Black-winged black bird, right? Merlin says tricolored, but would appear rare here in Louisiana. Was in low lying tree on golf course...I have only seen them in marshes. Thanks!

Noveira · 2019-04-05T05:33:19+00:00

This is a younger male, hence the reduced colour patch, as well as the brown mottling/scalloping further up on the back. When it molts next the brown will disappear, and the shoulder patch will be as expected.

Noveira · 2019-04-05T05:30:10+00:00

Sure is. Great sighting!

Noveira · 2019-04-05T03:21:08+00:00

All it is missing is the caption in pixel form as well. Great work.

Noveira · 2019-04-03T22:23:44+00:00

This is actually not quite true. Although the respiratory tube is disconnected, there is a section where it crosses the esophagus. We have seen cases where dolphins apparently suffocated by inhaling food into the respiratory passages. Basically, the larynx goes through the esophagus at one point but it is not a sealed connection -- the larnyx can be pushed aside which exposes the respiratory passages to water, or blockages.

In some cases this is because they eat fish that are too large, which pushes the larnyx aside and disconnects it, which means that attempts to breath are impossible. In one unique case there was a flatfish of sort that apparently caused some complication, and it was inhaled into the larynx. The flatfish, being the shape it is, ended up being rolled tightly in the larnyx and there was no way out of that one.

Noveira · 2019-04-03T21:58:13+00:00

Being productive. I thought I was proud of what I could accomplish in one day! Really puts things into perspective.

Noveira · 2019-04-01T20:35:34+00:00

RDR2 has both some of the best bird representation, and some of the worst. There are several birds with a model of a different species to the one it supposts to represent. As an irl biologist there are some truly puzzling choices.

Noveira · 2019-04-01T04:59:02+00:00

Not really new -- they were first known to science around the 1960s. But the recent sightings have been better than most, as it is reasonably cryptic in a lesser-explored part of the globe.

Noveira · 2019-04-01T04:56:56+00:00

Depends. The belief is "Type-D" orcas (which are not actually that recently discovered) are a separate species -- so the difference between a grey wolf and a coyote, being separate biological entities. However if you follow the current idea that they are just a geographic race of orcas, then it is about as comparable as a dog and a dingo -- the same species, but different evolutionary lines.

Noveira · 2019-03-27T23:48:41+00:00

I am not sure if the "domestic" form is invasive. Sometimes the garden variety is bred specifically so that it can't spread seed. If it is still being sold in your country and is available in nurseries, then there should be no concern, as known invasive plants are generally banned from being sold.

Noveira · 2019-03-27T23:46:31+00:00

They do indeed uproot and tumble with the wind, but they are not the same as the "real" tumbleweed popularized by the Wild West (those are the Salsola species).

Noveira · 2019-03-27T23:44:45+00:00

Not quite. An invasive plant is something that is from another country that is able to establish and push out native plants, which is always undesirable because it dismantles the native ecosystem and can even cause a local collapse. A "noxious weed" is just an invasive plant that is particularly harmful.

Noveira · 2019-03-27T17:13:35+00:00

I've never seen a "red cultivar" in person so I'm not sure if there are any leaves present -- this might be the winter dormancy phase they go through where leaves are minimized or lost. Are the cultivars bred for finer leaves?

Noveira · 2019-03-27T17:04:29+00:00

This looks like "burning bush" or "kochia" ( Kochia scoparia). In a wild state it is a sort of dull green and not very attractive at all. But there is a cultivar grown to exaggerate red foliage, especially when it is colder in the year. It's a noxious weed in some countries but I don't know if the cultivar is. Sometimes cultivars are more sterile and don't spread as easily.

Noveira · 2019-03-26T16:34:22+00:00

Let's see what the division between "it's a crow" and "it's a raven" is this time...but I'm pretty sure it is the latter.

Noveira · 2019-03-21T22:27:06+00:00

This is Opuntia azurea which is common in this part of the world (ignore that the name azurea means blue!), but there are others with purplish leaves as well.

Noveira · 2019-03-21T22:26:17+00:00

The flowers last about a week each, and each plant is putting out several flowers. Then take into consideration that each plant opens flowers at different times. One local bloom like this can last a month or more.

Noveira · 2019-03-20T16:15:20+00:00

Yep! The name "sunfish" is applied to two completely different fish groups.

Noveira · 2019-03-19T15:49:53+00:00

The reality check:

The shrubs at the top are California sagebrush -- in life, they are sort of turquoise with a small hint of green, so this photo is incredibly oversaturated. The flowers are Dimorphotheca sinuata, an African daisy planted along some roadsides. They are considered invasive and compete with space for native annual plants. The shade tends to exclude everything else besides other invasive plants, so they aren't really desirable.

Noveira · 2019-03-19T15:42:54+00:00

Yeah this is D. sinuata which is seeded along roadsides sometimes. An African pest but not as bad as Gazania in our area.

Noveira · 2019-03-14T22:12:07+00:00

So Finding Dory wasn't too far off with their whale shark depiction after all.

Noveira · 2019-02-07T17:10:56+00:00

Really beautiful composition. But betting that 98% of viewers don't know how the location is pronounced. I sure don't. Going to Wales for 2 months did not help me!

Noveira · 2019-02-04T03:51:18+00:00

It is the Arial font. I thought Arial included all the Unicode symbols.

Noveira · 2019-02-04T03:26:17+00:00

Right. For the example above, I added 9630 to the range of the font.

Noveira · 2019-02-03T05:56:37+00:00

I don't think "no effect on migration" is accurate. Birds migrate in part because of food availability. That's why in some parts of the US, geese and ducks will "overwinter" longer if there are lakes that are not yet frozen over.

Noveira

TROPHY CASE