Photography
grrlscientist | February 10, 2010tags: Orange-crowned Warbler, Vermivora celata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Orange-crowned Warbler, Vermivora celata, photographed on the Katy Prairie, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 February 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.
The same individual, facing the camera:
Orange-crowned Warbler, Vermivora celata, photographed on the…
grrlscientist | February 9, 2010tags: x-ray art, photography, nature, Nick+Veasey, TEDTalks, streaming video
Nick Veasey shows outsized X-ray images that reveal the otherworldly inner workings of familiar objects -- from the geometry of a wildflower to the anatomy of a Boeing 747. Producing these photos is dangerous and painstaking, but the reward is a superpower: looking at what the human eye can't see.
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 their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al…
awild | February 9, 2010Meinertellidae! It's a jumping bristletail. In California these flightless insects are common around harvester ant nests. I don't think they have any sort of specialized relationship with ants, except perhaps finding the warm microclimate of the mound surface agreeable.
Wings are an ancient adaptation, and most of our modern flightless insects represent an evolutionary loss of function from their flighted forebears. Not so with jumping bristletails. This group diverged from the remaining insects prior to the advent of wings- their line of ancestry has been earthbound since the beginning.…
grrlscientist | February 9, 2010tags: Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureus, photographed at the Big Sioux Recreation Area near Brandon, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 4 November 2007 [larger view]. You are encouraged to purchase photographs from this photographer. I am happy to email his contact information to you.
Canon 20D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 9, 2010tags: NASA, Endeavour, International Space Station, spaceship launch, STS-130,Kennedy Space Center, space exploration, physics, astronomy, engineering, streaming video
Space shuttle Endeavour, carrying Commander George Zamka, pilot Terry Virts, and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Bob Behnken, Steve Robinson and Kay Hire, successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in the early hours of February 8, headed for its 13-day STS-130 mission to the International Space Station.
laelaps | February 8, 2010
A domestic horse (Equus ferus caballus), photographed in suburban New Jersey.
grrlscientist | February 8, 2010tags: Eagle Hawk, Gopher Hawk, Squirrel Hawk, Ferruginous Rough-legged Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Buteo regalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ferruginous Hawk, also known by a variety of other common names such as Eagle Hawk, Gopher Hawk, Squirrel Hawk or Ferruginous Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo regalis, photographed in Lyman County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 17 January 2010 [larger view]. You are encouraged to purchase photographs from this photographer. I am happy to email his contact information to you.
Canon 50D, 400…
laelaps | February 8, 2010
Zeff the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) yawns. Photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
bioephemera | February 7, 2010
This is. . . .
A. The gills of a tropical fish.
B. A satellite photo of the Bahamas.
C. A blue-green fungus sometimes called Green Stain.
D. A UV photograph of the center of a miniature carnation.
E. Algae along the edge of a geyser.
F. A Cirque de Soleil costume.
It's actually B, a satellite image of the Bahamas - and kudos to you if you got it, since it's not what you'd usually expect from a satellite! See a slideshow of 24 more stunning aerial photos at NY Daily News.
photo by USGS National Center for EROS and NASA Landsat Project Science Office
grrlscientist | February 7, 2010tags: Jackson's Widowbird, Euplectes jacksoni, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Jackson's Widowbird, Euplectes jacksoni, photographed in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 600 x 1.4, ISO 320, f/5.6, 1/800 sec.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
laelaps | February 7, 2010
A black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta), photographed near Bear Mountain in New York.
grrlscientist | February 6, 2010tags: Lesser Striped Swallow, Hirundo abyssinica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Striped Swallow, sometimes also known as the Striped Swallow, Hirundo abyssinica, photographed in the Mikumi National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300s, 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender, ISO 500, f/7.1 1/640 sec. Exp compensation +1.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
laelaps | February 6, 2010
Two views from the balcony on this snowy, snowy morning.
And, since it's Caturday, here is a shot of one of our new foster cats, Steve.
awild | February 5, 2010
A male western hercules beetle, Arizona.
Meet Dynastes granti. This behemouth of an insect is North America's heaviest scarab beetle, found in the mountains of the American southwest where adults feed on the sap of ash trees. I photographed these spectacular insects a few years ago while living in Tucson.
The impressive pronotal horn on the beetle pictured above indicates a male; females are considerably more modest in their armaments:
Male and female hercules beetles
As is so often the case in animals, males use their horns to fight each other for access to females, attempting to pry…
grrlscientist | February 5, 2010tags: Cape Widow, Cape Bishop, Yellow-rumped Widow, Yellow Bishop, Euplectes capensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Yellow Bishop, also known as the Cape Widow, Cape Bishop, or the Yellow-rumped Widow, Euplectes capensis, photographed in the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, February 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 4, 2010tags: Suomenlinnan Suvi, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomenlinnan Suvi (Suomenlinna summer).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view].
bioephemera | February 4, 2010
Seaweed Picture No. 31
Alyson Denny
Photographer Alyson Denny's closeups of seaweed and jellyfish couldn't be less like your usual natural science documentation. Often, very little of her subject is in focus; she's more concerned with how the forms and colors blur and overlap as the field recedes. From a distance, her photographs are dazzling abstractions; the jellyfish photos are reminiscent of jewel-encrusted sets for high-end, artsy diamond ads. But when you realize what the subjects are, you also realize that her photos are just what you'd see if, like a child, you were lying on the…
grrlscientist | February 4, 2010tags: Carolina Chickadee, Poecile carolinensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Carolina Chickadee, Poecile carolinensis, photographed in the photographer's back yard in Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 18 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with 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.