Photography
grrlscientist | February 18, 2009tags: lichens, symbiosis, nature, image of the day
Lichens.
Image: Biosparite, 2009 [larger view].
Lichens are a symbiotic association between a fungus (the mycobiont) with a photosynthetic partner (the photobiont or phycobiont), usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium. The morphology, physiology and biochemistry of lichens are very different to that of the isolated fungus and alga in culture. Lichens occur in some of the most extreme environments on Earth -- arctic tundra, hot deserts, rain forests, rocky coasts and toxic slag heaps. Lichens are widespread and long-lived; however,…
grrlscientist | February 18, 2009tags: juvenile Northern Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
The prior owner of these feathers, a probable juvenile Northern Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, met a plate-glass window at high speed and apparently was fatally injured. The feathers were what was remaining after a dog scavenged the carcass. Location is on the east side of Tuttle Creek Reservoir, Pottawatomie County Kansas (39.272N, 96.558W, altitude 1150 ft or 351 m). [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dave Rintoul, 29 January 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that…
grrlscientist | February 17, 2009tags: Chambers Street, Park Place, World Trade Center, Oculus, Andrew Ginzel, Kristin Jones, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Map of the World.
Stone and glass floor mosaic at Park Place entrance, which connects to the WTC (Chambers Street) station via a tunnel; also there are hundreds of stone mosaic eyes on the walls throughout the Chambers Street station complex (A & C trains).
Artists: Andrew Ginzel & Kristin Jones.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 January 2009 [larger view].
Oculus is located in passageways under the World Trade Center and was largely untouched by…
grrlscientist | February 17, 2009tags: Central Park Wildlife, New York City, Bob Levy, image of the day
Northern Cardinal Gets His Turn In The Spotlight
Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger view].
The photographer writes;
A shaft of sunlight fortuitously fell on this male Northern Cardinal at just the right moment. I regularly visit a set of cardinal families. I wish I knew which of the Central Park clans this fella was from but I don't. It does not take away from the enjoyment of this image, does it?
grrlscientist | February 17, 2009tags: Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus, photographed at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 22 January 2006 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 16, 2009tags: Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica, photographed at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 4 January 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
As an added bonus, can you identify the insect in this bird's beak?
Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica, photographed at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona.
Image: Richard Ditch, 4 January 2009 [larger…
grrlscientist | February 15, 2009tags: NYC, New York City, Bob Levy, image of the day
In the Spotlight
Central Park Grey Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger view].
The photographer writes;
The sunlight fortuitously fell on this Gray Squirrel as it chomped through a peanut shell on a fair winter's day. I confess I did not give that peanut to the squirrel nor have I given them to any other squirrels. Oh, there was a time when I might have. When I started birding it was not unusual for me to give them an occasional snack but that all changed when these animal got a little too bold…
grrlscientist | February 15, 2009tags: Leucistic Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Leucistic Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, photographed at the far end of the Nisqually River, Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, near Olympia, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dan Streiffert, 25 January 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
NOTE: If you have seen this bird or images of it, please don't "spill the beans" for everyone else who hasn't yet seen it!
laelaps | February 14, 2009
I have been out and about for most of the day and have not had much time to write. In lieu of a real post, here is a photograph of an Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) I took just this afternoon at the Turtleback Zoo in Essex, New Jersey.
grrlscientist | February 14, 2009tags: Costa's Hummingbird, Calypte costae, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Costa's Hummingbird, Calypte costae, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 23 December 2004 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2004:12:23 16:04:23
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 640
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
laelaps | February 13, 2009I cannot recall precisely why, but okapis were on my mind this morning. Specifically, I was wondering what had become of the first photograph ever taken of a live okapi, an illustration I had heard about but had been unable to find. I was first put on the trail of the picture when, last September, the Zoological Society of London declared that they had the first photographs ever taken of an okapi in its natural habitat.
I was immediately skeptical of this claim. Had no one ever photographed an okapi in the wild? In my efforts to find an answer to this question I stumbled across references to…
awild | February 13, 2009
Colliuris pensylvanica, long-necked ground beetle. Arizona.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/13, flash diffused through tracing paper
grrlscientist | February 13, 2009tags: Ross's Gull, Rhodostethia rosea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ross's Gull, Rhodostethia rosea, photographed near the Tuttle Creek Reservoir outflow tubes in Kansas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow].
Image: Dave Rintoul, 14 January 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
In alternate plumage, the pinkish cast to the plumage and black ring around the head are diagnostic. In basic plumage, the evenly gray wings on both the upper and under surfaces and the wedge-shaped tail (which isn't easily seen in…
laelaps | February 13, 2009
Black crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor), photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
awild | February 12, 2009
Here's a sharper version:
Parasitic Cotesia wasp attacks a Manduca larva
The story itself is amazing. It's been known for some time that Ichneumonid and Braconid wasps inject circular strands of DNA- called polydnaviruses- into their host insects along with their eggs. This DNA is encoded by the wasp genome but acts like a virus in their hosts, dismantling the immune system to protect the developing wasp larvae. In a study out this week in Science, a team headed by Jean-Michel Drezen pinpointed the origin of the polydnavirus as being a type of nudivirus. It seems that some ancient…