Photography
grrlscientist | May 3, 2009tags: Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 21 June 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:06:21 08:39:09
Exposure Time: 1/40
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 800
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | May 2, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Pink Carnation.
Photographed on the Upper Wast Side of Manhattan.
Image: GrrlScientist, 23 April 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | May 2, 2009tags: Black and White Warbler, Mniotilta varia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Black and White Warbler, Mniotilta varia, photographed in Quintana and Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 20 March 2009 [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.
bioephemera | May 2, 2009
Medallion
Al Teich
Al Teich's photographs are explorations of symmetry and rhythm that resemble snowflakes, diatoms, or pollen grains. His method fuses old and new technologies: he photographs kaleidoscopes with a digital camera, incrementally moving them to adjust the image. Teich told the Washington Post, "The images are very beautiful but transient. There is an infinite variety of them, but they disappear when you turn the kaleidoscope." Teich, who has a bachelor's degree in physics and a PhD in political science, says "scientists see and enjoy beauty in many things - in science, of…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Still Life with Red Roses.
Photographed on the Upper Wast Side of Manhattan.
Image: GrrlScientist, 23 April 2009 [larger view].
sb admin | May 1, 2009
Step 1. Locate a suitable patch of forest, field, or desert.
Step 2. Wait for a warm, moonless summer night.
Step 3. Using a long extension cord, plug in a blacklight. Or even better, a mercury-vapor lamp.
Step 4. Sit back and watch your prey arrive.*
*disclaimer. This technique works generally for most entomologists, but if your needs are more specific, you will wish to employ more specialized methods. Forensic entomologists prefer roadkill, for example.
grrlscientist | May 1, 2009tags: Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 12 November 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:11:12 09:10:55
Exposure Time: 1/124
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
laelaps | May 1, 2009
A herring gull (Larus argentatus) flying off with a snack. Photographed at Spring Lake, New Jersey.
grrlscientist | April 30, 2009tags: NYC, Upper East Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
One in a Million.
"In the lower 80s" in the Park Avenue median (Upper East Side of Manhattan).
Image: GrrlScientist, 26 April 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 30, 2009tags: Horned Lark, Eremophila alpestris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Horned Lark, Eremophila alpestris, photographed in Paul Rushing Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 March 2009 [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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
laelaps | April 30, 2009
A domesticated horse (Equus ferus caballus), photographed in suburban New Jersey.
sb admin | April 29, 2009Today, Roche announced funding for over a dozen genomes of organisms associated with the agricultural attine ants and the fungus they cultivate. In honor of the occasion, here's a sampling of a few of the attine species and their gardens.
Acromyrmex sp. nr. crassispinus, Argentina.
The fungus of the texan species Mycetosoritis hartmanni is grown on a substrate of caterpillar frass. Not all the attines are leaf-cutters!
Acromyrmex lundii, Argentina.
Apterostigma auriculatum, Panama.
Atta texana, Texas.
Cyphomyrmex wheeleri, Arizona.
Trachymyrmex pomonae, Arizona.
The…
grrlscientist | April 29, 2009tags: NYC, Upper East Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Violet in the Park Avenue median, Manhattan.
"In the lower 80s" in the Park Avenue median (Upper East Side of Manhattan).
Image: GrrlScientist, 26 April 2009 [larger view].
sb admin | April 29, 2009[This is a repost from the Myrmecos Blog, originally published February 2008]
In 1934, a diminutive book by an unknown author seeded the largest conservation movement in history. The book, Roger Tory Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds, pioneered the modern field guide format with crisp illustrations of diagnostic characters, all in a pocket-sized read. The Guide sold out in a week, but the book's effects are ongoing.
To understand the magnitude of Peterson's impact, consider how naturalists traditionally identified birds. They'd take a shotgun into the field, and if they saw something…
grrlscientist | April 29, 2009tags: Blue Mountain Vireo, Vireo osburni, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Blue Mountain Vireo, Vireo osburni, photographed at Portland Gap, Blue Mountains, Jamaica. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Paul Jones, 18 March 2009 [larger view].
Canon 30-D, 300f4 lens, 1/250 at f4, 320 ISO.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
laelaps | April 29, 2009
An Eastern goldfinch (Carduelis tristis), photographed in suburban New Jersey.
sb admin | April 28, 2009...is to add an actual human.
Dynastes granti - Western Hercules Beetle, Arizona
It's funny how our social primate brain works. We gain immediate emotional access to an image simply by inserting a member of our own species.
(Incidentally, that's one reason why David Attenborough's Life in the Undergrowth is so effective. With Attenborough able to share the screen with tiny arthropods, the result of a new generation of optics, that whole miniature world seems suddenly available.)
Technical details:
Lens: Canon 17-40 f4.0L wide angle zoom lens
Body: Canon EOS 20D dSLR
Settings: ISO 400…
grrlscientist | April 28, 2009tags: NYC, Upper East Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Park Avenue Tulip.
"In the lower 80s" in the Park Avenue median (Upper East Side of Manhattan).
Image: GrrlScientist, 26 April 2009 [larger view].