ornithology
grrlscientist | April 4, 2008tags: birds, American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". This is the last image in a series of five.
American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
The photographer, Jerry Kram, writes;
I know I've sent you a goldfinch before. But they are one of my favorite birds.
My father loved goldfinches. He called them wild canaries. He told me that as a child during the Great Depression he and his friends would try to catch them (uniformly unsuccessfully)…
grrlscientist | April 3, 2008tags: birds, Eastern wood-peewee, Contopus virens, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". This is the fourth image in a series of five.
Eastern Wood-Pewee, Contopus virens.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
The photographer, Jerry Kram, writes;
This peewee hung around our group on a camping trip in Northern Minnesota. I love it when the subjects of my photos come to me instead of having to trek over hill and dale.
grrlscientist | April 2, 2008tags: migrating sandhill cranes, Grus canadensis, Platte River, birds, birding, bird watching
Sign about the Platte River in Nebraska.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2008. [wallpaper size].
This past weekend, Dave, Elizabeth and I drove from Manhattan, Kansas to the Platte River in next-door Nebraska to see the migrating sandhill cranes, Grus canadensis. These flocks of migratory cranes are a mixture of greater and lesser sandhill cranes along with some hybrids between these two subspecies, often referred to as intermediate sandhill cranes. (There also are sedentary subspecies of sandhill cranes,…
grrlscientist | April 2, 2008tags: birds, American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". This is the third image in a series of five.
American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
The photographer, Jerry Kram, writes;
Ah the pelican, whose beak can hold more than its bellican. A few years ago, there was a major dispersal of pelicans from their largest nesting area in North America, the Chase Lake NWF. It caused some concern at the time because a lot of…
grrlscientist | April 2, 2008tags: European starling flock, birds, behavior, streaming video
This streaming video shows what happens when a large flock of starlings decides to roost in a small red cedar tree -- it bends over and then, when they fly away, it snaps back. [1:40]
grrlscientist | April 1, 2008tags: birds, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". This is the second image in a series of five.
Chestnut-sided warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
The photographer, Jerry Kram, writes;
Warblers are hard to to photograph, especially after trees have leafed. I consider myself lucky to catch this fellow swathed in a halo of oak American elm leaves.
grrlscientist | March 31, 2008tags: birds, Western kingbird, Tyrannus verticalis, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". This is the first image in a series of five.
Western kingbird, Tyrannus verticalis.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
The photographer, Jerry Kram, writes:
I love these birds because when I was growing up a flock of grackles started nesting in the shelterbelt around the house and chased away many of the robins and other perching birds. That limited my window birding opportunities until a pair of highly aggressive…
grrlscientist | March 31, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Female Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata,
in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the Southern Yucatan
in the state of Campeche. They are endemic to the region
and are known locally as both Pavo Ocelado or Guajalote Ocelato.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
Birds in Science
If you read nothing else in this issue of Birds in the News, then this is the story to read. A serious affliction has been observed in birds in the Pacific Northwest, including Alaska, British Columbia and Washington state; Long-billed Syndrome…
tetrapodzoology | March 29, 2008
I've mentioned on and off lately that Tet Zoo the book is now go. The manuscript is complete, and right now (when not working on other things) I'm dealing with the editorial tidying-up. The book won't, I'm sorry to say, be anything technically new: it's simply a compilation of the better articles from Tet Zoo ver 1, arranged chronologically. And, because of word-count, it only incorporates articles going up to September 2006, so there's still tons of stuff that can be used for later books (should book 1 prove popular enough that others are worthwhile)...
Adapting Tet Zoo articles for a book…
grrlscientist | March 28, 2008tags: LBJ Journal, avian life: literary arts, nature, poetry, birds, birding
I have no connection whatsoever to this new journal, but my friend, professor of poetry at KSU, Elizabeth Dodd, told me about it last night, and I am very very excited about it.
There is a new biannual journal that is dedicated to birds and creative writing, The LBJ: Avian Life, Literary Arts. Those of you who are birders will recognize the title of this new journal, LBJ, as the birders' acronym for "little brown job" -- a name applied to that group of small brown birds that move quickly and are difficult to…
grrlscientist | March 25, 2008tags: birds, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger view].
