Hello Tweeties,

Yesterday's mystery bird was, as everyone correctly identified, a very cute piping plover, Charadrius melodus. I try to get a few easy bird IDs mixed in with some of the more challenging ones so everyone, even beginners, has a chance to be correct in their IDs, at least once in awhile. Thanks everyone for your responses. My readers really appreciate this!

Today's mystery bird is available for you to look at and identify;

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2008/09/another_mystery_bird_for_you_t.php

Incidentally, I added the "identify this bird" to my typical "image of the day" blog feature as an experiment to see if anyone wished to participate, and to learn whether my readers cared about this and were benefitting from it. The mystery birds have generated a fair amount of email from my readers (and even from some of your fellow listmembers) -- all positive, some effusive -- so I plan to continue this bird quiz indefinitely. Basically, until everyone gets sick of it. But it wouldn't happen without you and your detailed and careful responses, so thank YOU for taking the time to help educate the public about birds; they really enjoy your efforts!

And speaking of birding, here's a review I just published about the new Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America;

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2008/09/smithsonian_field_guide_to_the.php

cheers,

GrrlScientist
Devorah
http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/
Roosting high up a tree somewhere in Central Park, NYC