Photography
grrlscientist | January 29, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
This video is beautiful, so beautiful that you don't have to identify any of the birds captured on this video: you can just sit back and appreciate them. That said, I view IDing these birds as something fun to do, and a lot of my readers will agree.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Andrew Zuckerman is famous for photographing his subjects on a white background. These portraits remove every distracting element and force you to focus exclusively on every minute detail of the subject.
Zuckerman doesn't just…
aardvarchaeology | January 29, 2010
Great flocks of fieldfares (Turdus pilaris, björktrast) are hanging around Boat Hill, feeding off the frozen parkland rowan berries instead of migrating. They're so ruffled up against the cold that they're hardly recognisable as the streamlined summer birds we're used to. Their cousins the blackbirds sit alone like big black apples here and there in the leafless underbrush, waiting for the singing season.
[More blog entries about birds, photography; fåglar, foto.]
laelaps | January 29, 2010
Part of a bison herd (Bison bison) walking down the road. Photographed in Yellowstone National Park.
awild | January 28, 2010Arachnids (you know, spiders and mites and things) never had much of a presence in my photo galleries. While I could chalk their absence up to an obsessive focus on formicids, the reality is that I'm mildly arachnophobic. Photographing spiders makes me squirm, so I don't do it very often.
Oddly, it really is just spiders. I don't have any trouble with opilionids, mites, or even scorpions. And it isn't all spiders, either. I'm rather fond of salticids. But there's something about the form of some spiders that touches off a deeply instinctual revulsion. Embarrassing for an entomologist,…
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: Suomenlinnan Muuri, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomenlinnan Muuri (Suomenlinna wall).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] photographed near the Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm in Bellevue, Washington. [No one, not even the photographer, knows the ID of the bird that made this snow-print. The photographer is seeking your help IDing this bird]
Image: Ben Bardill, December 2008 (many thanks to Denny Granstrand for obtaining permission to share this image with us) [larger view].
There's a second image below the jump that might give you a better idea of this bird's size.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
[Mystery bird]…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2010tags: Suomenlinnan Ikkuna, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomenlinnan Ikkuna (Suomenlinna window).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I love the pattern of different colors and the contrasting shadows between individual stones in this image.
bioephemera | January 27, 2010
I came across this lovely beach in Maine a few months ago, near Bar Harbor. The remarkable thing here is that the beach is very far down - about fifty feet - yet the rocks so strongly resemble typical landscaping gravel that the beach seems to be at the level of the observer. Unfortunately, the beach was surrounded by cliffs and appeared inaccessible at high tide, so we couldn't get a person among the stones for perspective, but they must be similar to grapefruit and basketballs. (Some among you can no doubt do the math and figure out exactly how big they were - I've long forgotten how).…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2010tags: Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, inspecting what appears to be a beheaded Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth, Lycomorpha pholus, photographed on the Katy Prairie, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Here's an interesting bird for you to identify, and as an added bonus, can you identify the insect that it is inspecting?…
laelaps | January 26, 2010
An osprey (Pandion haliaetus), photographed in Yellowstone National Park.
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Linnoitusta Suomenlinnassa, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Kukka Suomenlinnassa (Suomenlinna blossom).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Wild Canary, Eastern Goldfinch, American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, Carduelis tristis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] American Goldfinch, also known as the Eastern Goldfinch or the Wild Canary, Spinus (Carduelis) tristis, photographed on the Brazoria Wildlife Refuge, Brazoria, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 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…
laelaps | January 25, 2010
A pregnant female elk (Cervus canadensis), photographed in Yellowstone National Park.
grrlscientist | January 25, 2010tags: Linnoitusta Suomenlinnassa, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Linnoitusta Suomenlinnassa (Suomenlinna fortress).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | January 25, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird #1] Ring-necked Duck, Aythya collaris, photographed at the Hermann Park Conservancy, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 18 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
[NOTE: all IDs were made by the photographer; I don't agree with them, but I am reporting them. Of course, the links to the original images are broken now]
Mystery bird #2…
laelaps | January 24, 2010
A polar bear (Ursus maritimus), playing with a plastic ring at the Bronx Zoo.
grrlscientist | January 24, 2010tags: Oviaukko Suomenlinnassa, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Oviaukko Suomenlinnassa (Suomenlinna doorway).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
laelaps | January 24, 2010
The view from behind Jackson Lodge in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.
grrlscientist | January 24, 2010tags: Hadada Ibis, Bostrychia hagedash, Hagedashia hagedash, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Hadada Ibis, Bostrychia (Hagedashia) hagedash, photographed at Arusha National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen [larger view].
Nikon D2X and Nikon 200-400 VR lens at 240 mm. ISO 200 f/9 1/125.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.