hello tweeties,

the most recently demystified mystery bird, courtesy of Richard Ditch, is a young (probably male) Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna, and is accompanied by yet another insightful analysis by our favorite birding instructor, Rick Wright;

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/03/todays_mystery_bird_for_you_to_164.php

today's mystery bird, which is not usually found in North America, is courtesy of Dr. Dennis Paulson;

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/03/todays_mystery_bird_for_you_to_212.php

Today, Conservation International released images of some of the 56 new species of animals found during their 2008 expedition to several previously unexplored regions of "the lost world" of Papua New Guinea, the "evolutionary home" for my research birds;

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/03/56_new_species_discovered_on_r.php

and yes, this is off-topic, but you might also be interested to learn that there are several scientific teams that are actively investigating the evolution and biogeographic history of Africa's handsome "squeaker" catfishes, Synodontus species;

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/03/evolution_of_african_synodonti.php

thanks to a reader (see comments thread), this blog entry includes a fascinating video of one member of the genus, the cuckoo catfish, S. multipunctatus -- the only documented catfish-y brood parasite in the world.

isn't the natural world amazing?!

cheers,

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