hello everyone,

birds in the news is available for you to read and enjoy. this edition features a stunning painting of a magpie by artist Pete Marshall, whose work is included in the "Birds in Art" show, which is one of the stories mentioned in this edition of BitN;

http://bit.ly/143n9D

today's mystery bird is a common North American species, but the image is such that it forces you to focus on several field marks, so it is a challenging picture from which to make an ID, but i think you can do it;

http://bit.ly/Jifj7

the most recently demystified mystery bird was a male Coqui Francolin, Francolinus coqui, a bird with lovely and striking plumage patterning that is kept and bred in captivity;

http://bit.ly/38fv3g

i also linked to very well-made video about the Tree of Life project. This video features an interview with one of the UWash professors whom i worked with while a grad student, Scott Edwards (who now is at Harvard University), and provides a brief glimpse into work that is just like my postdoc research into the evolution of parrots of the South Pacific;

http://bit.ly/Jifj7

the second part of this video will appear tomorrow.

i am very excited to report that, thanks to a generous donor, one of my DonorsChoose Challenge projects was fully funded! i added two more projects to my Challenge, including one that should appeal to birders who are trying to encourage greater ethnic and socioeconomic diversity among bird watchers;

http://j.mp/qfaT1

the birding project can be viewed here;

http://j.mp/x9riH

please do donate, even if it's just $5, to help kids in impoverished classrooms improve their science education.

cheers,

GrrlScientist
http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/
http://twitter.com/GrrlScientist
http://profile.to/grrlscientist/
$upport science education for America's kids http://j.mp/qfaT1
Roosting high up a tree somewhere in Central Park, NYC