teaching
grrlscientist | June 14, 2009tags: Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor, photographed at Lake Thompson in Kingsbury County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 2 May 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
grrlscientist | June 13, 2009tags: Pectoral Sandpiper, Calidris melanotos, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pectoral Sandpiper, Calidris melanotos, photographed at Anahuac Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 May 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/180s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 12, 2009tags: Little Bee-eater, Merops pusillus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Little Bee-eater, Merops pusillus, photographed in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dan Logen, 6 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 mm VR lens at 400. ISO 250, 1/160, f/5
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 12, 2009tags: agribusiness, agriculture, dairy farm, cows, industrial dairy farm, milk, dairy products, streaming video
This is an interesting video of a modern mega-dairy farm, with "all" aspects visible to the public (well, I'll bet not all aspects are visible, since they don't show how sperm is collected, packaged and stored, nor do they show the process of artificial insemination). Visitors get a close up and personal view of the entire process, from the milking barns where they observe cows being milked and fed, and they even can witness live births. This mega-farm also recycles manure into…
grrlscientist | June 11, 2009tags: Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tympanuchus phasianellus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tympanuchus phasianellus, photographed at roughly 9am in the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana. [I will identify these birds for you tomorrow]
Image: Bardiac, 7 June 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 10, 2009tags: Northern Pygmy-Owl, Glaucidium californicum, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Northern Pygmy-Owl, Glaucidium californicum, photographed in Clallum County, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Marv Breece, 23 May 2009 [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D 1/2000s f/7.1 at 300.0mm iso400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 9, 2009tags: The Ant Whisperer, ants, hymenoptera, pheromones, EO Wilson, behavioral ecology, sociobiology, evolution, streaming video
Because I do not own a television, I was thrilled to find that Lord of the Ants, the Nova program that aired on PBS tonight, is freely available as a streaming video. This program describes some of EO Wilson's amazing discoveries about ant communication, behavioral ecology and evolution [52:23]
grrlscientist | June 9, 2009tags: Pangani Longclaw, Macronyx aurantiigula, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pangani Longclaw, Macronyx aurantiigula, photographed in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dan Logen, 30 August 2007 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 9, 2009tags: The Ant Whisperer, ants, hymenoptera, pheromones, EO Wilson, behavioral ecology, sociobiology, evolution, streaming video
If I owned a television, you can bet I'd be watching this Nova program on PBS tonight: The Lord of the Ants. This program describes some of EO Wilson's amazing discoveries about ant communication, behavioral ecology and evolution [3:40]
khannula | June 9, 2009I spent last Friday grading for my five-week summer class. It took about nine hours*, which wasn't that bad, considering that the main graded work consisted of papers.
I like making students write. It lets me see their thought processes, and helps me differentiate between the students who can repeat what they've heard and the students who think for themselves - something that I especially want to see from an upper-level gen ed class like this one. So I assign papers. But I usually end up regretting that later, and wish I could convince myself that multiple-choice exams were adequate for a…
pontiff | June 8, 2009Scenes from today's CSE 322 (introduction to formal methods in computer science) final:
grrlscientist | June 8, 2009tags: Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor, photographed at Anahuac Refuge, Texas. Are they all the same species? [I will identify these birds for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 May 2009 [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.
grrlscientist | June 7, 2009tags: Streaked-Back Oriole, Icterus pustulatus microstictus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Streaked-Back Oriole, Icterus pustulatus microstictus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 21 October 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:10:21 07:34:06
Exposure Time: 1/400
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 800
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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grrlscientist | June 6, 2009tags: Northern Harrier, Circus cyaneus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] female Northern Harrier, Circus cyaneus, photographed on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 26 November 2008 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 5, 2009tags: Swainson's Hawk, Buteo swainsoni, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Swainson's Hawk, Buteo swainsoni, photographed near Anahuac Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/1500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 5, 2009tags: Snickers Bar, candy bar, Kitchen Science, cloning food, Todd Wilbur, streaming video
Famous food cloner, Todd Wilbur, wraps his head with tape and attempts to duplicate the world's most popular candy bar [5:59]
grrlscientist | June 4, 2009tags: Townsend's Solitaire, Myadestes townsendi, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Townsend's Solitaire, Myadestes townsendi, photographed in Clallam County, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Marv Breece, 23 May 2009 [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D 1/2000s f/7.1 at 300.0mm iso400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 3, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, science, education
Nick with his potato gun,
on the downtown-bound A Train.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 June 2009.
Today as I was riding the A Train to the library so I could use their free wifi, I ran into Nick and his friend who are high school students in NYC. Their hobby is science. Physics, to be precise. In the above picture (blurry -- the train provides a very bumpy ride), you can see Nick with one of his physics experiments, a potato gun that he designed and built using PVC pipe. Since I have designed and built a few items from PVC myself (mostly…
grrlscientist | June 3, 2009tags: Sandwich Tern, Sterna sandvicensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Sandwich Tern, Sterna sandvicensis, photographed at Corpus Christi, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dan Logen, 2 May 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 2, 2009tags: Common Whitethroat, Sylvia communis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Common Whitethroat, Sylvia communis, photographed in Denmark. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Roger Tidman/ RSPB.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.