Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 08:20:21 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Les Roslund Subject: Fw: Eastern Kingbird and Western Kingbird share nest in Baltimore Maryland MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I recently forwarded a copy of the photo of the fledgling Kingbirds = to Dr Michael Murphy of Portland State University. He has been studying = Eastern Kingbirds for at least the past 22years. His reply is provided = below. Les Roslund ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Michael T. Murphy=20 To: Les Roslund=20 Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 6:01 PM Subject: Re: Eastern Kingbird and Western Kingbird share nest in = Baltimore Maryland Dear Les, I have already seen the photo. One of my grad students is on a listserv = that picked up this story and he sent it to me. After looking at the = nestlings it seems clear that they are Eastern Kingbirds all the way. I = have never heard of an EKB and WKB cross. WKBs are probably most = closely related to Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (based on unpublished DNA = work by someone else), and they have successfully produced young = together. My take on this situation is the following. I have = documented widespread extra-pair paternity in EKBs in both NY and OR. = It seems that 60-70% of males lose paternity, and my most recent data = suggest that up to a quarter of males lose ALL paternity. My guess is = that this WKB took up residence on a good territory, maybe where this = female nested in the past. She came back, paired up socially with this = WKB male, and then simply went off and found a more attractive EKB male = to father the young. Its not surprising that no one witnessed a = copulation. I have worked on kingbirds (Easterns, Westerns and = Scissor-tails) for 18 years and I have only observed two. I suspect = that all the copulating goes on in the predawn darkness. Kingbirds have = a "dawn song" that is really a "predawn song" that I believe males use = to attract females. I have just finished a study showing that males do = not move around in the predawn darkness, hence it must be the females = who are moving to obtain copulations. So, your female kingbird was = doing nothing out of the ordinary. Its simply very obvious because the = social male partner doesn't look at all like her! Nonetheless, its a = fascinating piece and I would love to have as much information on the = history of this nesting as possible. I'm planning on writing a book on = kingbirds in the near future and this would make for a great addition. = I would of course site all of the appropriate people. Better yet, why = don't you write this up as a note for a journal such as the Wilson = Bulletin? I think that it would probably be accepted since it appears = that the nesting has been so well documented. I would be willing to = edit the MS for you. Let me know, but in either case, excellent = observations. Michael Note - The suggestion above makes good sense to me, but I am certainly = not the right person to write up the story of these birds. Someone = amongst those who have been closely observing this nest would be far = more appropriate, and I'm sure Dr Murphy's offer for editing would be = available to whoever takes on the job. Les Roslund Lroslund@bluecrab.org Talbot County Easton MD 21601 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================