finchwench
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "finchwench" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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02:22 am
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FinchWench on Google Reader
I share with you the results of my hours upon hours of avian-specific web-surfing:
 FinchWench Shared Items.
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01:30 am
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Feed for FinchWench
Thanks to the kindness and concern of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) admiralmemo, there is syndication:
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) finchwench_wp
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03:35 pm
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Farewell, LJ: a migration is in order
Because of the advertisement shenanigans, I have moved on: http://finchwench.wordpress.com/
I do not believe that my readers should be required to log in or to install a Firefox plug-in in order to view my journal without the sight of beefcake (e.g. "Gain 15 lbs. of muscle in 30 days!) juxtaposed with Bulbulicious, while there are other options. I hope that the absurd policy will be retracted.
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02:51 am
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Some Reflections About Reflections
The Magpie (Pica pica) and Bulbulicious may have more in common than just a color scheme.
 |  | | © Helmut Prior et al. | 17 July 2008 |
The study by Prior et al. published last week has has prompted me to write of my Bulbuls.
I suspect that Bulbulicious recognizes herself in the mirror. This was not the case when she was quite young. Before she completed her first moult, her preoccupation with her reflection was sometimes accompanied by alarm ululations and even mild physical aggression. At least, any awkward moments with the mirror did not hold her attention for long. As she matured, I observed behavior similar to Gerti's visual explorations [3.89 MB].
( There is more. )
Press releases for the Magpie self-recognition study:
1. I, Magpie
2. Сороки Блещут Интеллектом
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03:21 am
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Zebra Finch Family: Chuck + Pippin
 + 
=  Clutch I - March 2008
=  ,  Clutch II - Late Spring 2008
( Chuck )
( Pippin )
( Pierre )
( Unnamed ♀ BC )
( Unnamed ♂ P BC )
Tags: family tree, zebrafinken
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12:59 pm
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This goose is not likely to fly like an Egyptian
Polydactyly seems not such a rarity compared to polymelia; nevertheless, here is a case of a third wing.
An exotic goose, identified as Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus), with an extra wing was found struggling on a golf course in Hollywood, Florida.
The condition rendered the goose unable to fly or even walk without dragging what seemed to be a third wing. The polymelia was corrected surgically by veterinarians at the SPCA Wildlife Care Center in Fort Lauderdale, who removed the extraneous growth.
Currently, the patient is being monitored in order to verify that subsequent surgery is not required for the goose to tuck in the wing during cursorial locomotion. Flight is not in the prognosis of this goose, even post-operatively, but rehabilitators hope that the goose can live comfortably in captivity.
There is a video supplement to the story.
Thanks to G.B. who circulated the news on the ASA Yahoo! group
Tags: in the news
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01:40 am
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Lesser Goldfinch
Carduelis psaltria
2 August 2008 on my balcony
( This is thistle sock success. )
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06:35 pm
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Polydactyl Parakeet
I saw a grey and polydactyl mutation of Indian Ringnecked Parakeet (Psittacula krameri manillensis) at a local bird store.
 
26 July 2008 at Our Feathered Friends
The extra claw extends from an extra phalange extending from digit 1 (viewable on the zygodacytly map).
( Whose toe is that? )
Tags: dactyly, market
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04:49 pm
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A king has been knighted
© Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
As first posted by drugoi, Sir Nils Olav, a King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus), of Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, has been knighted by Norwegian guardsmen.
The photographs are remarkable; the story is silly:
Nils himself was on his best behaviour throughout the ceremony -- apart from shortly before the sword ceremony, when -- perhaps suffering a bout of pre-knighthood nerves -- he deposited a discrete white puddle on the ground.
Yes, that can happen even to the most knightly of us.
Tags: in the news
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03:04 pm
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Some chatter about the new Chat: Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus
© Brian Schmidt
( another view )
Schmidt et al. announced and characterised the new species in Zootaxa yesterday.
The genus formerly considered monotypic, occupied only by the Forest Robin (Stiphrornis erythrothorax) is now recognized to be shared with the Olive-backed Forest Robin of Gabon. The new species does not yet have his own Wikipedia entry, but he did make the list already!
Birdchick has posted more details.
