You are invited to the monthly program of the Prince George's Audubon Society and the Patuxent Bird Club (MOS), Tuesday 3/13, at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will take place at the College Park Airport Museum. See below for program description. It is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided. See the PGAS website ( http://www.pgaudubon.org ) for more information, and directions to the meeting location.
Hope to see you there!
Lynette Fullerton
Seabrook, MD
Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 7:30 pm
College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, MD
Who's Your Daddy?: Extra-Pair Mating in Birds - How We Document it and Why They Do It
presented by Rob Fleischer
With the advent of powerful DNA methods some 20 years ago came an incredible ability for scientists to look within the "private" lives of animals. One outcome of the studies was that many songbirds, considered a paragon of monogamy by behaviorists, actually often had a remarkably high level of extra-pair paternity. The amount of extra-pair mating varies with taxonomy, colonial breeding, and migratory status. A number of ecological and behavioral factors also play a role. Dr. Fleischer will present information on how we study these behaviors, both in the field and in the DNA laboratory. He will also discuss some interesting case histories, mostly from research his laboratory at the Smithsonian. These include, among others, some bird species like Phainopeplas, Humboldt Penguins and Carolina Wrens, that are more monogamous than we might expect based on their behavior; like House
Wrens, whose extra-pair mating varies by latitude; and the strange behaviors of the brood parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird.
Dr. Robert Fleischer is Head of the Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park.
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