Subject: Re: VCR Fox Sparrows (was Cascadian Fox Sparrows)
Date: Jun 16 08:27:58 1995
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


>Sounds to me like an idea for an interesting bird outing. But before I go
>into the woods, a question of general relevance:
>- would a find be of any importance
>- would there any special precautions apply in this case (besides not to
>lead predators to nests, not to prevent normal feeding cycles)
>
>I guess the first obstacle will be to find ANY Fox Sparrow...
>
>Anybody else interested in??
>
>Reto Riesen
>Vancouver B.C.
>riesenr at chem.ubc.ca

Reto, I think the fact that more than one male Fox Sparrow has been
seen/heard singing in the surrounding mountains is a pretty good indication
they are breeding there, and I'm not sure a nest search is necessary.
Perhaps a late June/July visit to see if there are fledglings would be
interesting and, as you implied, would be less likely to put the nests in
jeopardy.

Much the more interesting question, to me, is to try to figure out their
origin--that is, which subspecies are they. This could only be solved by a
specimen or, at the very least, netting, capture and close-up photography.
If they are "pure" individuals of one of the subspecies, probably just good
photos in the field would tell us that, but it sounds as if there were some
thought that they might be intermediate. As I wrote, if this is indeed a
hybrid population, it may have some bearing on the question of whether the
coastal and mountain breeders are distinct species. I'm not sure whether
mitochondrial DNA, which could be checked, can be extracted from blood
samples or not.

The recent reference that I mentioned yesterday is: Zink, R. M. 1994.
The geography of mitochondrial DNA variation, population structure,
hybridization, and species limits in the Fox Sparrow (_Passerella iliaca_).
Evolution 48: 96-111. Sorry, it wasn't in Systematic Zoology after all.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416