Folks: Morgan Wilson <cmwilson@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu> emailed me the message below. He is looking for a place to study Yellow Warblers. We have some here at Patuxent, but they may not be common enough for him to work with. If anyone has any ideas please send Morgan a note, public lands would probably be best because of permissions. thanks sam Sam Droege FROG@USGS.GOV w 301-497-5840 h 410-798-6759 fax 301-497-5784 USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center 12100 Beech Forest, Laurel, Md 20708-4038 Http://www.mp1-pwrc.usgs.gov Wonder - is not precisely Knowing And not precisely Knowing not - A beautiful but bleak condition He has not lived who has not felt - Emily Dickinson - 1331 88888888888888888888888888888888 Sam - Ideally, I would like to work with 30-40 breeding pairs. However, I certainly understand they are not that dense there (also, I don't think I could feasibly work with that many in one season!). Realistically, I would be happy with 15-20 pairs during a season. We are investigating some endocrine mechanisms of how birds at different latitudes breed sucessfully under differing environmental conditions. I will be comparing these temperate breeding Yellow warblers in MD to those that breed in Northern Canada (which are under severe time and energy constraints and display some interesting endocrine responses to stressors and are able to successfully reproduce). We capture the birds using mist nets, color mark them, and draw a small blood sample for hormonal analyses. We have done this on a variety of bird species (Dr. Holberton, my advisor, has been doing this for many years) and have never seen evidence of any adverse affects on survival or reproductive success. Dr. Holberton and I possess all the required permits and animal care protocols to do this work. At this point, I will certainly be very happy with any opportunities I can get (Yellow warblers do breed in Northern Mississippi, but they are very, very scarce). I would greatly appreciate it if you know of other areas I might be able to work as well. I have family who live in Winchester VA, and a close friend who lives in Bradywine, MD; I plan to visit them sometime this spring, and would love to visit the refuge if that would be possible. Thank you very much for your time and advice. I look foward to hearing from you. Morgan