#tapaculos

[j-biedma-de-ubeda]

ROSAS

Para Mortimer, que me pasó la flor al son / de su geométrica frustración / con superficiales tensiones

"Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus." Umberto Eco

La rosa, más que una flor, es un emblema poético, es bandera del jardinero y otro nombre de lo efímero bello (Ronsard, Allons voir si la rose / que se matin avait declose...), metáfora del amor con sus pétalos aterciopelados para el tacto, su fragancia para el olfato, ¡y con sus espinas para la frustración y el desamor!...

Así en Juan Ramón Jiménez:

LA ÚNICA ROSA Todas las rosas son la misma rosa, amor, la única rosa. Y todo queda contenido en ella, breve imajen del mundo, ¡amor!, la única rosa.

Rosa de otoño

Incluso congeladas, momificadas por los fríos del otoño, resultan hermosas. "Donde hubo, algo queda"...

Juan Ramón no duda de que el nombre de esta flor sea el exacto, el que el poeta busca, así lo deja dicho en Eternidades, en el poema titulado "El nombre de las cosas":

Intelijencia, dame / el nombre exacto de las cosas. / Que mi palabra sea / la cosa misma / creada por mi alma nuevamente. Por mí todos los mundos, / todos los siglos, / todos los espíritus, / son nuevamente míos, / con la gracia creadora / de mi divina lengua. Yo siento la raíz / de la palabra pura. / Yo siento que la rosa / vuelve intacta / de su olvido de nombre / a mi labio.

Todas las rosas, incluso aquellas sin espinas que busca el arte del jardinero y la ciencia del biotecnólogo, proceden de la humilde rosa canina, flor humilde, silvestre de cinco pétalos, cuyos frutos, llamados escaramujos o tapaculos (supongo que por sus servicios contra colitis y diarreas) son ricos en vitamina C (más aún que los cítricos), por lo que con ellos se elaboran mermeladas, bebidas, infusiones, salsas y licores.

Rosa canina y escaramujos

Tensiones florales

Pero las rosas también deslumbran al frío intelecto del matemático porque, durante años, la llamada Incompatibilidad de Gauss sirvió de paradigma para explicar la forma que adoptan, o sea cómo las plantas enfrentan la tensión entre el conato de su crecimiento y el medioambiente con sus inflexible ley de gravedad y sus cambiantes circunstancias meteorológicas. Así, cuando una hoja o un tejido vegetal crece más en unas zonas que en otras, se curva o se arruga para liberar esa tensión, como ocurre en los bordes de una lechuga o incluso en la carne de una zanahoria recién cortada. Pero, mire usted por donde..., ¡las rosas no siguen ese patrón! Son excepcionales, y no sólo por su belleza.

"Sublime frustración"

Un estudio reciente demuestra que los pétalos de la rosa no se explican por la Incompatibilidad de Gauss, sino que responden a un conjunto de ecuaciones más complejas: las de Mainardi-Codazzi-Peterson (cfr. la revista Science).

Rosa mística

Lo fascinante es que estas ecuaciones no solo explican cómo una superficie debe flexionarse suavemente para evitar rupturas, sino que, en el caso de las rosas, revelan un tipo de "frustración geométrica" hasta ahora inédito en la naturaleza.

El gran Goethe ya se dio cuenta de que la hoja es la forma primordial (arquetipo) de la planta, y que todas las demás partes (cáliz, corola, estambres, pistilos, etc.) son transformaciones o metamorfosis de la hoja. ¿Por qué no podría devenir el humán bestia, demonio, ángel...?

La belleza de los pétalos de las rosas, esos bordes puntiagudos emergen de un crecimiento inicial aparentemente simétrico, que no es fruto del azar ni de una mutación genética, son resultado de una tensión interna invisible que, sin modificar las proporciones básicas, fuerza la materia a adoptar formas inéditas. Es como si la flor, en su afán por ser bella, torciese las reglas matemáticas para lograrlo.

Este hallazgo reconfigura lo que sabíamos sobre morfogénesis vegetal y abre nuevas vías para la ingeniería de materiales, pues, si logramos imitar esta nueva incompatibilidad geométrica, podríamos diseñar estructuras que cambien de forma precisa sin necesidad de alterar sus dimensiones, algo con aplicaciones revolucionarias en robótica, medicina o arquitectura.

La araña cangrejo acecha entre pétalos escarlatas

Pero más allá de la utilidad técnica, este descubrimiento invita a una reflexión más profunda: la naturaleza no siempre se ajusta a nuestras explicaciones. Por muy avanzadas que sean nuestras ecuaciones, siempre puede aparecer una rosa para demostrarnos que la belleza, a veces, nace de romper las reglas. O, ¿no será acaso que las inventa?

