birds

A collection of 21 posts

coding

mathober 2024 sketches

It’s mathober! I will be updating this page with my sketches (in procreate and code for this year. Procreate sketches: (not all will be done this month – they take longer): P5js sketches: The code is on my codepen collection here.

coding

1/4 Update

I’ve been busy the last 3 months, so I thought I’d summarize the doodles and musings I’ve been working on that haven’t been posted (like my puffin, ducky, or quilt). A Cantor Set Poem Aperiodic Monotile Doodle This one is in vector drawing (svg) of the aperiodic monotile. Mandalas Puddle of Stars I

Math Birds

Indigo Bunting

Indigo buntings are majestically beautiful birds. I had a hard time deciding the direction to go in doodling this one, so I dug up a lot of fun facts: A group of indigo buntings is called a sacrifice, mural, or decoration. Their indigo color comes from the structure within their feathers rather than

Math Birds

Microcosm Oystercatchers

Here is another bird in the series – Microcosm Oystercatchers. These are one of my favorite birds. I often see them in the black basalt cobbles on the coast with their fluorescent beaks. I had a hard time with where I wanted to go with this piece initially and went back to gaskets (something I […]

Math Birds

Pacific Lune

Another bird in the series! This one is a little luney. The lunes of Alhazen have the same area as the triangle. Note: Image was updated from the original post to fix an error

Math Birds

Great Horned Owl

All of the great horned owls that have sat with me for hours of my life came to mind. I really struggled with what math piece I wanted to do here. I went with lift. I used multiple images, including my own in composing this. The vortices off the back of the owl are inspired […]

Math Birds

American Peli-cantor

These birds utterly amaze me with their gigantic wings, synchronous motion, and high-up flight. They really are a joy to watch in flight, feeding, and landings.

Math Birds

Evening Grosbeak

When contemplating a spirally constellation of twin primes, you may ask, “Just how many are there? – Infinite?” The Twin Prime Conjecture would say so.

Comics

Gross-Beak

I got side tracked when thinking about the next math bird in a series and thought “I’m long overdue for a kitty comic.” Dozen=12 and Gross=144

Math Birds

Chestnut-backed Chicka-dy/dx

Another Math bird in the series! These little chickadees make the cutest noise. They have had a brood every year in the neighbors gum tree. When I see their rollercoaster flight, I think of slope fields.

Math Birds

Western Sand Parallelepiper

Another Math bird in the series! This one was inspired by my 17yr old discussing her math homework of deriving the volume for a parallelepiped. So of course It spawned the thought of parallelepiped sand castles.

Math Birds

Spiraling Vaux’s Swifts

Just like solar eclipses, Vaux’s swifts really are a life experience. Watching them funnel into a chimney in a vortex of flitting feathers is just amazing. I had the wonderful experience of watching them funnel into the chimney at dusk in Salem, Oregon (my home). So here is the next math bird in the

Math Birds

Packing Violet Green Swallows

I enjoyed watching the swallows this summer. I couldn’t help but imagine that they were packing circles in their little birdhouse portal. Life is full of such precious moments.

Math Finds

Pileated Woodpecker

Another math bird in the series. I am pretty convinced that pileated woodpeckers communicate in their own form of morse code. I wonder what their frequency is when they are excavating?

Math Birds

Western Tanager

Another math bird in the series. I associate these tanagers with oranges, summer, and warmth. This year I enjoyed seeing them in our woods as I sat on a fallen white oak in the middle of a forest.

Math Birds

Cardinality Cardinal

Another math bird in the series. This one I struggled with what to do and include, feel free to send any comments my way. I am still contemplating if it is really done. I miss hearing cardinal calls from when I lived in the east and watching them out on my grandpa’s farm with their […]

Math Birds

Belted Kingfisher

The Belted Kingfisher catches Fish Curves on a King Graph. (This image was updated with a fix after the initial post) Sources: https://mathworld.wolfram.com/KingGraph.html [https://mathworld.wolfram.com/KingGraph.html], https://mathworld.wolfram.com/FishCurve.html [https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Fish

Math Birds

Spotted Tau-hee

Happy Tau Day! I have created another math bird piece for today with the inspiration of Spotted Towhees on my morning walk.

Math Birds

“Two-Body” Problem: Barycenter vs Waxwing

After watching the neighborhood waxwings consume their fill of berries prior to moving on, I pondered a different kind of a two-body problem:

Math Birds

Probability in the Leaves

I run and see the crows daily. They splash, play, talk, and announce the sunset. I see them in yards flipping leaves together and can’t help but feel that they are calculating probabilities. Of what, I am not sure – maybe the probability of finding a nut, bug, or piece of pizza. No matter what, […]

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 41: Birdwatching

Birdwatching and math go hand-in-hand. There are statistics on populations, migrations, observations, and so much more. One of the ways to get in touch with nature is to become aware of the birds that frequent your home and walkabouts. Birdwatching gets us to access so many areas of our mathematical