Lauren's Life Book

This is my life book- a place to collect a list in pictures of the different forms of life I have seen. I have tried to include the date/time/location of each subject. This list might be heavy on the birds because they are my current interest, but there will be other things featured as well. Some of the pictures are great, and some not so great- I never know when I'll come across something interesting and sometimes all I have is my camera phone on hand to capture an image.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)

I saw this plover in a rather interesting cage in the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts, on the afternoon of March 14, 2011. The cage was really interesting, with a view of downtown Boston (seen in the second picture). These birds nest on the ground, and because of that they have developed an interesting distraction display of pretending to have a broken wing when perceived predators come close to their nest. You can read more about and see an example of distraction displays here, and can read more about the semipalmated plover here.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus)

I saw this African Penguin at the New England Aquarium in downtown Boston sometime around March 14, 2011 in the afternoon. There was a penguin exhibit that featured these penguins and some rockhopper penguins and little blue penguins. They were interesting to observe as a group. The most unique thing about these flightless birds is that they use their wings to swim in the water. You can read more about them and watch one swim here, and you can read more about the exhibit at the aquarium here.