Thanks, Laura, that ABA discussion was very interesting. I found myself in Ryan O'Donnell's camp; the reported lack of genetic differentiation between Common and Hoary Redpolls just didn't seem to justify the suggestion that we ought to practice Hoary Denial, and Andy Boyce's quick dismissal of the likely explanation left me groping for about three imperfectly remembered sentences from E. O. Wilson's popular writing. Happily, I didn't need to look them up, as Ryan neatly framed that explanation in just three words: "incomplete lineage sorting".
Redpolls at my feeders peaked near 300. I tried hard to call one or two of them Hoary, but for whatever reason, I just couldn't make it stick. My failure had little if anything to do with doubts about the legitimacy of the split, and I'm not challenging anyone else's distinctions, but somehow I still feel better after reading through that discussion! -Geo Kloppel On Jan 24, 2013, at 11:23 AM, Laura Stenzler <l...@cornell.edu> wrote: > Hi All, > I found a very interesting article (link below), followed by a discussion, > about the ‘Hoary Redpoll Question” which you might want to look at. Don’t > skip the comments at the end. There are some familiar names taking part in > that discussion. > Food for thought….. > > http://blog.aba.org/2013/01/open-mic-redpolls.html > > Laura > > > Laura Stenzler > Lab Manager > Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program > Cornell Lab of Ornithology > 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd. > Ithaca, New York 14850 > Office: (607) 254 2141 > Lab: (607) 254 2142 > Fax: (607) 254 2486 > l...@cornell.edu > > > > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --