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Gray-crowned Rosy Finch
The gray-crowned rosy finch or gray-crowned rosy-finch (''Leucosticte tephrocotis'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Fringillidae native to Alaska, western Canada, and the north-western United States. Due to its remote and rocky alpine habitat it is rarely seen. There are currently six recognized subspecies. It is one of four species of rosy finches. Taxonomy The gray-crowned rosy finch was first classified by English ornithologist William John Swainson in 1832. This bird has been thought to form a superspecies with three other rosy finches (also known as mountain finch): black rosy finch ''(L. atrata)'' and the brown-capped rosy finch ''(L. australis)'', all of which were classified as the same species as the Asian rosy finch ''(L. arctoa)'' from 1983–1993. Recent mitochondrial DNA evidence shows the rosy finches are all indeed very closely related and can be easily confused with one another. Along with one Asian rosy finch and two Asian mountain finches, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William John Swainson
William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of John Timothy Swainson the Second (1756–1824), an original fellow of the Linnean Society. He was cousin of the amateur botanist Isaac Swainson.Etymologisches Worterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen by H. Genaust. Review by Paul A. Fryxell ''Taxon'', Vol. 38(2), 245–246 (1989). His father's family originated in Lancashire, and both grandfather and father held high posts in Her Majesty's Customs, the father becoming Collector at Liverpool. William, whose formal education was curtailed because of an impediment in his speech, joined the Liverpool Customs as a junior clerk at the age of 14."William Swainson F.R.S, F.L.S., Naturalist and Artist: Diaries 1808–1838: Sicily, Malta, Greece, Italy and Brazil." G .M. Swainson, Palmerston, NZ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pribilof Islands
The Pribilof Islands (formerly the Northern Fur Seal Islands; ale, Amiq, russian: Острова Прибылова, Ostrova Pribylova) are a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of mainland Alaska, in the Bering Sea, about north of Unalaska and 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Cape Newenham. The Siberian coast is roughly northwest. About in total area, they are mostly rocky and are covered with tundra, with a population of 572 as of the 2010 census. Principal islands The principal islands are Saint Paul and Saint George. The former was named for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, on the day of which the island was first encountered by the Russian explorer Gavriil Pribylov; the latter was probably named for the ship sailed by Pribylov. The Otter and Walrus islets are near St. Paul. The total land area of all the islands is . The islands are part of the Bering Sea unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. Fur trade While oral traditions of the Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mustard Plant
The mustard plant is any one of several plant species in the genera ''Brassica'' and ''Sinapis'' in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family). Mustard seed is used as a spice. Grinding and mixing the seeds with water, vinegar, or other liquids creates the yellow condiment known as Mustard (condiment), prepared mustard. The seeds can also be pressed to make mustard oil, and the edible leaves can be eaten as Brassica juncea, mustard greens. Many vegetables are cultivated varieties of mustard plants; domestication may have begun 6,000 years ago. History Although some varieties of mustard plants were well-established crops in Hellenistic and Roman Empire, Roman times, Zohary and Hopf note, "There are almost no Archaeology, archeological records available for any of these crops." Wild forms of mustard and its relatives, the radish and turnip, can be found over West Asia and Europe, suggesting their domestication took place somewhere in that area. However, Zohary and Hopf conclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Echinops Exaltatus
''Echinops exaltatus'', the Russian globe thistle or tall globethistle, is European species of globe thistle in the family Asteraceae. It is native to central and eastern Europe from Germany and Italy east into Russia. The species has escaped cultivation and become established in the wild in scattered locations in eastern Canada and the northern United States. Description ''Echinops exaltatus'' is the largest of all globe thistles, a branching perennial herb up to 150 cm (60 inches or 5 feet) tall. One plant can produces several flower heads, each with a very nearly spherical array of white or pale blue disc florets but no ray florets The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w .... References exaltatus Flora of Europe Plants described in 1811 {{Cynareae-st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cutworm
Cutworms are moth larvae that hide under litter or soil during the day, coming out in the dark to feed on plants. A larva typically attacks the first part of the plant it encounters, namely the stem, often of a seedling, and consequently cuts it down; hence the name ''cutworm''. Cutworms are not worms, biologically speaking, but caterpillars. Feeding and hiding Cutworm larvae vary in their feeding behaviour; some remain with the plant they cut down and feed on it, while others often move on after eating a small amount from a felled seedling; such a wasteful mode of feeding results in disproportionate damage to crops. Cutworms accordingly are serious pests to gardeners in general, but to vegetable and grain farmers in particular. For example, it has been suggested that in South Africa for one, ''Agrotis segetum'' is the second worst pest of maize.Smit, Bernard, "Insects in South Africa: How to Control them", Pub: Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1964. Note that the cutworm mod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horned Lark
