hello everyone,

today's mystery bird is one that confuses birders (especially those in Illinois) on a regular basis, so I was sent some pictures to help improve people's ID skills, just in time for the upcoming Christmas Bird Counts;

http://bit.ly/4B1HWh

the most recently demystified mystery bird was a Crested Caracara, Polyborus plancus, courtesy of the wonderful photographer Joseph Kennedy;

http://bit.ly/4yiM0O

i also want to thank everyone who has been helping me help impoverished classrooms throughout America! I sent email to some friends and they have kicked in more money -- if I raise a minimum of another $514 by Sunday, my DonorsChoose Challenge will qualify for an additional $2000 in matching funds from Hewlett-Packard to help improve education throughout the United States;

http://bit.ly/xJJhY

And since I couldn't have done this without you, I will be consulting my donors for their suggestions for how to disperse these funds to more DonorsChoose projects if we manage to qualify for them. I am especially pleased that the "For the Birds!" project that I adopted as my special funding challenge has received so much money. At this moment, they only need a mere $190 to buy a full set of binoculars for a classroom of 30 impoverished inner-city fifth graders! As a surprise bonus, because of a mix-up at the post office, Princeton University Press sent me an extra set of their newest hot-off-the-presses birds of North America field guides so I am giving these books as prizes specifically to my "For the Birds!" donors.

You might also be interested to know that roughly one-third of my DonorsChoose donors are from overseas! So helping American kids improve their education is important to a lot of people in Europe, Asia and Canada as well as in America.

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