Category: North America

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus): A Technical Conservation Assessment

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) Science Article 5 abstract In western North America, yellow-billed cuckoos (Coccyzus americanus) have undergone catastrophic declines; the eastern subspecies has undergone less rapid declines in most areas since approximately 1980. Direct loss and degradation of low-elevation riparian woodland habitats have been cited as the primary causes for the declines in yellow-billed […]

Food abundance and parental care in yellow warblers

Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) Science Article 1 abstract Emlen and Oring (1977) suggested that monogamy in birds is maintained because of the need for strict biparental care. A corollary of their suggestion is that paternal care should decrease under conditions of high food abundance. An alternative is that paternal care would increase if males take […]

Extra-pair mating, male plumage coloration andsexual selection in yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia)

Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) Science Article 14 abstract Extra-pair mating has been proposed as a source of sexual selection responsible for secondary sexual traitsthat are common among socially monogamous birds, although supporting evidence is scant. In the socially monogamous yellow warbler, males are larger than females, and unlike females, have extensivereddish streaking on their breasts. […]

Ruby-throated hummingbirds observed following yellow-bellied sapsucker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) Science Article 8 abstract The authors document an observed association between Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Ruby-throated Hummingbird. They conclude that the hummingbirds’feeding at sapsucker wells may effect the timing of hummingbird migration. by David Flaspohler and David Grosshuesch Several species of hummingbirds are known to feed at the sap wells created by […]

Speciation and rapid phenotypic differentiation in theyellow-rumped warblerDendroica coronatacomplex

Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) Science Article 7 abstract The relative importance of the Pleistocene glacial cycles in driving avian speciationremains controversial, partly because species limits in many groups remain poorly understood,and because current taxonomic designations are often based on phenotypic characteristicsof uncertain phylogenetic significance. We use mtDNA sequence data to examinepatterns of genetic variation, sequence […]