Intimidades de la rosa

Nietzsche hubiera gozado con estas "revelaciones" matemáticas, tanto si son descubrimientos como si sólo son invenciones "humanas demasiado humanas" (meros e interesados antropomorfismos, como él pretendía), pues parecen no obstante confirmar la apuesta por un Demiurgo artista. Las rosas prestan testimonio veraz a favor del mundo como fenómeno estético. Dionisio y Apolo juegan una interminable partida de ajedrez, en la que todas las piezas se renuevan en una eterna Vuelta de lo Mismo.

La paradoja es que no hay en la eternidad instante que se repita, ni identidad que no sea imaginaria.

Rosas de pitiminí

"La rosa primigenia existe sólo en su nombre, sólo nos quedan nombres desnudos." (Umberto Eco, fin de El nombre de la rosa)

Es prueba de que sólo las formas puras sobreviven, no así los efímeros individuos que las encarnan.

[birdstudies]

November 30, 2024 - Blackish Tapaculo (Scytalopus latrans) These tapaculos are found in forests, bamboo, scrub, and swampy areas in the Andes from western Venezuela through Colombia and Ecuador into northern Peru. Foraging on or near the ground, they feed on small arthropods. They build ball-shaped nests in natural or excavated cavities in earthen banks covered in moss and ferns. Both parents probably feed the chicks.

[best-bird-tournament]

Scytalopus tapaculo - round 1, section 3

[alonglistofbirds]

[2953/11080] Diamantina tapaculo - Scytalopus diamantinensis

Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Tyranni Family: Rhinocryptidae (tapaculos)

Photo credit: Ciro Albano via Macaulay Library

[sitting-on-me-bum]

The Ocellated Tapaculo: An Icon of the Andean Forests

BY LIBOR VAICENBACHER

[thedayforgives]

Hello!!

Whats your favorite species of bird? (Or top [insert number here] if you can't decide) And why? :0

This is SUCH a delightful ask!! Thank you anon!!

I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite (I tried. I failed.) but here are my top three for now. This will probably change. I tend to be most delighted by whichever bird I’m looking at hehe (these three are all North American birds! I’m predisposed to fondness because I get to see these birds with my own two eyes!)

1. Gray Catbird (dumatella carolinesis) - these are such expressive little darlings!! They’re a type of mockingbird, so they can mimic a whole bunch of other birdsongs, but they also have a very distinctive call that sounds like a cat’s meow!!

2. Osprey (pandion haliaetus) - people build these nesting platforms for osprey, and they’re such a striking thing. From below, it looks like a pile of sticks balanced precariously on a telephone pole. Pesticides were super harmful to population numbers, but they’ve rebounded (whee!! Yay!!) Also, the adult birds look badass and the chicks look like weird baby dinosaurs and I love them :)

3. White-breasted nuthatch (sitta carolinesis) - they like to walk upside down on the sides of trees! And they’re just so impossibly cute to me. Watch a video of one of these little fluffballs skittering about and tell me you don’t think that’s adorable. They also like to hang out around titmice and chickadees, with the other birds acting as their little birdy bodyguards.

Anon thank you for this question I’m thinking about birds now. I love birds

[squawkoverflow]

A new variant has been added!

Pale-bellied Tapaculo (Scytalopus griseicollis) © Andres Cuervo

It hatches from bright, eastern, other, plain, small, and tawny eggs.

squawkoverflow - the ultimate bird collecting game          🥚 hatch    ❤️ collect     🤝 connect

[proton-wobbler]

Loser's Bracket, Poll 1

Image Sources: Tapaculo (Pio Marshall); Chachalaca (Rolando Chavez); Tern (Kalong Huang); Dickcissel (Marc Favre)

[rynli]

everyone look at this guy I found on ebird

[seuncreative]

Hidden Wonders: Unveiling Five Lesser-Known Birds of the Amazon Rainfore...

[herpsandbirds]

Can you show us the weirdest animal in Mexico?

Paxon:

Why yes! I have posted this long ago, but it's time to show them off again!!!

Mexican Mole Lizard (Bipes biporus), family Bipedidae, endemic to the Baja California peninsula of Mexico

This 2 limbed lizard is fossorial (burrowing underground). They breed and lay their eggs underground.

It is one of only 3 amphisbaenians that have limbs.

They are the pinkest when young, and turn whiter as the mature.

Though they are rarely seen, they may actually be quite common in their range.

