Manhattan, Kansas
grrlscientist | April 8, 2009tags: Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, photographed at the Unitarian/Universalist Fellowship building in Manhattan Kansas, Photographed from the inside with the woods outside to the south. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: photographed by Thomas Manney, this image appears here at the suggestion of Dave Rintoul.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | April 1, 2009tags: Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, photographed at the Unitarian/Universalist Fellowship building in Manhattan Kansas [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: photographed by Thomas Manney, this image appears here at the suggestion of Dave Rintoul.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
[Mystery bird] photographed at the Unitarian/Universalist Fellowship building in Manhattan Kansas [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: photographed by Thomas…
grrlscientist | June 12, 2008tags: tornado, Manhattan Kansas, weather
"Hello? Dad? Can I borrow your car?"
Image: Dave Rintoul, 12 June 2008 [larger view].
[Includes slideshow]
After I returned from Manhattan, Kansas, I thought of it as a wonderful, magical place where I would always be able to return, to see birds and photograph lots of native wildlife, to find a warm and safe place with my good friends, Dave and Elizabeth. (I am sure all of you know Dave quite well, since his gorgeous photographs are often featured as the "Image of the Day" on this site.) But while I was preoccupied with my imaginings, I was…
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 6, 2008tags: tree bark, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Manhattan, Kansas, nature, Image of the Day
Bark of the Kentucky Coffee Tree, Gymnocladus dioicus.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2008. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 5, 2008tags: tree bark, Eastern Cottonwood, Manhattan, Kansas, nature, Image of the Day
Bark of the Eastern Cottonwood, Populus deltoides.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2008. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 3, 2008
Not my plane, but the picture resembles what I saw
during most of my round-trip flight (fluffy clouds obscuring Earth).
Image: Boeing Photo, Neg #K63322.
Last, but not least after I've returned from my trip, is a few words about Northwest Airlines. In short, I flew from JFK to Detroit, then changed planes to continue my journey on to Kansas City, Missouri, where I met my ride. Because I was suffering from a total of three fractures (two in my arm), none of which were protected with a cast due to their location, I was worried about boarding the plane. I was certain that someone would touch…
grrlscientist | April 3, 2008Juliet:
'Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone --
And yet no farther than a wan-ton's bird,
That lets it hop a little from his hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silken thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.
Romeo:
I would I were thy bird.
Juliet:
Sweet, so would I,
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
-- William Shakespeare. Romeo And Juliet Act 2, scene 2.
I had a fabulous time in Manhattan Kansas. I want to say more, but I don't…
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 | April 1, 2008After a lengthy delay in Detroit due to high winds in NYC, I finally made it back to the city in the same number of pieces I was in when I departed. The bad news is that I left Manhattan, Kansas, and my new friends-for-life, Dave and Elizabeth. The good news is my birds missed me! The yellow-bibbed lories heard my footsteps on the stairs and screamed until I actually entered the apartment, when they fell silent, pretending to be perfect parrots. The female Solomon Islands eclectus parrot, Elektra, was clearly excited (the normally large pupil of her eye was quite small, which is how many…
grrlscientist | March 31, 2008tags: kitsch, tacky midwestern shit, ball of twine
The World's Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, Kansas.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2008. [larger size].
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 29, 2008tags: American bison, Bos bison, mammals, animals, photography, image of the day
American bison bull.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | March 28, 2008tags: Sioux stew, recipes, food, Manhattan, Kansas, bison meat
For those of you who might be worried that I am not eating properly, I just thought I'd show you an example of the home-made cuisine I get to eat every day;
Sioux Stew (made with ground bison meat),
without any garnish (I added dried blueberries and shredded cheddar cheese
after I snapped this picture).
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [larger view].
The recipe is below the fold;
Sioux Stewcourtesy of Elizabeth Dodd.
1.5-2lbs ground bison meat
2c diced onions
garlic, minced
3 cans diced tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
3 Bell peppers (…
grrlscientist | March 28, 2008tags: American bison, Bos bison, Konza Prairie, Manhattan, Kansas, nature, Image of the Day
Portrait of an adult female bison, Bos bison,
on the Konza Prairie, near Manhattan Kansas. March 2008.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [larger view].
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 27, 2008tags: stone, Konza Prairie, Manhattan, Kansas, nature, Image of the Day
Stone surrounded by mostly native vegetation
with natural spring water flowing over it
on the Konza Prairie, near Manhattan Kansas. March 2008.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [larger view].
grrlscientist | March 26, 2008tags: photoessay, Konza Prairie, Manhattan, Kansas, nature
I know you all are wondering what happened to me since I have been so quiet today, and the truth is that I am doing all sorts of amazingly fun things as long as possible until my broken wing makes me exhausted from ignoring the pain. At the moment, I am sitting in my very own office (!!) next to Dave Rintoul's in the biology department at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. (It might interest you to know that this office is much larger than the first apartment I rented in the other Manhattan). I am uploading something close…
grrlscientist | March 26, 2008tags: tree, Konza Prairie, Manhattan, Kansas, nature, Image of the Day
Trunk from what is probably a Black Locust, Robinia pseudoacacia,
colonized by a community of crustose lichens [study]
on the Konza Prairie, near Manhattan Kansas. March 2008.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [larger view].