image of the day
grrlscientist | October 14, 2007tags: Spoonbill Sandpiper, Eurynorhynchus pygmeus, birds, ornithology, endangered species, Image of the Day
Spoonbill Sandpiper chick, Eurynorhynchus pygmeus.
(Read a story about this species in tomorrow's edition of Birds in the News -- issue 101).
Image: J. O'Sullivan [Wallpaper size]
Thanks, Grace!
grrlscientist | October 13, 2007tags: turtle yoga, duck, reptiles, interspecies communication, Image of the Day
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photographer writes: This second image (the first appeared yesterday) provides photographic proof of an instance in which a Red-eared Slider and a Mallard participated in the same Yoga session in our very own Central Park. Experienced Yoga practitioners will no doubt immediately recognize the classic Mountain Pose when they see it. Of course the turtle's interpretation is a bit freeform but you have to give credit to a quadruped for trying.
So…
grrlscientist | October 12, 2007tags: turtle yoga, mountain yoga pose, reptiles, interspecies communication, Image of the Day
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photogrpaher writes: This is another in my apparently unending reports on Turtle Yoga. Hey, I'm as surprised as you are that I have more. However, this is a real scoop though it may be a stretch for some readers. (The pun is intended).
This first image (there's another tomorrow) captures two turtles in what one might categorize as a rather intimate yoga moment. Personally I think that interpreting the yoga Mountain Pose this way should…
grrlscientist | October 11, 2007tags: Whirlabout, grass skipper, butterfly, Polites vibex, Image of the Day
Female Whirlabout, Polites vibex.
Image: Biosparite. [larger view]
The photographer writes: I encountered this species of grass skipper earlier this afternoon in the West 11th St. Park. It is nectaring at volunteers of Cut & Come Again Zinnias reseeding from 2006. One good way to have a butterfly garden on the cheap is to sow a lot of zinnia seeds.
grrlscientist | October 10, 2007tags: Painted Turtle, Red-eared Slider, reptile, Image of the Day
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The Photographer writes: But Hold On! As the camera pulls away from these two subjects it reveals three turtles are actually in attendance at this yoga session. The third practitioner is also a Red-eared Slider. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come? I surely will be keeping my eye and camera out for an even larger yoga class should I find it. Until my next report please remember: don't strain and remember to breath.
grrlscientist | October 9, 2007tags: Painted Turtle, Red-eared Slider, reptile, Image of the Day
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photogrpaher writes: If you saw the Grrl Scientist's posting of "Turtle Yoga" on September 30 you might have the suspicion that this image is a setup. I assure you it is not. I found these two turtles engaged in a yoga class in the same spot as the first two. I had to laugh out loud when I saw them holding the same yoga pose but now facing away from each other instead of face to face. The large turtle may be the same one in the early image but after studying both…
grrlscientist | October 8, 2007tags: mystery insects, bugs, Image of the Day
The photographer writes: I was wondering if you might wish to post an unknown bug that showed here in Charlottesville.
Context: My Mom's also down here in C-ville. Outside her house, she has a hydrangea (sp?) bush. This bush was invaded by shoots of some unknown weed. The shoots were in turn mobbed by the yellow critters in the picture. Besides hardly looking bilateral, these things were also twitching alarmingly. Perhaps a reader can identify them?
Image: David Harmon. [bigger size]
My guess: Aphids.
grrlscientist | October 7, 2007tags: mystery insects, bugs, Image of the Day
Leafcutter Bee on Helianthus annuus, White Oak Bayou along E. T.C. Jester Blvd., Houston.
The photographer writes: Here is a picture of what I believe is a leafcutter bee, and a hirsute one at that, gathering pollen on the flower of a wild sunflower.
Image: Biosparite. [bigger size]
grrlscientist | October 5, 2007tags: butterflies, pupa, insects, Central Park, Image of the Day
Can you identify the species?
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photographer writes; I found this Pupa practitioner of the Yoga arts working out at Turtle Pond in Central Park. Definitely do not try this pose yourself. I suppose the acrobats among you -- especially among those more athletically inclined and adventurous Parrot Pals -- might try for the same result with his or her teeth provided, of course they are not dentures or implants, but for all others I strongly recommend you give it a pass.
grrlscientist | October 4, 2007tags: Red-breasted nuthatch, Sitta canadensis, birds, Image of the Day
Yesterday's mystery bird is revealed: Red-breasted nuthatch, Sitta canadensis.