As with many burrowing creatures shaped like this (such as legless lizards and caecilians), there is a belief among some local people that they enter the anuses of people who defecate outside… this is, of course, not true. (Many of these animals are called “tapaculo”).

photos by Carl J Franklin, Dante Fenolio, & Mike Pingleton

photograph by Adam G. Clause

[tenth-sentence]

The Chilotans assuredly have chosen a most comical little creature for their prophet.

"Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, 1832-36" - Charles Darwin

[best-bird-tournament]

Scytalopus tapaculo - round 1, section 2

[alonglistofbirds]

[2951/11080] Diademed tapaculo - Scytalopus schulenbergi

Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Tyranni Family: Rhinocryptidae (tapaculos)

Photo credit: Timo Mitzen via Macaulay Library

[bestanimal]

Round 3 - Reptilia - Passeriformes

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Our last, and largest, order of birds are the Passeriformes, collectively known as “passerines” or “perching birds.” This huge, diverse order contains more than half of all bird species. It includes the families… *deeeep breath*…

Acanthisittidae (“New Zealand wrens”), Philepittidae (“asities”), Eurylaimidae (“typical broadbills”), Calyptomenidae (“African and green broadbills”), Sapayoidae (“Sapayoa”), Pittidae (“pittas”), Melanopareiidae (“crescentchests”), Conopophagidae (“gnateaters”), Thamnophilidae (“antbirds”), Grallariidae (“antpittas”), Rhinocryptidae (“tapaculos”), Formicariidae (“antthrushes”), Furnariidae (“ovenbirds”), Pipridae (“manakins”), Cotingidae (“cotingas”), Tityridae (“tityras”), Oxyruncidae (“Sharpbill”), Onychorhynchidae (“royal flycatchers” and “myiobiuses”), Tyrannidae (“tyrant flycatchers”), Atrichornithidae (“scrubbirds”), Menuridae (“lyrebirds”), Climacteridae (“Australasian treecreepers”), Ptilonorhynchidae (“bowerbirds”), Pomatostomidae (“Australo-Papuan babblers”), Orthonychidae (“logrunners”), Acanthizidae (“Australian warblers”), Meliphagidae (“honeyeaters”), Maluridae (“Australasian wrens”), Dasyornithidae (“bristlebirds”), Pardalotidae (“pardalotes”), Cinclosomatidae (“quail-thrushes” and “jewel-babblers”), Campephagidae (“cuckooshrikes” and “trillers”), Mohouidae (“whiteheads”), Neosittidae (“sittellas”), Psophodidae (“whipbirds” and “wedgebills”), Eulacestomatidae (“Wattled Ploughbill”), Falcunculidae (“shriketits”), Oreoicidae (“Australo-Papuan bellbirds”), Paramythiidae (“painted berrypeckers”), Vireonidae (“vireos”), Pachycephalidae (“whistlers”), Oriolidae (“Old World orioles”), Machaerirhynchidae (“boatbills”), Artamidae (“butcherbirds” and “woodswallows”), Rhagologidae (“Mottled Berryhunter”), Malaconotidae (“bushshrikes”), Pityriasidae (“Bornean Bristlehead”), Aegithinidae (“ioras”), Platysteiridae (“wattle-eyes”, “batises”, and “shrike-flycatchers”), Vangidae (“vangas”), Rhipiduridae (“fantails”), Dicruridae (“drongos”), Monarchidae (“monarch flycatchers”), Ifritidae (“Blue-capped Ifrit”), Paradisaeidae (“birds-of-paradise”), Corcoracidae (“White-winged Chough” and “Apostlebird”), Melampittidae (“melampittas”), Laniidae (“shrikes”), Platylophidae (“Crested Jayshrike”), Corvidae (“corvids”), Cnemophilidae (“satinbirds”), Melanocharitidae (“berrypeckers” and “longbills”), Callaeidae (“New Zealand wattlebirds”), Notiomystidae (“Stitchbird”), Petroicidae (“Australasian robins”), Eupetidae (“Rail-babbler”), Picathartidae (“rockfowl”), Chaetopidae (“rockjumpers”), Hyliotidae (“hyliotas”), Stenostiridae (“fairy flycatchers”), Paridae (“tits”), Remizidae (“penduline tits”), Panuridae (“Bearded Reedling”), Alaudidae (“larks”), Nicatoridae (“nicators”), Macrosphenidae (“African warblers”), Cisticolidae (“cisticola warblers”), Acrocephalidae (“reed warblers”), Locustellidae (“grass warblers”), Donacobiidae (“Black-capped Donacobius”), Bernieridae (“Malagasy warblers”), Pnoepygidae (“wren-babblers”), Hirundinidae (“swallows”), Pycnonotidae (“bulbuls”), Sylviidae (“sylviid warblers”), Paradoxornithidae (“parrotbills”), Zosteropidae (“white-eyes”), Timaliidae (“Old World babblers”), Leiothrichidae (“laughingthrushes”), Alcippeidae (“Alcippe fulvettas”), Pellorneidae (“ground babblers”), Phylloscopidae (“leaf warblers”), Hyliidae (“hylias”), Aegithalidae (“bushtits”), Scotocercidae (“Streaked Scrub Warbler”), Cettiidae (“cettiid warblers”), Erythrocercidae (“yellow flycatchers”), Dulidae (“Palmchat”), Bombycillidae (“waxwings”), Ptiliogonatidae (“silky-flycatchers”), Hylocitreidae (“Hylocitrea”), Hypocoliidae (“Grey Hypocolius”), Elachuridae (“Spotted Elachura”), Cinclidae (“dippers”), Muscicapidae (“Old World flycatchers”), Turdidae (“thrushes”), Buphagidae (“oxpeckers”), Sturnidae (“starlings”), Mimidae (“mockingbirds” and “thrashers”), Regulidae (“kinglets”), Tichodromidae (“Wallcreeper”), Sittidae (“nuthatches”), Certhiidae (“treecreepers”), Salpornithidae (“spotted creepers”), Polioptilidae (“gnatcatchers”), Troglodytidae (“wrens”), Promeropidae (“sugarbirds”), Modulatricidae (“dapplethroats”),

