ornithology
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz, streaming video
A reader asked me to ask you to identify these [Mystery Birds], filmed in Wasilla, Alaska, USA, on 4 July 2009. Hint: Turn the sound off while viewing this video to prevent stimulating your gag reflex.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 6, 2009tags: Upland Sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Upland Sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda, photographed in Kingsbury County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 5 July 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 5, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapilla, photographed near a small Olympic Peninsula lake in Shelton, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Lee Rentz, 19 February 2009.
As an added bonus, can you name the close relatives to today's mystery bird that are found in Finland?
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The closest relatives to the pictured bird that live in Finland are [English name, Finnish name, Scientific name];
Willow…
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris, photographed on the University of Helsinki (Helsingin Yliopisto) campus in Kumpula, Helsinki, Finland. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [larger view].
Canon Powershot SX100
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
tetrapodzoology | July 4, 2009
Yes, I thought that birds didn't eat millipedes on account of their toxicity. Most millipedes (including the little species we have here in Britain) secrete noxious liquid through glands on their sides, and substances such as chlorine, iodine and cyanide are involved. As is obvious from the photo here, these chemicals don't make millipedes immune to attack from birds. After checking the literature I see that toads and hedgehogs also don't seem deterred by millipede toxins. However, other predators probably are, and toads and hedgehogs are actually unusual in being able to eat to tolerate…
grrlscientist | July 3, 2009tags: Juvenile Gambel's White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Gambel's White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 25 November 2006 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2006:11:25 08:07:50
Exposure Time: 1/200
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 320
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 2, 2009tags: Pied Wagtail fledgling, Motacilla alba, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pied Wagtail fledgling, Motacilla alba, photographed at Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, UK. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Richard Carter, FCD, 13 June 2009 (he also writes here) [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D (Digital Rebel) at 1/400th second using a Canon EF 75-300mm zoom at the 300mm setting.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 1, 2009tags: White-rumped Sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] White-rumped Sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis, photographed at Galveston, East Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 May 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s 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 | June 30, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Wattled Starlings, Creatophora cinerea, perched on Plains (Grant's) Zebra, Equus quagga boehmi, Amboseli National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 3 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2H, 200-400 VR lens at 400, ISO 200, 1/320, f/8.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 30, 2009tags: Bat Falcon, Falco rufigularis, South America, nature, National Geographic, streaming video
This female bat falcon, Falco rufigularis, makes dazzling mid-air catches over Mayan ruins in Guatemala to feed her chicks [2:15]
grrlscientist | June 29, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
The first Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher chicks, Terpsiphone corvina,
to fledge successfully outside La Digue Island, Seychelles for over 60 years
are flying on Denis Island.
Image: David Hosking [larger view].
Birds in Science
One of the fifteen Frisian 'transmitter godwits', which was still in Friesland on one week ago on Saturday, arrived in Senegal in West Africa on Tuesday morning. The bird, nicknamed Heidenskip, appears to have flown from Friesland via Spain and over the Sahara in one go. The distance, over…
grrlscientist | June 29, 2009tags: Pelagic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pelagic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, photographed at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon. It is taking nesting materials back to the rock, where many of these birds were busy nesting. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 8 June 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 28, 2009tags: Lesser Flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor, photographed in Swakopmund, Namibia, Africa [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dennis Paulson, April 2007 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 28, 2009tags: World Science Festival, science, dancing parrot, Snowball, eleanora cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea eleonora, humor, funny, streaming video
Despite living in NYC, I was not at the World Science Festival last weekend, which totally bums me out, especially since Irene Pepperberg was there, speaking, and Snowball, a male Eleanora (medium sulfur-crested) cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea eleonora, was there, dancing. This video shows Snowball's delightful performance -- which I missed!! [3:01]
grrlscientist | June 27, 2009tags: Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna, photographed in Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 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 | June 26, 2009tags: House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 3 June 2005 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2005:03:06 17:34:01
Exposure Time: 1/30
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 500
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 24, 2009tags: Cliff Swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Cliff Swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, photographed at Attwater Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 May 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.
tetrapodzoology | June 23, 2009
The photo of the Northern ground hornbill Bucorvus abyssinicus featured here yesterday was posted entirely on a whim. And I figured that I didn't need to say much about the species, nor about ground hornbills in general, given that they've been discussed at length on Tet Zoo before. But then I realised that the only in-depth treatment of ground hornbills at Tet Zoo comes from ver 1, and thus dates to 2006. That's three years ago. Given that so much has changed in terms of Tet Zoo's readership, it's clearly time to re-post this old, classic article. If you remember it from the first time…
grrlscientist | June 23, 2009tags: Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba, photographed at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 8 June 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.