First Evidence For A Second Breeding Season Among Migratory Songbirds

[XemaSab]

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 was known that these species, which migrate at night when there are fewer predators and the stars can guide their journey, breed during their stay in temperate regions of the United States and Canada.

But it turns out that they squeeze in a second breeding season during a stopover in western Mexico on their southward migration, said Sievert Rohwer a University of Washington professor emeritus of biology and curator emeritus of birds at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the UW.

"It's pretty much unheard of to have a nocturnal migrant with a second breeding season. It's a pretty special observation," Rohwer said. "We saw these birds breeding and we were completely surprised."


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026152806.htm

[msongs]

1. lol these birds are sex fiends nt

[theophilus]

2. Could it be a "new" thing brought on by climate change? n/t