ornithology

tags: Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla, photographed at Newton Hills State Park in South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Terry Sohl, 30 September 2008 [larger view]. Photo taken with Canon 40D, 400 5.6L. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes: The identification of sparrows got a lot easier in 1990, when Kenn Kaufman's Advanced Birding codified what he calls "the generic…
tags: Prairie Warbler, Dendroica discolor, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Prairie Warbler, Dendroica discolor, photographed at Newton Hills State Park in southeastern South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Terry Sohl, June 2007. 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.
tags: Elf Owl, Micrathene whitneyi, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Elf Owl, Micrathene whitneyi, photographed outside a gorgeous little bed and breakfast on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Terry Sohl, 7 May 2008 [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.
tags: Long-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Long-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus photographed in Brazoria Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 February 2009 [larger view]. Nikon D200, 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.
tags: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, photographed in Starr County Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 April 2008 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes: Now here's a little bird, barely bigger than the menacing thorns it's paused…
tags: leucistic House Finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] leucistic House Finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, photographed on Farm Island near Pierre, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Terry Sohl, 16 February 2009 [larger view]. Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes: "It's not in the book." A birding acquaintance of mine, long since passed away, I fear, once told me about the "…
tags: Streak-backed Oriole, Icterus pustulatus microstictus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Streak-backed Oriole, Icterus pustulatus microstictus, photographed at the Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Richard Ditch, 15 December 2006 [larger view]. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes: Any doubt that this is an oriole? Good. Confused about just what an oriole is? Better. The English word was first applied, naturally…
tags: Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, photographed at Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Terry Sohl, 9 December 2005 [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.
tags: Attwater's Prairie Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido attwateri, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Attwater's Prairie Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido attwateri, photographed in Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 December 2008 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Brewer's Sparrow, Spizella breweri, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Brewer's Sparrow, Spizella breweri, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Richard Ditch, 2008 [larger view]. Date Time Original: 2008:03:13 09:12:01 Exposure Time: 1/319 F-Number: 8.00 ISO: 400 Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo lagopus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] light-morph Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo lagopus, photographed on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Terry Sohl, 26 November 2008 [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.
tags: Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Richard Ditch, 16 April 2008 [larger view]. Date Time Original: 2008:04:16 08:46:29 Exposure Time: 1/319 F-Number: 5.60 ISO: 320 Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Rufous morph Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, photographed at near Beaver Creek Nature area in Minnehaha County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Terry Sohl, 11 June 2006. 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.
tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Grasshopper Sparrow, Ammodramus savannarum, photographed in Attwater Prairie Chicken Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 December 2008 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/90s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Blue Grouse, Dusky Grouse, Dendragapus obscurus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Blue (Dusky) Grouse, Dendragapus obscurus, photographed in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Terry Sohl, 18 August 2008 [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.
tags: White-tailed Kite, Elanus leucurus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] White-tailed Kite, Elanus leucurus, photographed in Sacramento, California. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: John del Rio, autumn 2007 [larger view]. More images by this photographer can be seen on the front page and in the gallery. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Costa's Hummingbird, Calypte costae, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Costa's Hummingbird, Calypte costae, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Richard Ditch, 15 May 2008 [larger view]. Date Time Original: 2008:05:15 07:47:40 Exposure Time: 1/30 F-Number: 8.00 ISO: 320 Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Juvenile Yellow-crowned night-heron, Nycticorax violaceus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Juvenile Yellow-crowned night-heron, Nycticorax violaceus, photographed by Crab Road, Surfside, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 February 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. Adult Yellow-crowned night-heron, Nycticorax violaceus, photographed by Crab Road, Surfside, Texas. Image:…
tags: Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps grisegena, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps grisegena, photographed in Kearny, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Richard Ditch, 23 November 2006 [larger view]. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
I picked up a lot of dead stuff in Morocco. One of the neatest things I brought back was this very large owl pellet (now broken into bits), discovered by Dave Martill at the same place where we were awoken at night by big, hooting owls assumed to have been Desert eagle owls Bubo ascalaphus [back-story here]... As you can see (close-up below), it's stuffed full of rodent bones, at least some of which are (I think) from jerboa. So far I've only had a cursory look, but bones belonging to several individuals of more than one species are present. If and when I get round to extracting and…