The horned lark or shore lark (''Eremophila alpestris'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found across the northern hemisphere. It is known as "horned lark" in North America and "shore lark" in Europe. Taxonomy, evolution and systematics The specific ''alpestris'' is Latin and means "of the high mountains", from ''Alpes'', the Alps. The horned lark was originally classified in the genus '' Alauda''. The horned lark is suggested to have diverged from Temminck's lark (''E. bilopha'') around the Early-Middle Pleistocene, according to genomic divergence estimates. The horned lark is known from around a dozen localities of Late Pleistocene age, including those in Italy, Russia, The United Kingdom and the United States. The earliest known fossil is from the Calabrian of Spain, around 1–0.8 million years old. In 2020, a 46,000 year old frozen specimen was described from the Russian Far East. Recent genetic analysis has suggested that the species consists of six clades ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lapland Longspur
The Lapland longspur (''Calcarius lapponicus''), also known as the Lapland bunting, is a passerine bird in the longspur family Calcariidae, a group separated by most modern authors from the Fringillidae (Old World finches). Etymology The English name refers to the long hind claws. The genus name ''Calcarius'' is from Latin ''calcaria'', "spurs", and the specific ''lapponicus'' refers to Lapland. Description The Lapland longspur is a robust bird, with a thick yellow seed-eater's bill. The summer male has a black head and throat, white eyestripe, chestnut nape, white underparts, and a heavily streaked black-grey back. Other plumages have a plainer orange-brown head, a browner back and chestnut nape and wing panels. Measurements: * Length: 5.9-6.3 in (15-16 cm) * Weight: 0.8-1.2 oz (22.3-33.1 g) * Wingspan: 8.7-11.4 in (22-29 cm) Distribution and habitat It breeds across Arctic Europe and the Palearctic and in Canada and the northernmost United States. It is migratory, winterin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snow Bunting
The snow bunting (''Plectrophenax nivalis'') is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae. It is an Arctic specialist, with a circumpolar Arctic breeding range throughout the northern hemisphere. There are small isolated populations on a few high mountain tops south of the Arctic region, including the Cairngorms in central Scotland and the Saint Elias Mountains on the southern Alaska-Yukon border, as well as the Cape Breton Highlands. The snow bunting is the most northerly recorded passerine in the world. Taxonomy The snow bunting was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the buntings in the genus ''Emberiza'' and coined the binomial name ''Emberiza nivalis''. He specified the locality as Lapland. It is now placed in the genus ''Plectrophenax'' that was introduced in 1882 by the Norwegian born zoologist Leonhard Stejneger with the snow bunting as the type species. The genus name ''P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scree
Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically have a concave upwards form, where the maximum inclination corresponds to the angle of repose of the mean debris particle size. The exact definition of scree in the primary literature is somewhat relaxed, and it often overlaps with both ''talus'' and ''colluvium''. The term ''scree'' comes from the Old Norse term for landslide, ''skriða'', while the term ''talus'' is a French word meaning a slope or embankment. In high-altitude arctic and subarctic regions, scree slopes and talus deposits are typically adjacent to hills and river valleys. These steep slopes usually originate from late-Pleistocene periglacial processes. Notable scree sites in Eastern North America include the Ice Caves at White Rocks National Recreation Area in southern Ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by humans, and is driven primarily by the availability of food. It occurs mainly in the northern hemisphere, where birds are funneled onto specific routes by natural barriers such as the Mediterranean Sea or the Caribbean Sea. Migration of species such as storks, turtle doves, and swallows was recorded as many as 3,000 years ago by Ancient Greek authors, including Homer and Aristotle, and in the Book of Job. More recently, Johannes Leche began recording dates of arrivals of spring migrants in Finland in 1749, and modern scientific studies have used techniques including bird ringing and satellite tracking to trace migrants. Threats to migratory birds have grown with habitat destruction, especially of stopover and wintering sites, as wel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in the southwestern United States. Depending on differing definitions between Canada and the U.S., its northern terminus is located either in northern British Columbia's Terminal Range south of the Liard River and east of the Trench, or in the northeastern foothills of the Brooks Range/ British Mountains that face the Beaufort Sea coasts between the Canning River and the Firth River across the Alaska-Yukon border. Its southernmost point is near the Albuquerque area adjacent to the Rio Grande rift and north of the Sandia–Manzano Mountain Range. Being the easternmost portion of the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are distinct from the tectonically younger Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada, which both lie farther to its west. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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