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Re: N. A. songbirds as soap opera

From:

Leo Weigant

Reply-To:

Leo Weigant

Date:

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:48:08 -0400

	Actually, Janet, . . .
	You don't have much future as a writer for soap operas.
	
	My guess is that "she" would sweetly encourage him
	to hustle right along so she could meet her own sweetie
	a hundred miles or so in the other direction in Mexico.

	Reminds me of a talk, many years ago for an Anne
	Arundel Club meeting wherein a researcher on purple
	martins reported that DNA testing of a female's
	2 (or 3) broods a year showed there were something
	like 9 fathers for 12 eggs.
	They are a sociable lot, those martins.

	Leo Weigant


On Oct 27, 2009, at 11:52 AM, Janet Millenson wrote:

> "Biologists for the first time have documented a second breeding  
> season
> during the annual cycle of five songbird species that spend summers in
> temperate North America and winters in tropical Central and South
> America.... it turns out that they squeeze in a second breeding season
> during a stopover in western Mexico on their southward migration..."
>
> Read the news article at:
>
> http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/10/26/ 
> first.evidence.a.second.breeding.season.among.migratory.songbirds
>
> "[R]esearchers found individuals from five species... that were  
> breeding
> rather than molting."
>
> One imagines the following scenario: An oriole tells its mate,  
> "Oops, look
> at the calendar! Time for me to wing it south for a few months and  
> freshen
> up the ol' plumage. See you in the usual place next spring,  
> darling." The
> mate responds, "Don't give me that story -- I know you're really  
> planning to
> meet your sweetie in Mexico for some hanky-panky on the way!" We await
> further research on avian pair bonding in these five species.
>
> Janet Millenson
> Potomac, MD (Montgomery County)
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> "Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot