ornithology
grrlscientist | February 20, 2009tags: Curve-billed Thrasher, Toxostoma curvirostre, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Curve-billed Thrasher, Toxostoma curvirostre, 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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
tetrapodzoology | February 20, 2009
While checking a few details on kiwi skeletal anatomy the other day, I discovered some old material I'd written on these strange birds. I've updated it, and here's the first lot of it.
Kiwi have been known to science since 1813. In that year George Shaw (then the Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum), writing in the final volume of his series The Naturalist's Miscellany, described a specimen that had been given to him by Captain Barclay, a privateer engaged in the transport of convicts. Investigation of Barclay's voyages reveal that he probably never visited New Zealand, so he must have…
grrlscientist | February 19, 2009tags: global warming, climate change, birds, ornithology, Audubon Society, webcast
The idea that global warming is not just about polar bears in the Arctic, but also about American Robins in our own backyards has captured people's attention. Nearly 60% of the 305 species found in North America in winter are on the move, shifting their ranges northward by an average of 35 miles. Audubon scientists analyzed 40 years of citizen-science Christmas Bird Count data -- and their findings provide new and powerful evidence that global warming is having a serious impact on natural systems. Northward…
tetrapodzoology | February 19, 2009Well, arguing about the physiology of Mesozoic archosaurs has been fun but I just can't put the time into it. Moving on, here's something entirely different...
Excuse my crappy photographic skills, and well done you if you can identify any/some/all of the species concerned. To those who don't know: yes, kookaburras (the four or so species of Dacelo) are gigantic kingfishers. We also have a few paradise kingfishers (Tanysiptera) in there, stork-billed kingfishers (Halcyon), pied kingfishers (Ceryle) and an American green kingfisher (Chloroceryle) - in all, a pretty good representation of…
grrlscientist | February 19, 2009tags: White-collared Seedeater, Sporophila torqueola, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western White-collared Seedeater, Sporophila torqueola, discovered by the photographer and photographed at the Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 3 October 2008 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 18, 2009tags: juvenile Northern Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
The prior owner of these feathers, a probable juvenile Northern Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, met a plate-glass window at high speed and apparently was fatally injured. The feathers were what was remaining after a dog scavenged the carcass. Location is on the east side of Tuttle Creek Reservoir, Pottawatomie County Kansas (39.272N, 96.558W, altitude 1150 ft or 351 m). [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dave Rintoul, 29 January 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that…
grrlscientist | February 17, 2009tags: Central Park Wildlife, New York City, Bob Levy, image of the day
Northern Cardinal Gets His Turn In The Spotlight
Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger view].
The photographer writes;
A shaft of sunlight fortuitously fell on this male Northern Cardinal at just the right moment. I regularly visit a set of cardinal families. I wish I knew which of the Central Park clans this fella was from but I don't. It does not take away from the enjoyment of this image, does it?
grrlscientist | February 17, 2009tags: Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus, photographed at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 22 January 2006 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 17, 2009tags: kingfisher, dive bombing bird, bird attack, nature, streaming video
This streaming video shows what it looks like to be a fish attacked by a kingfisher -- from the fish's point of view [0:23]
tetrapodzoology | February 17, 2009
Inspired by the kiwi weirdness looked at here recently, I thought I'd focus on some other ratite skeletal stuff. But the idea here isn't to identify the animal. This is obviously the skeleton of an ostrich Struthio camelus. The question for you is a simple one: what's going on with the pectoral girdle? What makes it weird? Hmm, I wonder...
grrlscientist | February 16, 2009tags: Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica, photographed at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 4 January 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
As an added bonus, can you identify the insect in this bird's beak?
Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica, photographed at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona.
Image: Richard Ditch, 4 January 2009 [larger…
grrlscientist | February 15, 2009tags: Leucistic Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Leucistic Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, photographed at the far end of the Nisqually River, Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, near Olympia, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dan Streiffert, 25 January 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
NOTE: If you have seen this bird or images of it, please don't "spill the beans" for everyone else who hasn't yet seen it!
tetrapodzoology | February 14, 2009
Better late than never... what was the identity of that unusual string of vertebrae I featured here however-many-days-ago? Most of you realised - correctly - that it was the neck of a bird, and several of you guessed moa. This wasn't a bad guess, but it wasn't the right one. The correct answer was given three guesses in by Adam Yates of Dracovenator. Yes, it's the neck of a kiwi (Apteryx). Well done Adam, your Tet Zoo-ing skills serve you well (I'll not mention the fact that Adam's skills also extend to fishes and molluscs, gack). Why post a picture of a kiwi neck? Because it's so frikkin'…
grrlscientist | February 14, 2009tags: 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, 23 December 2004 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2004:12:23 16:04:23
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 640
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 13, 2009tags: Ross's Gull, Rhodostethia rosea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ross's Gull, Rhodostethia rosea, photographed near the Tuttle Creek Reservoir outflow tubes in Kansas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow].
Image: Dave Rintoul, 14 January 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
In alternate plumage, the pinkish cast to the plumage and black ring around the head are diagnostic. In basic plumage, the evenly gray wings on both the upper and under surfaces and the wedge-shaped tail (which isn't easily seen in…
grrlscientist | February 12, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Probable hybrid hummingbird, Violet-crowned x Broad-billed hummingbird, Amazilia violiceps x Cynanthus latirostris, photographed in the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 18 December 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2004:12:23 16:04:23
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 640
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
NOTE: If you are one of those peeps who…
grrlscientist | February 11, 2009tags: Greater Sage-Grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
Here is a feather pic from a [Mystery bird] Male Greater Sage-Grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus, for the mystery bird quiz, along with a map (below the fold) from Google Earth showing where it was collected (East Canyon Road SW of Henefer, Utah, 40.95N, 111.55W, elevation 6200 ft or 1890 meters) [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dave Rintoul, feather collected on 10 April 2005 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
East Canyon Road SW…
grrlscientist | February 10, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pine Warbler, Dendroica pinus, photographed at Port Bolivar, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 13 January 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera 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 9, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Black-throated Sparrow, Amphispiza bilineata, in Chaco Canyon.
Image: Dave Rintoul, June 2008 [larger view].
Birds in Science
This is a link to a fascinating slide show that documents 9 links in the dinosaur-to-bird transition -- plenty of strong evidence that birds evolved from dinosaurs! GrrlScientist comment: "link" number four is very dubious, though, and I am surprised they even used it in their story.
People Hurting Birds
Both engines of the US Airways flight that crash-landed in the Hudson River last month…
grrlscientist | February 9, 2009tags: Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta, photographed on the Attwater Prairie Chicken Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 June 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso40.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.