New gecko...

... named Gecko (hey, I didn't name him, and I don't usually rename critters )

Missing his mommy (a friend who graduated and can't take him when she moves):






He's quite tame, and that makes him a perfect match in both pattern and behavior with my beloved female, SoBe (another adoptee!):

Eastern Kingbird Longetivity Record

From cayugabirds-l:

On 21 July 2007, we netted and released a breeding female Eastern Kingbird that we had originally banded as a Second Year Female on 18 July 1998.

That puts this bird in its 11th year. The longevity records listed on the BBL website indicate this species previous record at 9 years 11 months.

As a matter of interest, we believe this bird one of the pair that faithfully nests at the bitter end end of one of our highest rain gutters year after year; they usually produce two broods.

John
--
John & Sue Gregoire
Field Ornithologists
Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory
Burdett, NY
"Conserve & Create HABITAT"
http://home.att.net/~kestrelhaven/

My summer research

Well, my poster revision has been excepted by the AOU for the 125 meeting in Wyoming this August. So here's the official abstract, Poster #312 from the meeting abstract pdf:

312 Sly, Townsend, Rimmer & Lovette
Species limits and phylogeography of Hispaniolan palm-tanagers (Phaenicophilus). NICHOLAS D. SLY, Lab. Ornithol., Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY, ANDREA K. TOWNSEND, Dept. Ecol. & Evol. Biol., Cornell Univ., CHRISTOPHER C. RIMMER, Vermont Inst. Nat. Sci., Woodstock, VT, and IRBY J. LOVETTE, Dept. Ecol. & Evol. Biol., Cornell Univ.

Avian speciation within medium-sized islands is unusual, yet Hispaniola supports several species pairs, including the palm-tanagers, Phaenicophilus palmarum and P. poliocephalus. These sister species have ranges that meet along a former sea channel in southwestern Haiti. Their respective species status has been questioned after the discovery of a hybrid zone in this region, but the only previous molecular work on this system relied on isozymes. We use sequence data to explore the level of differentiation between the 2 forms, to access if the timing of their divergence dates to the ancient sea channel, and to examine potential cryptic divergence within the genus. Analysis of an mtDNA-based haplotype network indicates a deep split (mean 5.51%; range: 5.27% - 5.86% uncorrected divergence) between P. palmarum and P. poliocephalus. The mtDNA networks apparently have no further phylogeographic structure within either species, indicating recent gene flow between many conspecific populations. These data support species status for both palm-tanagers, point toward within-island speciation that corresponds to the timing of the sea channel, as well as confirm P. poliocephalus as Haiti’s only endemic bird.

Disclaimer: As the abstract book says, "The abstracts in this work are not issued for the permanent scientific record." These are preliminary data, and I won't post any final results here, because they will ultimately be used as my Honor's Thesis and (hopefully) published in a Journal.

I suppose I should back up a little and explain a little about what I'm up to. This summer I am a Hughes Scholar at Cornell, doing research at Irby Lovette's Evolutionary Biology Program at the Lab of Ornithology (the website is rather out of date). I'm working with Andrea Townsend on the comparative phylogeography of Hispaniolan endemics. The first of this work has already been completed by Andrea:

Townsend, AK, CC Rimmer, SC Latta, and IJ Lovette. Ancient differentiation in the single-island avian radiation of endemic Hispaniolan chat-tanagers (Aves: Calyptophilus). In press.

She compared mitochondrial and nuclear sequences for chat-tanagers across Hispaniola to examine the phylogeographic structure and species limits. I am doing the same with the Palm-tanagers, Phaenicophilus palmarum and Phaenicophilus poliocephalus. It's exciting work and I am happy to be presenting the first round of results for Hughes and for the conference.

Why I like gulls

Seagull becomes crisp shoplifter

The seagull has been nicknamed Sam by locals Shoplifting seagull

A seagull has turned shoplifter by wandering into a shop and helping itself to crisps.

The bird walks into the RS McColl newsagents in Aberdeen when the door is open and makes off with cheese Doritos.

The seagull, nicknamed Sam, has now become so popular that locals have started paying for his crisps.

Shop assistant Sriaram Nagarajan said: "Everyone is amazed by the seagull. For some reason he only takes that one particular kind of crisps."

The bird first swooped in Aberdeen's Castlegate earlier this month and made off with the 55p crisps, and is now a regular.

Once outside, the crisps are ripped open and the seagull is joined by other birds.

'Fine art'

Mr Nagarajan said: "He's got it down to a fine art. He waits until there are no customers around and I'm standing behind the till, then he raids the place.

"At first I didn't believe a seagull was capable of stealing crisps. But I saw it with my own eyes and I was surprised. He's very good at it.

The seagull takes the crisps outside and eats them

"He's becoming a bit of a celebrity. Seagulls are usually not that popular but Sam is a star because he's so funny."

A spokesman for RSPB Scotland said: "I've never heard of anything like this before.

"Perhaps it tried some crisps in a shiny packet in the street, and was just opportunistic one day at the shop when it saw what was inside.

"As everyone knows, gulls can be very quick and fearless, and clearly this one is no exception."

He added: "We'd discourage people from feeding gulls though, as gulls in towns generate lots of complaints every year, and the availability of food is the only reason they live in urban settings."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/6907994.stm

Picking a photo-hosting site

I've used Webshots for the past 2 years (see my albums here). I have never found it a particularly attractive or easy site, and am considering alternatives:

Photobucket
Flickr
Picasa (I started small album here)

If you could leave me any comments on which of these sites you use and why you like it over others, I'd greatly appreciate it! I am particularly concerned with: lots of photo space, uploading video, ease of use, posting photos on blogs and forums.

Thanks!