Tags: in the news
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12:09 am
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Lazuli Bunting
On my first full day at the AOU/COS/SCO Meeting, I, despite being incorrigibly nocturnal typically, awoke by 5:30 for a guided bird tour of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. There we identified many species including one as precious (or semi-precious) as its stone namesake:
Passerina amoena
 
6 August 2008
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02:11 pm
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AOU/COS/SCO 2008 Meeting
I have been away all week in Portland, OR at the AOU/COS/SCO 2008 Meeting. At first, I felt very misplaced there, but I soon found company.
1. I managed to to recognize ecologygirl from the photograph in her avatar. She introduced me to her colleague and said encouraging things after I professed my nervousness in such an unfamiliar environment.
2. I finally met Professor Kevin McGraw, whom I have been "stalking" for the past two years. We talked briefly about pterins. And he asked me "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I told him that I would like to remain in the field of physical sciences while indulging my interest in birds. With that, he offered to introduce me to Professor Richard O. Prum, whom for his work in demonstrating that structural coloration in birds is due to coherent scattering, I have long admired. Alas, Professor Prum departed early from the conference, before I had a chance to meet and greet him with all of my questions.
3. I recognized the surname on the name tag of Teresa Feo. At first, I only knew her name but I could not immediately recollect in which context I knew her name, and I was already excitedly approaching her before it occurred to me that she was one of the authors of the mechanical sonation study, of which I wrote before. Teresa Feo is an undergraduate, who by the time she secures a graduate advisor, will already have a first author publication. She introduced me to Chris Clark, the co-author and her graduate "mentor," who was very interested in determining the stiffness of the outer retrices of Anna's Hummingbirds. He offered to send me some surplus feathers with which to work. I am also grateful to him for agreeing to "preview" my presentation as a way of rendering my talk suitable for biologists.
4. I had a chance to ask Professor Kirk Klasing, author of one of the references in the previous post, about that mysterious Fe peak that we observed in EDX spectra of rhamphotheca of Toco Toucan and whether or not it could be diagnostic of hæmatochromatosis. I also asked him about research opportunities in Avian Sciences Graduate Group at his university.
5. At the student dinner, I shared with Chris Clark and Teresa Feo, the privelege of talking with Dr. Kimberly S. Bostwick, co-star of the Michael Jackson manakin footage, and former student of Professor Prum. She told engaging stories and had a lot of ideas, and I felt comfortable seated there in the cluster of mechanical sonation researchers. Dr. Bostwick assured me that I had "come to the right place."
This is a mere skeletal overview of the positive experience and encounters. I left Portland feeling motivated, excited, and hopeful about research opportunities for some kind of an engineer in ornithology.
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12:28 am
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Cuttlefish bone is neither a bone nor of a fish, but it is good for birds, in any case.
Cuttlebone has too much phosphorus . . .
( Have you read such before? )
It is wrong, simply. Cuttlefish bone is as suitable as eggshell as a calcium source. Maybe eggshell is supplied more inexpensively and conveniently in households where eggs are consumed liberally, but nutritionally, cuttlebone is not inferior.
( Here is why it is wrong. )
 EDX of Cuttlefish Bone taken using Oxford EDX attachment and Inca Software at the Nano3 facility of Calit2 at UCSD.
( We tried to correct someone who was wrong on the Internet. )
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02:52 pm
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Lolbulbuls for Ron Paul!
Tags: bulbulicious, lol
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02:31 pm
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Good Vibrations
I have been shaken and inspired by the earthquake of yesterday.
Syringeal muscles of songbirds are believed to be among fastest moving muscles in vertebrata.
As reported in the study by C.P.H. Elemens et al., in vivo electric potential measurements from syringeal muscles of Zebra Finches and European Starlings were found to be in phase with frequency modulations of song in excess of 200 Hz. In situ muscular stimulation produces frequency modulations in song. Furthermore, based on in vitro stimulation and response measurements, there is sexual dimorphism in Zebra Finch syringeal muscle performance as female muscle contraction time was found to be nearly twice that for male syringeal muscle contraction. Starling syringeal muscle performance was found to be monomorphic.
Male Anna's Hummingbirds "chirp" with their Tails.
Syringeal vibrations are not the only way to make some noise. High-speed video of the characteristic courtship "J-dive" of Anna's Hummingbird reveals that the "chirp" is mechanical sonation by vibration of the vane of outermost retrices. Furthermore, vane flutter frequency was found to be highly correlated to sonation frequency in the study conducted by C.J Clark and T.J. Feo. By removing retrices or the trailing (inner) or leading (outer) edges of the outermost retrices, researchers demonstrated that sonation was disabled in males whose trailing edges of the outermost retrices had been excised. By wind tunnel experiments, they verified that vibration frequency of the trailing vane was 3.3-4.7 kHz. Sonation by retrix vibration was also found to be at the least nearly 20 dB louder than syrinx vocalization. Researchers have shared audio and visual supplements in the university's press release. Also, there is mention of barbule linking barbs; more accurately, it is the barbicels linking barbules of barbs that would contribute to rigidity of the the vane. And contrary to the statement in the press release, removal of the leading vane of the outermost retrix did not completely disable sonation.
Australian Malurids might prefer French kissing.
Copulation in birds is often described, especially in the case of songbirds, as a "cloacal kiss," which appears to be a brief meeting of cloacas. In only 3% of birds, a phallus is observed. M. Rowe et al. in their study, have identified, in some species of Maluridae, a non-erectile muscular hydrostat at the tip of the cloacal protuberance. By histological analysis and optical microscopy, researchers characterized the appendage as a matrix of longitudinally oriented muscle fibre and connective tissue (e.g. collagen and elastin) having keratinised epithelium. Furthermore, among species in which mate-competition is more intense, or those in which extra-pair paternity rates are high, larger cloacal tips were observed. Despite the title the study, researchers did not verify that the this cloaca tip vibrates during or before copulation, but based on structure and muscle alignment, a single plane of motion is predicted.
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02:19 am
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New Build: Version 2.3
New developments (since Bulbulicious first made her womanhood known):
17 July 2008
I do not know if these are fertile. And while I have noticed some suspicious behavior,
Boris and Bulbulicious have been discrete about the extent of their physical relationship,
if any (unlike those randy Saffron Finches).
( Proprietary Information )
Tags: bulbulicious, nid, ova
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02:45 am
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Bad Birds, Bad Birds whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
 1. A Seagull allegedly inflicted three puncture wounds in a woman in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England.
2. A Seagull brutally assaulted a woman for her sandwich in South Shields,Tyne and Wear, England, and it is all caught on film!
3. Atheist Seagulls are dive-bombing the believers after church in Bodmin, Cornwall, England. I wonder if St. Francis of Assisi encountered such a problem.
4. Red-winged Blackbirds armed with beaks and claws are harrassing pedestrians and cyclists in Chicago, IL.
5. And most locally (at least from my perspective), a Brewer's Blackbird, I think, attacks by-passing students on UCSD campus in La Jolla, CA. I personally know one who has suffered one such attack! He described the incident as a "negative" encounter with birds.
And what else?
Tags: in the news, ucsd
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10:46 pm
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Hadeda Ibis: See the Rainbow
Bostrychia hagedash
22 February 2008 at Wildlife World Zoo
Contour feathers of Hadeda Ibis reflect light intensely at six distinct wavelengths ranging from near-ultraviolet (UV) to near infrared (IR), and up to four are within the range of visible (to humans) light, as reported by Brink and van der Berg (2004).
I am pleased that I am not the only one who has taken notice of this article!
( more details )
Tags: aviarimaterialia, zoopark
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05:02 pm
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More News to Swallow: Photos of "Marni and Barney"
Photos of the subjects of the conjoined Barn Swallows mentioned in the previous post have been released.
 
© AP Photo/Daily Citizen, Samuel Peebles
After Paul took the birds to the vet to have them X-rayed, it was discovered that they were connected only through a piece of skin and shared no organs, Paul said. At first, it appeared the birds had only three legs between the two of them, but it turned out one leg was not developed properly and was tucked underneath.
Rowe said the birds would have had to come from a double-yolk egg.
If they were the product of a double-yolked egg, then they would be dizygotic twins. Conjoined twins are typically defined as monozygotic since, in mammals, it is not that two embryos join, rather that one zygote fails to divide completely and two embryos result.
Tags: in the news, ova
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02:13 am
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Follow the Swallow
Roman sent this photo and told that the Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) was feeding the Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster). Hybridization of the two has been published.
By the way, conjoined Barn Swallows were reported this week. Photos and X-rays have not yet been released. Sadly, they did not survive their discovery, though it seems that they were only connected by integumentary and maybe muscle tissue.
Tags: in the news, rogers
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