Nectariniidae (“sunbirds”), Dicaeidae (“flowerpeckers”), Chloropseidae (“leafbirds”), Irenidae (“fairy-bluebirds”), Peucedramidae (“Olive Warbler”), Urocynchramidae (“Przevalski's Finch”), Ploceidae (“weavers”), Viduidae (“indigobirds”, “whydahs”, and “Cuckoo-finch”), Estrildidae (“estrildid finches”), Prunellidae (“accentors”), Passeridae (“Old World sparrows”), Motacillidae (“wagtails”, “longclaws”, and “pipits”), Fringillidae (“true finches”), Rhodinocichlidae (“Rosy Thrush-tanager”), Calcariidae (“longspurs” and “snow buntings”), Emberizidae (“buntings”), Cardinalidae (“cardinals” and “grosbeaks”), Mitrospingidae (“mitrospingid tanagers”), Thraupidae (“tanagers”), Passerellidae (“New World sparrows”), Parulidae (“New World warblers”), Icteriidae (“Yellow-breasted Chat”), Icteridae (“New World blackbirds”), Calyptophilidae (“chat-tanagers”), Zeledoniidae (“wrenthrush”), Teretistridae (“Cuban warblers”), Nesospingidae (“Puerto Rican Tanager”), Spindalidae (“spindalises”), and Phaenicophilidae (“Hispaniolan tanagers”).

As this is such a large, diverse order (whose list of families have already taken up way too much room), it would be hard for me to summarize them. They are defined by the anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching.

In the Cretaceous, the most dominant clade of birds were the Enantiornithes. After the K-Pg extinction, all Enantiornithes went extinct, leaving large swaths of empty niches behind. By the Eocene, around 52.5 million years ago, Passeriformes began to diverge and fill all those empty niches, leading to the large wealth of bird diversity today.

Propaganda under the cut:

Aside from the parrots, Passeriformes contains most of the birds capable of mimicry, including lyrebirds, mockingbirds, starlings, and corvids. Starlings and corvids are even known to mimic human words and sentences.

The largest passerine is the Thick-billed Raven (Corvus crassirostris), which ranges from 60 - 70 cm (2 - 2.3 ft) in length and weighs approximately 1.15 kg (2.5 lb) in females and 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) in males. The pheasant-sized Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) is sometimes called the largest passerine, but the Thick-billed Raven is around 25% heavier on average!

The smallest passerine is the Short-tailed Pygmy Tyrant (Myiornis ecaudatus), at 6.5 cm (2.6 in) long and weighing 4.2 g (0.15 oz).

There’s too many of these to talk about; I’m overwhelmed. Just know that if you like birds, you probably have a favorite in this order!

[squawkoverflow]

A new variant has been added!

Long-tailed Tapaculo (Scytalopus micropterus) © Christoph Moning

It hatches from brown, dark, hard, other, rusty, similar, small, and typical eggs.

squawkoverflow - the ultimate bird collecting game          🥚 hatch    ❤️ collect     🤝 connect