distantly related animals forage together, either because they net more food or because they can watch out for predators.
But this alliance has a third an altogether more surprising member - a sparrowhawk. This bird of prey is five times…
grrlscientist | December 8, 2009tags: Ring-necked Duck, Ring-billed Duck, Ringneck, Aythya collaris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ring-necked Duck, also known as the Ring-billed Duck (a more obvious name, in my opinion) or the Ringneck, Aythya collaris, photographed in San Francisco, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Pete Myers, 12 November 2009 [larger view]
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | December 7, 2009tags: California Thrasher, Toxostoma redivivum, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] California Thrasher, Toxostoma redivivum, photographed in San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Pete Myers, 9 October 2009 [larger view]
Nikon 300, Nikkor 80-400 ED @ 300mm, ISO 400 1/640 f10.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | December 6, 2009tags: 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 | December 6, 2009tags: House Wren, Troglodytes aedon, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] House Wren, Troglodytes aedon, photographed at Smith Point, Chambers County (near Galveston), Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The House Wren is usually divided into three distinct subspecies groups and one or several distinct island-endemic subspecies. Some or all…
grrlscientist | December 5, 2009tags: Eastern Bluebird, Blue Robin, Blue Redbreast, Sialia sialis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Eastern Bluebird, also known as the Blue Robin or the Blue Redbreast, Sialia sialis, photographed on the Katy Prairie, Katy, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 November 2009 [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 | December 4, 2009tags: Wood Stork, Wood Ibis, Mycteria americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Wood Stork (family: Ciconiidae), originally misnamed as the Wood Ibis even though it is only distantly related to the ibises (family: Threskiornithidae), Mycteria americana, photographed in Arthur Storey Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.…
laelaps | December 3, 2009
A marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus), photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
edyong | December 3, 2009In the forests of Germany live large numbers of blackcaps, a small species of songbird. They all look very similar, but they actually belong to two genetically distinct groups that are becoming more disparate with time. For the moment, the best way to tell them apart is to wait for winter. As the cold sets in, one group of blackcaps flies southwest to Spain, while a smaller group heads northwest towards Britain.
If the prospect of spending winter in Britain rather than Spain seems odd to you, you're not alone. Indeed, blackcaps were hardly ever ventured across these shores before the 1950s.…
grrlscientist | December 3, 2009tags: Black-bellied Whistling-duck, Black-bellied Tree-duck, Dendrocygna autumnalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black-bellied Whistling-duck, also known as the Black-bellied Tree-duck, Dendrocygna autumnalis, photographed in Hermann Park Conservancy, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 18 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s 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 | December 2, 2009tags: Lesser Scaup, Little Bluebill, Aythya affinis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Male Lesser Scaup, also known as a Little Bluebill, Aythya affinis, photographed in Tom Bass Regional Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 27 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s 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 | December 1, 2009tags: Gadwall, Anas strepera, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] female Gadwall, Anas strepera, photographed in San Bernard Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s 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 | November 30, 2009tags: Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, photographed at Illinois Beach State Park, Lake County, Illinois. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Janice Sweet, 20 October 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
I am helping you prepare for the Christmas Bird Count by posting so many images of the Chipping Sparrow, since this is a commonly misidentified CBC species (in Illinois, at least).
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 29, 2009tags: 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 | November 29, 2009tags: Australian Pelican, Pelecanus conspicillatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Australian Pelican, Pelecanus conspicillatus, photographed at Atherton, Queensland, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 26 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The Australian Pelican is found throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea and western Indonesia, with occasional reports in New Zealand and various western Pacific islands. Pelicans are…
edyong | November 28, 2009
Ah, penguins. You just can't help but smile. These animals are found on Boulders Beach near Cape Town, where they come so close to the erected walkways that you could potentially reach out and grab one (if the mood took you and you were an idiot).
The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is part of a genus with four species. The last time I saw one of them, it was off the Galapagos Islands (the Galapagos penguin), and the other two members of the group (the Humboldt and Magellanic penguins) are natives of Patagonia. They're commonly known as jackass penguins because of their distinct,…
grrlscientist | November 27, 2009tags: Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus banksii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus banksii, also known as Bank's Black Cockatoo, photographed at Walgett, New South Wales, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 18 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 26, 2009tags: White-tailed Hawk, Buteo albicaudatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White-tailed Hawk, Buteo albicaudatus, photographed at the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s 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 | November 25, 2009tags: Western Gull, Larus occidentalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Gull, Larus occidentalis, photographed at Pt. Reyes, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 21 December 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.