Image: David Lee. [Wallpaper size]
grrlscientist | October 3, 2007tags: Red-breasted nuthatch, Sitta canadensis, birds, Image of the Day
The photographer writes: I took some pictures this weekend at my bird feeder (in Eagle River, AK). [More of these images will follow, so be sure to check in here]
Image: David Lee. [Wallpaper size]
mystery bird, revealed.
grrlscientist | October 1, 2007tags: raccoon, Procyon lotor, Image of the Day
Central Park Raccoon, Procyon lotor.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photographer writes; I had so much positive feedback about my images of a particular Central Park Raccoon den that I'm pretty sure many will enjoy this. Consider it a reprise of the Talk Like a Pirate Day (9.19.07) and Central Park Nose (9.20.07) Living the Scientific Life posts. It is definitely the same Raccoon cub in the earlier of the two shots and is likely the same one I barely detected snoozing in the same tree cavity. This image was…
grrlscientist | September 30, 2007tags: Painted Turtle, Red-eared Slider, reptile, Image of the Day
"Very good but try harder to get your other leg off the ground and don't forget to breathe and don't strain."
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photographer writes: For a change here's something I can recommend you try at home. I serendipitously stumbled into a turtle-yoga class. Not being an expert I found it hard to interpret the significance of this one-on-one situation involving members of two different species. The smaller one looks like a Painted Turtle and the other a Red-eared Slider. Can…
grrlscientist | September 29, 2007tags: white-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, birds, Image of the Day
White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, 1st winter plumage.
Image: Kevin T. Karlson [larger view].
This morning, I ran into a little bird at the entrance to the library where I go every day. I was actually distracted, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed this was a white-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, instead of the ubiquitous house (english) sparrows. Not only are white-throated sparrows the sister species to my dissertation bird, the white-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, but…
grrlscientist | September 28, 2007tags: mammals, dragonflies, black rhinocerus, Diceros bicornis, Image of the Day
This newborn black rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis, at a safari park in Tel Aviv is the first to have been born in captivity in Israel in 15 years.
Image: AP.
grrlscientist | September 27, 2007tags: lepidoptera, moths, Melanchroia chephise, White-Tipped Black Geometrid, Image of the Day
White-Tipped Black Geometrid, Melanchroia chephise, Houston, Texas.
A diurnal moth, this one was photographed on the Katy Prairie NABA Butterfly Count about 30 miles NW of downtown Houston, Texas, on September 3, 2007.
Image: Biosparite [larger view].
This is a White-tipped Black Geometrid, Melanchroia chephise, although it resembles some of the wasp mimics in the Tiger Moth Family. [read more about it]
grrlscientist | September 26, 2007tags: hymenoptera, bees, Augochlora species, Metallic Green Native Bee, Image of the Day
Metallic Green Native Bee, Augochlora species.
This tiny and very fast-moving, alert bee is hard to photograph. I found it nectaring on Eupatorium serotinum, a/k/a late-flowering boneset, in the West 11th Street Park in the Heights section of Houston, Texas, on September 23, 2007.
Image: Biosparite [larger view].
The Green Metallic Bee in the genus Augochlora, in the Halictid Family. According to the Audubon Guide: the "Female digs nest of many branching burrows in dead wood or uses pre-existing…
grrlscientist | September 25, 2007tags: odonata, dragonflies, wandering glider, Pantala flavescens, Image of the Day
Wandering glider, Pantala flavescens. Houston, Texas.
Image: Biosparite [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | September 21, 2007tags: birds, Moluccan Red Lories, Eos bornea rothschildi, Green-naped Rainbow Lorikeets, Trichoglossus haematodus haematodus, Seram, Indonesia, Image of the Day
A pair of Moluccan Red Lories, Eos bornea rothschildi (upper right and lower left (upside down)), and a pair of Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus haematodus (center; one bird is hanging upside down), near the north coast of Seram, Indonesia.
Image: Kevin Sharp [wallpaper size].
More about this image below the fold.
These photographs were taken recently on the Island of Seram, in Maluku Province, Northern Indonesia. Shown…
grrlscientist | September 20, 2007tags: raccoon, Procyon lotor, Image of the Day
"Ah, that's better. Zzzzzzzzzzzz."
A raccoon, Procyon lotor, sleeps in the hollow of a tree in Central Park.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [wallpaper size].
More about this image below the fold.
The photographer writes:
Hint: Enlarging the second image will enhance its effect and in truth may be necessary for the viewer "to get it," so to speak. So enlarge away.
Confession: The images were not created on the same day but are from the same location. A single mom and her lone cub, the latter born rather late in the season, are the…