ornithology
grrlscientist | November 12, 2009tags: Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 November 2009 [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.
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grrlscientist | November 11, 2009tags: Hermit Thrush, Catharus guttatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Hermit Thrush, Catharus guttatus, photographed at Quintana Neotropical Sanctuary, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 October 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/180s 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 10, 2009tags: Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Poecile rufescens, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Poecile rufescens, photographed at 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 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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tetrapodzoology | November 10, 2009After a little delay, I'd like to continue regaling you with, if I may, my assorted musings on my excursion to the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. In other words, I want to talk more about Libya...
In the previous article I spoke about some of the animals I saw both in the more urban areas, and out in the countryside. If you go to north Africa (and if you're interested in ornithology), you hope to see larks. Larks (alaudids) do well in the deserts and semi-deserts of the region, and there are lots of species to see, some of which are very, very neat. If you think not, you're…
grrlscientist | November 9, 2009tags: House Wren, Troglodytes aedon, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] House Wren, Troglodytes aedon, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 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 | November 5, 2009tags: Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, photographed at Elmer Bailey Road, West Harris County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 9 March 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 4, 2009tags: Plain Chachalaca, Ortalis vetula, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Plain Chachalaca, Ortalis vetula, photographed at the Frontera Audubon Sanctuary, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 April 2008 [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 | November 3, 2009tags: Red Knot, Calidris canutus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red Knot, Calidris canutus, photographed at Quintana, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 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.
tetrapodzoology | November 3, 2009So, I recently returned from a brief sojourn in Libya. The trip was led by Richard Moody, best known for his work on Cretaceous sea turtles; I was also accompanied by palaeornithologist Gareth Dyke and by a group of people interested in the country's geology.
Libya - officially, the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya - is huge: it covers nearly 2 million square kilometres and is the fourth largest African county. However, 90% of the country is desert, and the population is only about 5.7 million (of which nearly 2 million live in Tripoli, the capital). It's a land of…
grrlscientist | November 2, 2009tags: Short-tailed Magpie, Cissa thalassina, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Short-tailed Magpie, Cissa thalassina, endemic to the South Pacific Maritime
Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Java. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Watercolour and gouache sketch on paper.
Image: Thomas Lewin, early 1800s [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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grrlscientist | November 1, 2009tags: Crested Hawk, Aviceda subcristata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Crested Hawk, Aviceda subcristata, 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 1/2500 & 1/1250 sec, f/4 iso 200.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 31, 2009tags: Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus, photographed in Boulia Shire, far west Queensland, Australia [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Ann Britton [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
News story:
This year's floods along river systems such as the Diamantina and Georgina sparked prolific breeding by the budgies which have been feasting on an abundance of grass seeds.
"I have been here since 1983 and never seen anything like it…
grrlscientist | October 30, 2009tags: Bare-throated Tiger-heron, Tigrisoma mexicanum, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bare-throated Tiger-heron, Tigrisoma mexicanum, photographed in Mexico. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dennis Paulson [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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grrlscientist | October 29, 2009tags: Cooper's Hawk, Chicken Hawk, Blue Darter, Accipiter cooperii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter striatus, Cooper's Hawk, also known as a Chicken Hawk or Blue Darter (?!), Accipiter cooperii, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 2009 [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.
I added more images of the same bird, taken…
grrlscientist | October 28, 2009tags: Rough-billed Pelican, American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] American White Pelican, sometimes known as the Rough-billed Pelican due to the structure that develops on the upper mandible of breeding adults, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. Numerous Broad-winged hawks, Buteo platypterus (background) with two red-tailed hawks, Buteo jamaicensis (right of center, lower left) [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours -- If you can convince me there's other species in this image, feel free to…
grrlscientist | October 27, 2009tags: Mississippi Kite, Ictinia mississippiensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Mississippi Kite, Ictinia mississippiensis, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 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 | October 26, 2009tags: Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 2009 [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.
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: Juvenile Martial Eagle, Polemaetus bellicosus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Martial Eagle, Polemaetus bellicosus, photographed in Nakuru National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 29 July 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 VR lens at 200. ISO 200, 1/2000, f 5.6.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Here's another look at this bird.
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grrlscientist | October 24, 2009tags: Bearded Vulture, Lamb Vulture, Lammergeyer, Gypaetus barbatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lammergeyer, also known as the Bearded or Lamb Vulture (for reasons that I'll bet you can correctly guess at), Gypaetus barbatus, photographed on Mt Kilimanjaro, at just under 15000 feet, at Barafu Camp. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 24 July 2006 [larger view].
NIkon D2X 70-200 VR lens at 200, ISO 200, 1/1250, f 6.3.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
According to legend, the Greek playwright…
grrlscientist | October 23, 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 these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Janice Sweet, 20 October 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.