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Poor-will
The common poorwill (''Phalaenoptilus nuttallii'') is a nocturnal bird of the family Caprimulgidae, the nightjars. It is found from British Columbia and southeastern Alberta, through the western United States to northern Mexico. The bird's habitat is dry, open areas with grasses or shrubs, and even stony desert slopes with very little vegetation. Many northern birds migrate to winter within the breeding range in central and western Mexico, though some remain further north. The common poorwill is the only bird known to go into torpor for extended periods (weeks to months). This happens on the southern edge of its range in the United States, where it spends much of the winter inactive, concealed in piles of rocks. Such an extended period of torpor is close to a state of hibernation and is not known among other birds. Taxonomy The common poorwill was illustrated and formally described in 1844 by the ornithologist John James Audubon from a male specimen collected on the east ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whip-poor-will
The eastern whip-poor-will (''Antrostomus vociferus'') is a medium-sized (22–27 cm; 8.7-10.6 ins.) bird within the nightjar family, Caprimulgidae, from North America. The whip-poor-will is commonly heard within its range, but less often seen because of its camouflage. It is named onomatopoeically after its song. Description This medium-sized nightjar measures in length, spans across the wings and weighs . Further standard measurements are a wing chord of , a tail of , a bill of and a tarsus of . Adults have mottled plumage: the upperparts are grey, black and brown; the lower parts are grey and black. They have a very short bill and a black throat. Males have a white patch below the throat and white tips on the outer tail feathers; in the female, these parts are light brown. This bird is sometimes confused with the related chuck-will's-widow (''Antrostomus carolinensis'') which has a similar but lower-pitched and slower call. Ecology Eastern whip-poor-wills br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Ridgway
Robert Ridgway (July 2, 1850 – March 25, 1929) was an American ornithologist specializing in systematics. He was appointed in 1880 by Spencer Fullerton Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to be the first full-time curator of birds at the United States National Museum, a title he held until his death. In 1883, he helped found the American Ornithologists' Union, where he served as officer and journal editor. Ridgway was an outstanding descriptive taxonomist, capping his life work with ''The Birds of North and Middle America'' (eight volumes, 1901–1919). In his lifetime, he was unmatched in the number of North American bird species that he described for science. As technical illustrator, Ridgway used his own paintings and outline drawings to complement his writing. He also published two books that systematized color names for describing birds, ''A Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists'' (1886) and ''Color Standards and Color Nomenclature'' (1912). Ornitholo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nightjar
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tale that they sucked the milk from goats (the Latin for goatsucker is ''caprimulgus''), or bugeaters, their primary source of food being insects. Some New World species are called nighthawks. The English word "nightjar" originally referred to the European nightjar. Nightjars are found all around the world, with the exception of Antarctica and certain island groups such as the Seychelles. They can be found in a variety of habitats, most commonly the open country with some vegetation. They usually nest on the ground, with a habit of resting and roosting on roads. The subfamilies of nightjars have similar characteristics, including small feet, of little use for walking, and long, pointed wings. Typical nightjars, though, have rictal bristles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Ryder Dickey
Donald Ryder Dickey (1887–1932) was an American ornithologist, mammalogist, and nature photographer. He collected 50,000 specimens and produced 7,500 photographs and moving images of nature subjects. At his death, his collection of bird and mammal specimens was the largest private collection in the United States. Biography Donald Ryder Dickey was born on March 31, 1887 in Dubuque, Iowa, the son of Anna Roberts Ryder and Ernest May Dickey (superintendent of the Diamond Joe Steamship Line). In 1902, Dickey and his mother, also an avid naturalist, joined a Sierra Club group hiking King's River Cañon and climbing Mount Whitney. Others on this trip included John Muir, C. Hart Merriam, Dr. Henry Gannett, historian Theodore Hittell and landscape artist William Keith. Dickey entered the University of California in 1906, but received his B.A. degree (with honors) from Yale University in 1910. His collegiate society memberships included Psi Upsilon, Elihu, and Phi Beta Kappa. He wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewis And Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select group of U.S. Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. Clark and 30 members set out from Camp Dubois, Illinois, on May 14, 1804, met Lewis and ten other members of the group in St. Charles, Missouri, then went up the Missouri River. The expedition crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas near the Lemhi Pass, eventually coming to the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean in 1805. The return voyage began on March 23, 1806, at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, and ended on September 23 of the same year. