ornithology
grrlscientist | October 27, 2008tags: Lincoln's Sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lincoln's Sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, photographed in Manhattan, Kansas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dave Rintoul, 25 October 2008 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Take a good look at this bird: have you ever seen anything more beautiful? "Sparrows" are dismissed by too many birders as difficult and dull, when in fact they are neither.
Well,…
grrlscientist | October 26, 2008tags: American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:03:09 09:10:55
Exposure Time: 1/1250
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Since I know this bird is easy for you guys, I am going to ask you to tell me what you think the bird is doing, standing there like that with its wings standing straight up.
Rick Wright…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2008tags: Neotropical Cormorant, Phalacrocorax brasilianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Neotropical Cormorant, Phalacrocorax brasilianus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2006 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2006:10:01 07:47:53
Exposure Time: 1/249
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Look carefully at this bird's right foot, and you'll see that the web actually includes all four…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2008tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2005 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2005:12:10 08:20:56
Exposure Time: 1/400
F-Number: 7.10
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
What seems at first regard a completely straightforward identification leads us down a tangled path indeed. Nearly everyone will have…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2008tags: parrots, endangered species, conservation, birds, ornithology, Indonesia
Masakambing (Abbott's) yellow-crested cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea abbotti at Sukun tree.
Image: Indonesian Parrot Project, summer 2008 [larger view].
I had the most fascinating telephone discussion with Bonnie Zimmermann, Vice President of the Indonesian Parrot Project, about the recent reported rediscovery of several individuals of the rarest cockatoo in the world. This species, known as the Masakambing (Abbott's) yellow-crested cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea abbotti, is a subspecies of Yellow (Sulfur)-crested…
grrlscientist | October 23, 2008tags: Gilded Flicker, Colaptes chrysoides, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Gilded Flicker, Colaptes chrysoides, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2005 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2005:04:26 15:20:04
Exposure Time: 1/124
F-Number: 16.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Forget the bird -- what on earth is that plant? We're used to woodpeckers clambering about in good solid trees: Red-headeds…
grrlscientist | October 23, 2008tags: Parrots in the Land of Oz, parrots, behavior, Australia, nature, ornithology, streaming video
Okay, if you are like me, you were not able to see the Nature program, Parrots in the Land of Oz, which aired on PBS on 19, 20 and 21 October. So I have dug up a few videos that give you a glimpse of what you did not see. This is a second video includes lots of footage of huge squadrons of flying budgerigars, and several species of stunningly colored rosellas and lories (which I've bred in captivity) [9:24]
grrlscientist | October 22, 2008tags: Worm-eating Warbler, Helmitheros vermivorus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Worm-eating Warbler, Helmitheros vermivorus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Rick Wright [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Yes, there's a bird in there, and yes, it's identifiable. As a great American poet once observed, all too rarely do the birds we see in the open look / like their pictures in the birdy-books; the views…
grrlscientist | October 22, 2008tags: Parrots in the Land of Oz, parrots, behavior, Australia, nature, ornithology, streaming video
Okay, if you are like me, you were not able to see the Nature program, Parrots in the Land of Oz, which aired on PBS on 19, 20 and 21 October. So I have dug up a few videos that give you a glimpse of what you did not see. This video includes a close look at fig parrots and eclectus parrots (both of which were included in my research), along with several species of cockatoos -- black white and pink species [9:40]
grrlscientist | October 21, 2008tags: Common Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Common Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, photographed in Arizona Fremont, California. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Collin M Jensen, 25 April 2008 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
A brown duck. The fact that the plumage comprises solid blocks of color rather than complex patterns makes this a diving duck, and the largely white sides and breast should…
grrlscientist | October 21, 2008tags: Parrots in the Land of Oz, parrots, behavior, Australia, nature, ornithology, streaming video
Did you know that budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus -- erroneously known as "parakeets" in the United States -- can see UV light? Did you know that female budgerigars rely on the UV reflectance to judge the quality of potential mates? This is a fascinating little trailer about wild budgerigars from the Nature program Parrots in the Land of Oz, which airs on PBS on 19, 20 and 21 October [1:43]
grrlscientist | October 20, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
These Northern fulmar chicks, Fulmarus glacialis, are from the northern end of the Isle of Lewis (aka the Butt of Lewis) in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.
