The White-throated Dipper is about 18 centimetres (7.1 in) long, rotund and short tailed. The head of the adult (gularis and aquaticus) is brown, the back slate-grey mottled with black, looking black from a distance, and the wings and tail are brown. The throat and upper breast are white, followed by a band of warm chestnut which merges into black on the belly and flanks. The bill is almost black, the legs and irides brown. C. c. cinclus has a black belly band. (Wikipedia)
We saw this female leopard hiding in thick scrub. There had to be 25 vehicles waiting for her to come out. One by one they left, and our keen guide had his eye on her and said we should wait. When everyone gave up and left after about 90 minutes, she finally came out and walked about 10 minutes in the open to get to a lone tree where she had her kill from the night before well hidden in the branches. She posed for us and then came down the tree with her food and dragged it back to the scrub we first saw her where she had hidden 2 small cubs. We did not get a good glimpse of them, but she provided us with an amazing morning with her. It pays to sit and wait.
That's pretty close Mark! Thanks for a lead on the id... Will have to do some research on this one.
Mapping Nature on Your Smartphone
For the developers at New York start-up Networked Organisms, smartphones are the butterfly nets of the 21st Century. Their tool, Project Noah, lets people upload photos of plants and wildlife around them, creating a map of the natural world and contributing to scientific research in the process.
What kind of beetle? This app knows
Bespectacled scientists of yore would carry around hefty field guides, made up of hundreds of pages of text and photos. But these days, smartphone owners have a lighter option: an app called Project Noah, which aims to help people identify plants and animals as well as collect data from "citizen scientists" about where certain species are located.
Designing ecosystems for talent development
Project Noah enables us to be part of a more focused online community where we can learn more about wildlife around us and contribute to scientific research. It pulls participants into deeper, more meaningful engagement by enabling people to go on “missions” to collectively map changes based on sightings.
A smart way to save wildlife
A modern invention that may also hold the key to saving species in the future. Project Noah is a global study that encourages nature lovers to document the wildlife they encounter, using a purpose built phone app and web community. In addition to the virtual "collection" of species, Project Noah encourages citizen science by linking up with existing surveys including the International Spider Survey and the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.
Dial-a-Class
New mobile applications include a tool called NOAH that lets you take cellphone pictures of bugs and trees and then sends back an identification of the exact type in as little as 24 hours.
