Photography
grrlscientist | April 23, 2010tags: Great Horned Owl, Tiger Owl, Bubo virginianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Great Horned Owl, also known as the Tiger Owl, Bubo virginianus, photographed on the roadside in the Edinburg, Texas in The Lower Rio Grande Valley. This valley occurs at the boundary between the United States and Mexico. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: ©JRCompton.com/birds: JR Compton, 2008. I encourage you to purchase photographs from this photographer. [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
One of my goals for the…
awild | April 23, 2010
This velvety worm-like creature may not look like a beetle, but it is. Beetles are like butterflies, passing through a complex metamorphosis on the way to adulthood, and this insect is the larval stage of a soldier beetle.
photo details:
Canon EOS 50D camera
Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250sec
grrlscientist | April 22, 2010tags: Koralle, Senckenberg Naturmuseum, museums, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, cities, image of the day, photography
Koralle.
Senckenberg Naturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: GrrlScientist, 13 April 2010 [larger view]
Brain coral is a common name given to corals in the family Faviidae, so called due to their generally spheroid shape and grooved surface which resembles an animal brain. Each head of coral is formed by a colony of genetically identical polyps which secrete a hard skeleton of calcium carbonate; this makes them important coral reef builders like other…
grrlscientist | April 22, 2010tags: Tawny Fish-Owl, Bubo flavipes, Ketupa flavipes, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Tawny Fish-Owl, Bubo (Ketupa) flavipes, photographed at Corbett Tiger Reserve (also known as the Jim Corbett National Park), northeast of Delhi in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains of India. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: John Kneeshaw [larger view].
Canon EOS 40D with 300mmAF lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | April 22, 2010tags: Glowing Life in an Underwater World, marine biology, bioluminescence, luciferase, luciferin, green fluorescent protein, eye-in-the-sea cam, ethology, evolution, Edith Widder, TEDTalks, streaming video
Some 80 to 90 percent of undersea creatures make light -- and we know very little about how or why. Bioluminescence expert Edith Widder explores this glowing, sparkling, luminous world, sharing glorious images and insight into the unseen depths (and brights) of the ocean.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's…
awild | April 21, 2010...just for you.
Cimex lectularius, the common Bed Bug
More photos from this series are posted here.
photo details:
Canon EOS 50D camera
Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250sec
grrlscientist | April 21, 2010tags: Koprolithen, Senckenberg Naturmuseum, museums, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, fossils, paleontology, image of the day, photography
Koprolithen.
Senckenberg Naturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: GrrlScientist, 13 April 2010 [larger view]
grrlscientist | April 21, 2010tags: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, sometimes known as the Red-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, photographed in Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 April 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/200s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Beginning birders: can you name the species?
Intermediate birders: can you…
grrlscientist | April 20, 2010tags: Sonnenuntergang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, sunset, photography
Sonnenuntergang.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: Bob O'Hara, 20 April 2010 [larger view]
Sunset over Frankfurt, as photographed from the bedroom window. This sunset was influenced by the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. The light gold above the sun is a real cloud, but the darker haze surrounding the sun is the ash cloud. This ash cloud made the sun look fuzzy and at times, almost completely obscured it.
Today, the sky cleared for a few hours and everything seemed normal once more, but in the…
grrlscientist | April 20, 2010tags: Fledermaus Hologramm, Senckenberg Naturmuseum, museums, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, fossils, paleontology, image of the day, photography
Fledermaus Hologramm.
Senckenberg Naturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: GrrlScientist, 13 April 2010 [larger view]
awild | April 20, 2010
Forget the heavy pro-grade camera gear for a moment. This shot was taken with a $300 Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 digicam. These small cameras do wide-angle macro exceptionally well, and their tiny sensors and lenses give them a small-world perspective that SLR cameras struggle to replicate. Here, I placed the camera on the ground underneath a foot-high canopy of mayapples.
grrlscientist | April 20, 2010tags: Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, photographed in Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 April 2010 [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.
grrlscientist | April 20, 2010tags: Every Pollen Grain has a Story, pollen, microscopy, forensics, pollen signature, pollen fingerprint, science, Bosnian war crimes, pollinology, Jonathan Drori, TEDTalks, streaming video
Pollen goes unnoticed by most of us, except when hay fever strikes. But microscopes reveal it comes in stunning colors and shapes -- and travels remarkably well. Jonathan Drori gives an up-close glimpse of these fascinating flecks of plant courtship.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of…
grrlscientist | April 19, 2010tags: Sonnenuntergang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, sunset, photography
Sonnenuntergang.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: Bob O'Hara, 19 April 2010 [larger view]
Sunset over Frankfurt, as photographed from the bedroom window. This sunset was influenced by the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. The clouds that you see are fluffy and a light gold color, the ash cloud is hazy and dark and (dare I say it?) menacing.
The haze from the Icelandic volcano is much worse today than it has been ever since Eyjafjallajökull first blew. I know that the airlines want to start flying…
grrlscientist | April 19, 2010tags: Koralle, Senckenberg Naturmuseum, museums, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, fossils, paleontology, image of the day, photography
Koralle.
Senckenberg Naturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: GrrlScientist, 13 April 2010 [larger view]
This is another beautiful coral that I photographed recently at the Senckenberg Naturmuseum. If you were here today, I would unfortunately opt to show you photographs instead of venturing out into the volcanic ash. However, if you were here, you and I would recall the Mt St Helens explosion over cold beers, and we would look at the jar of…
grrlscientist | April 19, 2010tags: White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys photographed at Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/400s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
This sweet little bird was my "dissertation species" .. can you name it? There are several subspecies as well, each with slightly different habits and ranges .. maybe you can name…
bioephemera | April 19, 2010New Scibling Alex over at Myrmecos has a fun post on how to turn your iPhone into a close-focus insect camera. If you, too, have been frustrated with the quality of the iPhone's camera, you might want to check this out!
grrlscientist | April 18, 2010tags: Sonnenuntergang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, sunset, photography
Sonnenuntergang.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: Bob O'Hara, 18 April 2010 [larger view]
Sunset over Frankfurt, as photographed from the bedroom window. This sunset was influenced by the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull.
This is probably the last sunset photograph you'll see from Frankfurt that doesn't have a dozen or more (disgustingly ugly!!) contrails messing it up because the latest news is that the eruptions from the Icelandic volcano are slowing down .. and there are some EU flights…