By the time this image pops up, I will be meeting my hosts, Dave and Elizabeth, at the Kansas City, MO, airport. I'll probably be dragging my dufflebag along, while carrying my precious laptop, digital camera, and binoculars -- all crammed into the super-strong computer bag that I have packed them into. Hopefully, the airlines will treat me well and will allow me to pre-board each flight (I switch planes in Detroit -- another…
grrlscientist | March 24, 2008tags: birds, Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe, ornithology, Image of the Day
Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger view].
With any luck, by the time you are looking at this image, I will have finished running around the city trying to get last minute tasks completed, such as buying food for my birds, cleaning my birds as much as possible (I've given up on cleaning my apartment and caved-in bathroom so both are complete disasters), doing my looong-overdue laundry (I have no idea how I will do this one-handed since it involves hauling a mountain of dirty clothes…
grrlscientist | March 24, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Wilson's snipe, Gallinago delicata. It is a little unusual to see a shorebird off the the ground, but this fellow decided he needed a higher perch to take in some of the scenery.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
Birds in Research
The songs that each spring announce when birds are ready to compete for homes and sex have been traced to changes in the brain, according to a study that can shed new light on winter depression in people. While some birds, such as robins, sing throughout the winter, other species of bird…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2008tags: birds, Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, in Central Park,
with blood on its talons.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger view].
Bob Levy writes;
I have two comments and images to add to my story of March 10, 2008 entitled "A Bulging Photo Opportunity" about a female juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. The first concerns a sassy if imprudent Gray Squirrel. Over a period of several minutes the furry creature deliberately came with a couple of yards of the hawk. I cannot know its motivation but to this observer it…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2008tags: birds, Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, in Central Park,
being taunted by an Eastern grey squirrel.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
Bob Levy writes;
I have two comments and images to add to my story of March 10, 2008 entitled "A Bulging Photo Opportunity" about a female juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. The first concerns a sassy if imprudent Gray Squirrel. Over a period of several minutes the furry creature deliberately came with a couple of yards of the hawk. I cannot know its motivation but to…
grrlscientist | March 21, 2008tags: birds,California Condor, Gymnogyps californianus, ornithology, Image of the Day
California condor, Gymnogyps californianus, #97,
flying over Bright Angel Lodge at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, August 2006.
Image: Jeff Lanam. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 20, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, dog walking, wild birds, ground-nesting birds, conservation, peer-reviewed research
Dog walking in natural areas harms wild birds, according to recently published research.
Millions of people walk their dogs every day, and many of them enjoy walking their dogs in natural areas where birds and other wild animals live. Unfortunately, a scientific paper was recently published showing that the presence of dogs, even when they are on a leash in these natural areas, seriously interferes with wild birds' reproductive success and even scares many of them away.
This…
grrlscientist | March 20, 2008tags: birds,Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata, ornithology, Image of the Day
Male Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata,
in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the Southern Yucatan
in the state of Campeche. They are endemic to the region
and are known locally as both Pavo Ocelado or Guajalote Ocelato.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 19, 2008tags: birds,Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata, ornithology, Image of the Day
Female Ocellated Turkey, Meleagris ocellata,
in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the Southern Yucatan
in the state of Campeche. They are endemic to the region
and are known locally as both Pavo Ocelado or Guajalote Ocelato.
Image: Kevin Sharp. [larger size].
grrlscientist | March 18, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, birds, aves, ornithology, Zosterops somadikartai, Togian white-eye, Indonesia, Sulawesi
An undated artist's rendering of Zosterops somadikartai, or Togian white-eye.
This small greenish bird that has been playing hide-and-seek with ornithologists on a remote Indonesian island since 1996, but was declared a newly discovered species on March 14, 2008 and promptly recommended for endangered lists.
Image: Agus Prijono.
Sharp-eyed scientists have discovered a new species of bird on a remote Indonesian archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean. A formal description…