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the expedition shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to explore and to map the newly acquired territory, to find a pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade with, and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon Country for the United States before European nations. They also collected scientific data, and information on indigenous nations. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1806. He died of gunshot wounds in what was either a murder or suicide, in 1809. Life and work Meriwether Lewis was born August 18, 1774, on Locust Hill Plantation in Albemarle County, Colony of Virginia, in the present-day community of Ivy. He was the son of William Lewis, of Welsh ancestry, and Lucy Meriwether, of English ancestr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1946 In Science
The year 1946 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. Astronomy * January 10 – The United States Army Signal Corps' Project Diana bounces radar waves off the Moon. * Reginald Aldworth Daly of Harvard University first proposes a giant impact hypothesis to account for formation of the Moon. Biology * November 10 – Peter Scott opens the Slimbridge Wetland Reserve in England. * December 2 – The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is signed in Washington, D.C. to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry" through establishment of the International Whaling Commission. * Karl von Frisch publishes "Die Tänze der Bienen" ("The dances of the bees"). * Edmund Jaeger discovers and later documents, in ''The Condor'', a state of extended torpor, approaching hibernation, in a bird, the common poorwill. Cartography * The Chamberlin trimetric projectio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuckwalla Mountains
The Chuckwalla Mountains are a mountain range in the transition zone between the Colorado Desert—Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert, climatically and vegetationally, in Riverside County of southern California. Geography The range spans about , running in a generally northwest-southeast direction. It is bordered to the north by Interstate 10 and the town of Desert Center, and to the south by the Bradshaw Trail and the Chocolate Mountains Aerial Gunnery Range. The highest point is Black Butte, elevation . The Chuckwalla Range is divided from the Little Chuckwalla Range by Graham Pass. The Orocopia Mountains are to the west, and Joshua Tree National Park is to the northwest. Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness Area Most of the mountains were designated by the Bureau of Land Management as thChuckwalla Mountains Wilderness Areain 1994. Motorized travel is allowed only on "cherry-stemmed" established roads. The Chuckwalla Mountains, near the San Andreas Fault, rise like an island ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Jaeger
Edmund Carroll Jaeger, D.Sc.,University of California, Riverside, Science Library (January 28, 1887 – August 2, 1983) was an American biologist known for his works on desert ecology. He was born in Loup City, Nebraska to Katherine (née Gunther) and John Philip Jaeger, and moved to Riverside, California in 1906 with his family. He was the first to document, in ''The Condor'', a state of extended torpor, approaching hibernation, in a bird, the common poorwill. He also described this in the ''National Geographic Magazine''. Life Jaeger first attended the newly relocated Occidental College in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles (in 1914), but moved to Palm Springs in 1915, where he taught at the one-room schoolhouse. At Palm Springs he met artist Carl Eytel,here for Table of Contents) and authors J. Smeaton Chase and Charles Francis Saunders. These men formed what University of Arizona Professor Peter Wild called a "Creative Brotherhood" that lived in Palm Springs in the early 20th century. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Thomas Moore
Robert Thomas ("R. T.") Moore (June 24, 1882 – October 30, 1958) was an American businessman, ornithologist, philanthropist, the founder and Editing, editor-in-chief of the Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards. In his obituary, Lionel Stevenson wrote, "Robert Thomas Moore was an exceptional amalgam of the poet, the scientist, and the man of affairs." Moore was the son of Henry D. Moore, a wealthy Philadelphia businessman. Moore earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1904 and an M. A. from Harvard University in 1905 in English literature. Moore's father was from Maine, and owned a family vacation camp at Big Benson, Maine, Big Benson. Moore purchased land on Borestone Mountain in Maine and began the Borestone Mountain Fox Company. The Company ran several Fur farming, fur farms that raised foxes for their pelts, which were used for fur clothing, fur garments. In 1921 the Borestone Mountain farm was referred to as "the leading ranch in North America". In the 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Four Corners region with Utah to the north, Colorado to the northeast, and New Mexico to the east; its other neighboring states are Nevada to the northwest, California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest. Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Historically part of the territory of in New Spain, it became part of independent Mexico in 1821. After being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase. Southern Arizona is known for its desert cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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