ornithology

tags: Rod-breasted Grosbeak, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, photographed in a Houston backyard in Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 21 April 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Based on this bird's beak shape, what sort of diet would you expect it to have? This bird primarily eats seeds, as indicated by the heavy beak and the angulated commissure (that…
tags: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, photographed at Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 8 April 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Gilded Flicker, Colaptes chrysoides, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Female Gilded Flicker, Colaptes chrysoides, photographed sitting on top of a blooming Saguaro cactus on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Terry Sohl, 8 May 2008 [larger view]. You are encouraged to purchase photographs from this photographer. I am happy to email his contact information to you. Canon 20D, 400 5.6L. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Sedge Wren, Short-billed Marsh Wren, Cistothorus platensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Sedge Wren, formerly known as the Short-billed Marsh Wren, Cistothorus platensis, photographed at Attwater Prairie Chicken Refuge, Eagle Lake, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 7 November 2009 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. If you can ID this species, can you also tell me what its former common name was and how it came by its new common name? Please name at…
tags: Black-faced Lourie, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, Corythaixoides personatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Black-faced Lourie, also known as the Bare-faced Go-away-bird, Corythaixoides personatus, photographed lying motionless in the afternoon sun in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Dan Logen, 17 January 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D300, 200-400 VR lens at 240 mm, ISO 500, f/8 1/1250 sec. As an added bonus, can you tell me what this bird is doing and why? Please name at least one field mark that supports…
tags: African Wattled Lapwing, Senegal Wattled Plover, Vanellus senegallus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] African Wattled Lapwing, also known as the Senegal Wattled Plover, Vanellus senegallus, photographed at the Kilombero River, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Dan Logen, 9 January 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D300, 600 mm lens. ISO 320, 1/1000 sec, f/7.1 Exposure compensation at 0. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Great Horned Owl, Tiger Owl, Bubo virginianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Great Horned Owl, also known as the Tiger Owl, Bubo virginianus, photographed on the roadside in the Edinburg, Texas in The Lower Rio Grande Valley. This valley occurs at the boundary between the United States and Mexico. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: ©JRCompton.com/birds: JR Compton, 2008. I encourage you to purchase photographs from this photographer. [larger view]. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. One of my goals for the…
tags: Tawny Fish-Owl, Bubo flavipes, Ketupa flavipes, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Tawny Fish-Owl, Bubo (Ketupa) flavipes, photographed at Corbett Tiger Reserve (also known as the Jim Corbett National Park), northeast of Delhi in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains of India. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: John Kneeshaw [larger view]. Canon EOS 40D with 300mmAF lens. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, sometimes known as the Red-breasted Grosbeak, Pheucticus ludovicianus, photographed in Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 April 2010 [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. Beginning birders: can you name the species?Intermediate birders: can you…
tags: Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, photographed in Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 April 2010 [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.
tags: Watch a National Geographic Bird Illustrator at Work, field guides, books, bird art, illustrator, National Geographic, Jonathan Alderfer, streaming video See harlequin ducks come alive on paper in this time-lapse video featuring National Geographic bird expert and illustrator Jonathan Alderfer.
tags: White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys photographed at Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 January 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/400s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. This sweet little bird was my "dissertation species" .. can you name it? There are several subspecies as well, each with slightly different habits and ranges .. maybe you can name…
tags: African Spoonbill, Platalea alba, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] African Spoonbill, Platalea alba, photographed in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Dan Logen, 22 January 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D300, 600 x 1.4, ISO 1000, 1/4000, f/9 Exp comp -1.3 As an added bonus, can you tell me about this bird's feeding habits, just from looking at it? Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: King Penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Immature King Penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus, photographed in unknown sub-Antarctic island location. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: creative commons. NOTE: PLEASE name at least one field mark that supports your identification. NOTE: Opus the Penguin, a fictional character in the comic strips Bloom County, Outland, and Opus, is a king penguin and the most famous character of the comic strips. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Brown Noddy, Common Noddy, Anous stolidus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Brown Noddy, also known as the Common Noddy, Anous stolidus, photographed on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Midway Island, Hawai'i. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joe Fuhrman, March 2010. I encourage you to purchase images from this professional photographer. NOTE: PLEASE name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Egyptian Goose, Alopochen aegyptiacus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Egyptian Goose, Alopochen aegyptiacus, photographed at the Main River, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: GrrlScientist, 14 April 2010 [larger view]. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. here's another look at this species, to give you an idea of the region of the bird that I was photographing (the wing, mostly). Review all mystery birds to date.
Yet another entry from the fieldguide (though substantially updated and enlarged)... What might be one of the strangest Cretaceous birds was described in 2004. I refer of course to Aberratiodontus wui of the Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, China. Named for a near-complete specimen, Aberratiodontus was regarded by its describers (Gong et al. 2004) as one of the most unusual of the enantiornithines or 'opposite birds' (though read on!). In keeping with the tradition of Linnaean taxonomy, they gave it its own eponymous 'family' and 'order' (these being 'Aberratiodontuidae' and '…
tags: Great Argus Pheasant, Argusianus argus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Great Argus Pheasant, Argusianus argus, photographed in the Senkenberg Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: GrrlScientist, 13 April 2010 [larger view]. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
Again, more recycled text from the Mesozoic bird section of the fieldguide... Alexornis antecedens from the Upper Cretaceous (?Campanian) La Bocana Roja Formation of Mexico was first described in 1976; its remains were discovered in 1971 by H. J. Garbani and J. Loewe. The bones they found - various elements from the shoulder, wing and leg - were tiny, and evidently from a bird similar in size to a modern finch [adjacent life restoration by Ken Kirkland, from Hilton (2003)] This discovery pre-dated the 1981 recognition of enantiornithines as a distinct group of Mesozoic birds (see the article…
tags: Dusky Kinglet, Ruby-crown, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Ruby-crowned Kinglet, also known as the Dusky Kinglet or as the Ruby-Crown, Regulus calendula, photographed on the Brazos Bend State Park, Needville, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 January 2010 [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.