COMMENT BELOW

On Mon, 22 Jan 1996, Alvaro Jaramillo wrote:

>
> There is also circumstantial evidence that Great Plains breeding Cassin's
> Sparrows nest a second time in Arizona once the monsoon season has begun
> >
>
> Alvaro Jaramillo "You are better off not knowing
> Half Moon Bay, CA how sausages and laws are made"
> alvaro at quake.net Otto von Bismarck,
>
> http://www.quake.net/~alvaro/index.html
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I just returned from the Univ of Maine (Machias) Institute for Field
Ornithology Sparrows Workshop held in Sierra Vista AZ (Jan 07-13th). Our
instructors were Jon Dunn (the consultant for the Nat Geo Guide and a
"national heritage" level field ornithologist) and Charles Duncan, the
director of U of MN (Machias) Inst for F. Ornithology. We saw a large
number of wintering Cassin's sparrows. Nothing was mentioned at that
time about a second breeding occuring in this species during the AZ monsoon
season, i.e., during July/August. What was said is that there are
large gaps in our knowledge of the natural history of even abundant
species. Perhaps, Charles will comment on off-season second breeding in
sparrows and other birds.

I'll send a longer post about this wonderful field ornithology
workshop when I have more time in the next couple of weeks.

AZ was so sun-lit and WA is so soggy now,

Maureen E. Ellis (me2 at u.washington.edu, U of WA, Seattle, WA 98195)