Subject: [BIRDCHAT] Juncos (fwd)
Date: Mar 26 19:47:49 2001
From: ian paulsen - ipaulsen at linknet.kitsap.lib.wa.us


HI ALL:
Food for thought!

Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen
Bainbridge Is., WA, USA
ipaulsen at linknet.kitsap.lib.wa.us
"Rallidae all the way"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 21:57:49 -0500
From: James D. Rising <rising at ZOO.UTORONTO.CA>
To: BIRDCHAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: [BIRDCHAT] Juncos

George Barrowclough of the Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. has been working on
juncos for years and knows them far better than anyone else.
Unfortunately, he has published little of this, and we've sort have been
waiting for him. I regularly see George at meetings and talk about
juncos and ask him to publish, or at least to make specific
recommendations that the AOU can study. He hasn't done this yet, and
last summer told me that basically Miller (1941) "had it right." I plan
this summer to dig out Miller and study it, put together a proposal, and
pass it by George, then submit it to the committee. DOn't have any idea
about how that would be received. Some comments (totally off the top of
my head)

Dark-eyed and Yellow-eyed are very different--should not be lumped under
any circumstances. Differences in behavior and song in addition to other
things.

Within Dark-eyed:

1) One or 2 old records of hybridization between Gray-headed x
White-winged. The habitat where the hybrids were collected has been
destroyed and the ranges no longer overlap (i.e. they are allopatric now,
and probably always essentially were). Split White-wing.

2) Few hybrids of Pink-sided and Gray-headed, on one hand, and between
Gray-headed and Oregon on the other hand. Limited areas. Probably split
them all.

3) Oregon and Slate-colored--apparently there is a massive hybrid swarm
in northern British Columbia ("cismontanus"). Probably recognize them as
2 subspecies of the same thing, with cismontanus as a broad zone of
intergradation. Lump all of those subspecies of Oregon (I'm ignoring
Mexico, but the one from the Cape region of Baja is very distinct,
etc.).

Again, this is unanalyzed and unstudied--and perhaps nothing is going to
be done.

Also waiting for some more data on the Red Crossbills to be published.



Name: Jim Rising
Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G5
rising at zoo.utoronto.ca or rising at zoo.toronto.edu
Phone (416) 978-3482 FAX (416) 978-8532

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