Sunday bird blogging

Here's another look at the lovely yellow-breasted chat, which seems to have now moved on to warmer weather, lucky bird.

I keep meaning to post the last pictures from upstate and the Jersey Shore, but I am running a research study on second language acquisition this semester and it takes every single neuron I've got. I've spent most of the weekend writing critiques of similar studies for the literature review, and so got to parse delightful paragraphs like this: 

“In order to further examine specific patterns in the data, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was carried out on all variables. This analysis revealed three principal factors based on the Jolliffe criterion (Jolliffe, 1972) (Eigenvalues ≥ 1): Factor 1 consisted of the three memory related tests (NWR, paired associates aptitude subtest and SR, loadings of 0.91, 0.73, and 0.56); Factor 2 consisted of the L2 reading and vocabulary proficiency subtests (loadings of 0.91 and 0.80); and Factor 3 included the two remaining aptitude subtests (Words in Sentences and Spelling Clues, loadings of 0.84 and 0.80). In contrast to results from the 2009 study, the L2 proficiency grammar subtest did not clearly fit with Factor 2 (L2 proficiency) or Factor 3 (aptitude)."

I couldn't agree more.