ornithology
grrlscientist | November 14, 2007tags: Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 13, 2007tags: Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows along with this non-sparrow, that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 12, 2007tags: song sparrow, Melospiza melodia, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. The song sparrow is one of the species that I studied for my dissertation work, although most of my dissertation focused on the white-crowned sparrow. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Song sparrow, Melospiza melodia.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 12, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Song sparrow, Melospiza melodia.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
Birds in Science
Dinosaurs like Velociraptors had one of the most efficient respiratory systems of all animals, similar to that of modern diving birds like penguins, fossil evidence shows. The bipedal meat-eaters, the therapods, had air sacs ventilated by tiny bones that moved the ribcage up and down. "Finding these structures in modern birds and their extinct dinosaur ancestors suggests that these running dinosaurs had an efficient respiratory…
grrlscientist | November 11, 2007tags: Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 10, 2007tags: swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 9, 2007tags: book review, birds, birding, bird watching, ornithology, conservation
When I was leading bird watching excursions on the west coast and we were looking at a species that was declining in the wild or was endangered, I made a point to mention this fact to my students. It was important, I thought, to impress upon them that the birds around them might not always be there to enjoy, that these birds were in need of protection.
"How do you know they're declining in the wild?" my students would invariably ask.
I learned such things after years of reading about birds, and by discussing…
grrlscientist | November 9, 2007tags: song sparrow, Melospiza melodia, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. The song sparrow is one of the species that I studied for my dissertation work, although most of my dissertation focused on the white-crowned sparrow. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Song sparrow, Melospiza melodia.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 8, 2007tags: savannah sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Savannah sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | November 7, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, birds, migration, cryptochrome, blue light, garden warbler, Sylvia borin, magnetic compass, avian cryptochrome 1a, ornithology
Garden Warbler, Sylvia borin (Boddaert, 1783)
Blakeney Point, 16th September 2006.
Image: Matthew Rodgers [larger image].
Every year, millions of birds migrate to their breeding grounds and then back to their wintering grounds again. These birds' journies cover anywhere between several hundred to many thousands of miles, even when the skies are cloudy or dark. How do birds unerringly find their way to their destinations? Thanks to…
grrlscientist | November 7, 2007tags: Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 6, 2007tags: American tree sparrow, Spizella arborea, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear at 3 pm beginning today, 6 November through the 16th of November.
American tree sparrow, Spizella arborea.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU.
grrlscientist | November 5, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Lesser flamingo, Phoenicopterus minor, in flight.
Lake Natron in Tanzania, Africa, is the only site in East Africa where Lesser Flamingos reliably breed.
Image: James Warwick[wallpaper size].
Birds in Science
The changing of the seasons finds millions of birds migrating over thousands of kilometres. How they find their way is a question that has perplexed biologists for decades. It is known that birds have built-in compasses attuned to the Earth's magnetic field. But how those compasses work and what they are made of…
tetrapodzoology | November 1, 2007
Everyone interested in animals must, by law, have set eyes on that iconic image of palaeornithologist Kenneth E. Campbell standing next to a life-sized silhouette of the immense Argentinean teratornithid Argentavis magnificens [the image is shown below]. At the International Bird of Prey Centre, Gloucestershire (UK), I quite liked the wooden silhouette of an Andean condor Vultur gryphus and, in the image here, Tone is standing next to it, looking as much like Campbell as she is able. An actual live Andean condor can just about be seen sitting in the enclosure in the background. An Andean…
grrlscientist | October 29, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Falconer Geoff Clayton with eight-year-old golden eagle Shirko as they attend the Inter-Governmental Conference on Migratory Birds of Prey in Loch Lomond.
Image: PA [larger view]
Birds in Science
The ability to ramp up testosterone levels drives certain male sparrows to mate, but also makes them bad dads, a new study suggests. Researchers had thought that the total amount of testosterone might determine the mating habits and aggressive tendencies of male dark-eyed juncos, a type of sparrow. But the new study of juncos…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2007tags: Secretary bird, Sagittarius serpentarius, Africa, birds, Image of the Day
Secretary bird, Sagittarius serpentarius.
Image: Basia Kruszewska, author of India Ink. [larger view]
The photographer writes: Mix the face of an eagle with the legs of a stork, and you have the Secretary bird.
This peculiar bird could be seen strutting throughout Kenya's Masai Mara. It gets its name from the feathers sticking up from its head, which resemble quill pens. It is able to fly, but rarely does so, preferring to prowl the grassland looking for its favorite meal, snakes.
grrlscientist | October 23, 2007tags: Black-necked weaver, Ploceus nigricollis, Africa, birds, Image of the Day
Black-necked weaver, Ploceus nigricollis.
Image: Basia Kruszewska, author of India Ink. [Wallpaper size]
grrlscientist | October 22, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
A pair of Moluccan Red Lories, Eos bornea rothschildi (upper right and lower left (upside down)), and a pair of Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus haematodus (center; one bird is hanging upside down), near the north coast of Seram, Indonesia.
Image: Kevin Sharp [wallpaper size].
Birds in Science
The ability to ramp up testosterone levels drives certain male sparrows to mate, but also makes them bad dads, a new study suggests. Researchers had thought that the total amount of testosterone might determine the…
grrlscientist | October 16, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, blue feathers, Tyndall scattering, Rayleigh light scattering, schemochromes, white feathers
A pair of hyacinthine macaws, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus.
Image: The Guardian.
Most avian plumage colors are the result of different types of pigments that are deposited into feathers while they are regrowing after moult. However, pigments alone do not produce all avian feather colors. Blues, such as those seen in hyacinthine macaws, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, and white, such as the snowy color of Bali mynahs, Leucopsar rothschildi, typically result from small changes…
tetrapodzoology | October 16, 2007
I have tried desperately to not be distracted by the mysterious rodents, new gigantic dinosaurs and Iberian lynxes that have been on my mind lately - plus lots of things are happening with the 'Dinosaurs - A Historical Perspective' conference that I'm co-organising with Dick Moody, Eric Buffetaut and Dave Martill (to be held in May 2008: more news later). Before the whole white squirrel thing, I was talking about cryptozoology (here), in particular on the ideas that (1) a cryptid is any animal reported from anecdotal data (i.e., it does not have to be a 'monster'), and that (2) given that…