Cathy Carroll writes:

> This may be a very stupid question, but I'll ask anyway.  Is anyone  
> seriously thinking of assisting Mr. McKay with his project of finding  
> breeding Yellow-throated Warblers?  It seems that "taking blood" must  
> mean that he will kill the birds.  I emailed Mr. McKay about this and  
> I received his response back confirming that he will be killing  
> breeding male Yellow-throated Warblers.

This is a controversial issue, isn't it?  I personally wonder if this fellow's Ph.D. thesis will add enough to our knowledge to offset the loss of these birds.  Does graduate school always cut one off from an empathetic and caring approach to the animals being studied?  

What is amusing is the likelihood that many of these scientists willing to sacrifice birds or other living organisms in the pursuit of their academic credentials are also in many cases those who frown on hunting (oops, let's be politically correct, okay?  I think the euphemism now is 'harvesting.').

I would welcome some debate on the issue as long as we can do that without insult or unseemly argument.  This can be a highly charged topic so take a few deep breaths before posting your thoughts.

I do, of course, reserve the right to cut off the discussion if it gets too hot.

Norm