Image: Dave Rintoul, August 2008 [larger view].
Birds in Science
U.S. and Costa Rican scientists say their research suggests parrots -- with more than 90 species facing extinction -- might be more adaptable than thought. Donald Brightsmith, a Texas A&M University bird specialist, and Greg Matuzak from Amigos de las Aves USA, studied six parrot communities in…
grrlscientist | October 20, 2008tags: Black-throated Magpie-Jay, Calocitta colliei, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black-throated Magpie-Jay, Calocitta colliei,, photographed in Mexico [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Rick Wright.
This mystery bird quiz has a twist: Name ten other bird species that share this mystery bird's habitat. Or, to put it another way, if you see this species while out birding, what other species are likely to also appear on your bird list for this area? Hint: to answer this quiz, you have to correctly identify this bird, learn where its range is and identify…
grrlscientist | October 20, 2008tags: Parrots in the Land of Oz, parrots, behavior, Australia, nature, ornithology, streaming video
Did you know that several species of cockatoos are black instead of white in color? Did you know that the Black Palm Cockatoos, Probosciger aterrimus, use tools -- tree limbs that they use to beat on their chosen nest cavity -- to attract a mate? Below the fold is a clip of the courtship of a pair of Black Palm Cockatoos from the Nature program Parrots in the Land of Oz, which airs on PBS on 19, 20 and 21 October [1:56]
grrlscientist | October 19, 2008tags: Northern Saw-Whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Northern Saw-Whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:01:03 16:32:23
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 11.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
I think it's an ash, but whatever the identity of the foliage, those would have to be mighty leaves indeed were…
grrlscientist | October 19, 2008tags: Parrots in the Land of Oz, parrots, behavior, Australia, nature, ornithology, streaming video
There are rare days when I wish I had a TV, but today is certainly one of those days. This is a trailer from the Nature program Parrots in the Land of Oz, which airs on PBS on 19, 20 and 21 October -- that's TONIGHT! I guarantee you will enjoy this program [0:31]
grrlscientist | October 18, 2008tags: Lesser Nighthawk, Chordeiles acutipennis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Nighthawk, Chordeiles acutipennis, photographed at Desert Botanical Gardens, Phoenix, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2005 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2005:07:12 07:24:54
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 16.00
ISO: 200
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Cryptic of plumage, large of eye, tiny of bill, this can only be a nightjar. The folded wingtip reaches more or less to the tip of the tail -- hard to…
grrlscientist | October 17, 2008tags: Yellow-billed Loon, Gavia adamsii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Yellow-billed Loon, Gavia adamsii, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:05:23 06:41:10
Exposure Time: 1/350
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 320
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Here's a long, lean bird floating low in the water. All waterfowl -- in the strict sense: ducks, geese, swans -- are obviously more buoyant, and with the exception of the larger mergansers, obviously…
grrlscientist | October 16, 2008tags: Wood Duck, Aix sponsa, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Wood Duck, Aix sponsa, photographed at Hermann Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 January 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/160s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
What a sweet bird, friendly-looking and gentle! From near-extinction less than a century ago, this species has rebounded in its North American range to be the most abundant breeding duck…
grrlscientist | October 15, 2008tags: House Sparrow, English Sparrow, Passer domesticus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] House (English) Sparrow, Passer domesticus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2006 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2006:12:27 10:51:37
Exposure Time: 1/159
F-Number: 9.00
ISO: 400
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This is an oddly shaped bird. We might at first have thought it was an emberizid sparrow, all streaky and brown, but if we start at the rear, we find a strikingly inadequate…