ornithology
grrlscientist | February 5, 2010tags: evolutionary biology, paleontology, taphonomy, plumage color, feathers, color, melanin, eumelanin, phaeomelanin, dinosaurs, theropod, paravian, avialae, fossils, Anchiornis huxleyi, ornithology, birds, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
New research reveals that recently-described 155-million-year-old Anchiornis huxleyi,
a woodpecker-like dinosaur the size of a modern-day domesticated chicken,
had black-and-white spangled wings and a rusty red crown.
Image: Michael DiGiorgio, Yale University [larger view]
Fig. 4. Reconstruction of the plumage color of…
grrlscientist | February 5, 2010tags: Cape Widow, Cape Bishop, Yellow-rumped Widow, Yellow Bishop, Euplectes capensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Yellow Bishop, also known as the Cape Widow, Cape Bishop, or the Yellow-rumped Widow, Euplectes capensis, photographed in the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 4, 2010tags: Carolina Chickadee, Poecile carolinensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Carolina Chickadee, Poecile carolinensis, photographed in the photographer's back yard in Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 18 January 2010 [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 | February 3, 2010tags: Least Flycatcher, Empidonax minimus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Least Flycatcher, Empidonax minimus, photographed on the San Bernard Wildlife Refuge, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/400s 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 2, 2010tags: Lesser Goldfinch, Dark-backed Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria, Carduelis psaltria, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Goldfinch, also known as the Dark-backed Goldfinch, Spinus (Carduelis) psaltria, photographed in San Rafael, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 December 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s 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 1, 2010tags: Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula, photographed on the Katy Prairie, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/400s 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 | January 31, 2010tags: Trumpeter Hornbill, Bycanistes bucinator, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Trumpeter Hornbill, Bycanistes bucinator, photographed in a classroom in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, somewhere in Scotland, UK. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
[larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
[Mystery bird] photographed in a classroom in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, somewhere in Scotland, UK. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
[larger view].
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | January 30, 2010tags: evolutionary biology, convergent evolution, paleontology, taxonomy, zoology, basal birds, theropods, dinosaurs, ornithology, birds, Alvarezsauroidea, Haplocheirus sollers, Maniraptora, Archaeopteryx, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
A Newly Discovered Basal Alvarezsauroid Theropod from the Early Late Jurassic.
Artwork: Portia Sloan [larger view]
DOI: 10.1126/science.1182143
A long-standing scientific debate focuses on the origins of birds: did they evolve from reptiles or dinosaurs? Currently, most scientists think that birds are modern dinosaurs,…
grrlscientist | January 30, 2010tags: Spotted Sandpiper, Actitis macularia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Spotted Sandpiper, Actitis macularia, photographed at the Arthur Storey Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 28 December 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 | January 29, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
This video is beautiful, so beautiful that you don't have to identify any of the birds captured on this video: you can just sit back and appreciate them. That said, I view IDing these birds as something fun to do, and a lot of my readers will agree.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Andrew Zuckerman is famous for photographing his subjects on a white background. These portraits remove every distracting element and force you to focus exclusively on every minute detail of the subject.
Zuckerman doesn't just…
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: evolutionary biology, fossils, feathers, plumage color, color, dinosaurs, theropods, Sinosauropteryx, Sinornithosaurus, birds, Confuciusornis, melanosomes, phaeomelanosomes, eumelanosomes, keratinocytes, SEM, scanning electron microscopy, 10.1038/nature08740, researchblogging.org, peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
Reconstruction of two Sinosauropteryx, sporting their orange and white striped tails.
Artwork by Chuang Zhao and Lida Xing [larger view]
DOI: 10.1038/nature08740
While looking at museum dioramas that feature dinosaurs, I often overhear people asking "How do they…
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] photographed near the Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm in Bellevue, Washington. [No one, not even the photographer, knows the ID of the bird that made this snow-print. The photographer is seeking your help IDing this bird]
Image: Ben Bardill, December 2008 (many thanks to Denny Granstrand for obtaining permission to share this image with us) [larger view].
There's a second image below the jump that might give you a better idea of this bird's size.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
[Mystery bird]…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2010tags: Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, inspecting what appears to be a beheaded Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth, Lycomorpha pholus, photographed on the Katy Prairie, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Here's an interesting bird for you to identify, and as an added bonus, can you identify the insect that it is inspecting?…
tetrapodzoology | January 27, 2010I have to take a break. I may be gone for some time... I may not. Here are some cool photos.
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Wild Canary, Eastern Goldfinch, American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, Carduelis tristis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] American Goldfinch, also known as the Eastern Goldfinch or the Wild Canary, Spinus (Carduelis) tristis, photographed on the Brazoria Wildlife Refuge, Brazoria, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 January 2010 [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…
grrlscientist | January 25, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird #1] Ring-necked Duck, Aythya collaris, photographed at the 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.
[NOTE: all IDs were made by the photographer; I don't agree with them, but I am reporting them. Of course, the links to the original images are broken now]
Mystery bird #2…
grrlscientist | January 24, 2010tags: Hadada Ibis, Bostrychia hagedash, Hagedashia hagedash, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Hadada Ibis, Bostrychia (Hagedashia) hagedash, photographed at Arusha National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen [larger view].
Nikon D2X and Nikon 200-400 VR lens at 240 mm. ISO 200 f/9 1/125.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | January 23, 2010tags: White-eared Barbet, Stactolaema leucotis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White-eared Barbet, Stactolaema leucotis, photographed at Amani Preserve, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 6 September 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 mm lens, at 400. ISO 200, 1/250, f/6.3.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | January 22, 2010tags: evolution, evolutionary biology, evolutionary ecology, plumage color,carotenoid-based colour, carotenoids, lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress, sperm motility, sperm quality, sperm velocity, birds, ornithology, Great Tit, Parus major, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
Great Tit, Parus major.
Image: Luc Viatour, Creative Commons/Wikipedia [larger view]
In some species of birds, males are more brightly colored than females. This phenomenon is due to female choice: females choose to mate with males that have the brightest plumage colors and most…
grrlscientist | January 22, 2010tags: Araripe Manakin, Antilophia bokermanni, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Araripe Manakin, Antilophia bokermanni, photographed at Chapada do Araripe, south Ceará, Brazil. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Ciro Albano.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Learn more about this endangered South American bird.
Review all mystery birds to date.