picture
grrlscientist | October 17, 2008tags: Yellow-billed Loon, Gavia adamsii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Yellow-billed Loon, Gavia adamsii, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:05:23 06:41:10
Exposure Time: 1/350
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 320
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Here's a long, lean bird floating low in the water. All waterfowl -- in the strict sense: ducks, geese, swans -- are obviously more buoyant, and with the exception of the larger mergansers, obviously…
grrlscientist | October 16, 2008tags: Wood Duck, Aix sponsa, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Wood Duck, Aix sponsa, photographed at Hermann Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 January 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/160s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
What a sweet bird, friendly-looking and gentle! From near-extinction less than a century ago, this species has rebounded in its North American range to be the most abundant breeding duck…
grrlscientist | October 15, 2008tags: House Sparrow, English Sparrow, Passer domesticus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] House (English) Sparrow, Passer domesticus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2006 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2006:12:27 10:51:37
Exposure Time: 1/159
F-Number: 9.00
ISO: 400
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This is an oddly shaped bird. We might at first have thought it was an emberizid sparrow, all streaky and brown, but if we start at the rear, we find a strikingly inadequate…
grrlscientist | October 14, 2008tags: Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, photographed in Hermann Park Lagoon, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 December 2005 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/160s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This is a fine image of the bill color and pattern of Lesser Scaup: note how the jet black of the bill tip is strictly limited to the nail, with no "bleed" to the sides. The…
grrlscientist | October 13, 2008tags: Greater Scaup, Aythya marila, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Greater Scaup, Aythya marila, photographed in Oakland, California. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 December 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Push me into a corner and I guess I'd call this a Greater Scaup. The bill is very broad, and the black, though it doesn't reach the edge of the bill, does "bleed" outwards from the…
grrlscientist | October 12, 2008tags: Greater Scaup, Aythya marila, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Greater Scaup, Aythya marila, photographed at Oakland, California. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 December 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Another scaup to light my way to the fall! This bird's full nape continues without a break or notch to the high point of the crown, which is above or perhaps even slightly ahead of the…
grrlscientist | October 11, 2008tags: Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, photographed at Hermann Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 14 March 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
I wish that I could see the tail of this bird. But even without that, we can tell that we're looking at a diving duck: the head and body are clad in great monotone swaths rather…
grrlscientist | October 10, 2008tags: Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:04:16 08:46:29
Exposure Time: 1/319
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 320
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Start at the back, start at the back! We see a short-tailed bird with a long wingtip, and both wing and tail show yellow: simple feather edgings in the wing, but a significant basal patch in the tail. Off the…
grrlscientist | October 9, 2008tags: Inca Dove, Columbina inca, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Inca Dove, Columbina inca, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2005 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2005:03:26 18:18:03
Exposure Time: 1/25
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 800
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Aww! This bird just looks small and harmless, like a baby bird that's lost its momma (more about that below). That said, I'm at a momentary loss as to how I'd go about identifying it if I didn't know the species well…
grrlscientist | October 8, 2008tags: Lesnes Abbey flowers, London England, travel, Image of the Day
Lesnes Abbey wildflowers.
Lesnes Abbey is near London, England.
Image: David Warman June 2007 [larger view].
Read more about Lesnes Abbey.
grrlscientist | October 8, 2008tags: Peach-faced Lovebird, Agapornis roseicollis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Feral Peach-faced Lovebird, Agapornis roseicollis, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2008 [larger view].
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
It was a cold, windy day at New Jersey's Sandy Hook, and our teeth chattered and our eyes teared as we stood knee-high in snow, taking turns at the scope that held the image of a juvenile Gyrfalcon. Suddenly there came a jeering scream from the sky above us,…
grrlscientist | October 7, 2008tags: Lesnes Abbey flowers, London England, travel, Image of the Day
Lesnes Abbey flowers.
Lesnes Abbey is near London, England.
Image: David Warman June 2007 [larger view].
Read more about Lesnes Abbey.
grrlscientist | October 7, 2008tags: Snow Goose, Chen caerulescens, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Snow Goose, Chen caerulescens, photographed at Hermann Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 February 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/2500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Another white waterfowl. This is a biggish bird, heavy-headed and heavy-billed, and we should probably rule out Graylag before deciding that it is a North…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2008tags: Lesnes Abbey Tree, London England, travel, Image of the Day
Lesnes Abbey Tree.
Lesnes Abbey is a ruin near London, England.
Image: David Warman, June 2007 [larger view].
Read more about Lesnes Abbey.
grrlscientist | October 6, 2008tags: Ross's X Snow Goose, Chen hybrid, birds, nature, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ross's X Snow Goose, Chen hybrid, photographed at Coronado Lakes, Santa Fe, New Mexico. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 20 March 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
White waterfowl are an open trap for the unwary -- in many parts of the US, at many times of the year, the most abundant such bird is Mallard, many of…
grrlscientist | October 5, 2008tags: Redhead, Aytha americana, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Male Redhead, Aytha americana, photographed at Hermann Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 January 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/180s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Read an analysis for how to identify this species below the fold;
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Here's a puffy-headed Aythya with a uniformly reddish head -- a prominent feature that leads us directly to the…
grrlscientist | October 4, 2008tags: Canvasback, Aythya valisineria, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Canvasback, Aythya valisineria, photographed in southeastern Arizona in February [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Rick Wright [larger view].
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Steaming straight at us, this mystery bird is going to make it hard to apply our foolproof start-at-the-rear method. The head-on pose also puts paid to any attempt to identify it by picture-matching. This is one of those cases where a bird that is easy as can be in full field-…
grrlscientist | October 3, 2008tags: Black Skimmer, Rynchops niger, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Black Skimmer, Rynchops niger, photographed at Quintana and Bryan Beaches, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 September 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Another immature gull: abandon hope, abandon this quiz, and let's go do something useful! Persist, though, and we'll find some odd things about this bird that make it…
grrlscientist | October 2, 2008tags: Gull-billed Tern, Sterna nilotica, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Gull-billed Tern, Sterna nilotica, photographed at Bolivar Peninsula, Yacht Basin Road, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 May 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
This stunning portrait is readily identified as [that] of a Gull-billed Tern. All the usual field guide characters are on display, but all we really need to…
grrlscientist | October 1, 2008tags: fishing hole, River Orchy, Scottish highlands, Image of the Day
Fishing hole on the River Orchy in the Scottish Highlands.
Image: Dave Rintoul, Summer 2008 [larger view].