Posted on 12/03/2009 9:53:05 AM PST by decimon
By feeding birds, you could alter their evolutionary future, with changes visible in the very near term, scientists now conclude.
Due to winter bird-feeding, what was once a single population of birds has, in fewer than 30 generations, been split into two groups that do not interbreed, despite the fact that they continue to breed side by side in the very same forests.
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Over the course of three-and-a-half years, the scientists followed birds known as blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) in Central Europe after humans began offering food to them. A recent divide has sprung up, with two groups following distinct migration routes in the winter - one southwest in Spain, the other northwest in the United Kingdom.
"The new northwest migratory route is shorter, and those birds feed on food provided by humans instead of fruits as the birds that migrate southwest do," Schaefer said. "As a consequence, birds migrating northwest have rounder wings, which provide better maneuverability but make them less suited for long-distance migration." They also have longer, narrower bills that are less equipped for eating large fruits like olives during the winter.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Of a feather ping.
There are a few adult words in this video, but appropriate for the topic. http://gwgjlm.blogspot.com/2009/12/fing-bird-feeder.html
The government is not paying for the **** bird feeder. You and I are. We are going to have to take the bird feeder down because the birds squawking for free everything run the government. It is time to starve the government.
Hummingbirds eat mostly small chain carbohydrates, sugar. However, while doing so, they also get a bit of medium chain carbohydrates, which they can also digest. While it is harder to digest, it has much more energy than simple sugars.
They sell unflavored medium chain carbohydrates in some health food stores, as energy drinks for athletes. So why not start adding more and more medium chain carbs to your hummingbird feeder?
Of course, it would need to be done slowly, over the course of several hummingbird generations. But getting that much extra energy might cause some interesting side effects. It would be like feeding a slim and trim athlete five thick steak and potatoes meals every day.
Since hummingbirds exercise a lot, they probably won’t become obese, but will likely make a lot more hummingbirds, at least at first. But then, again over generations, you might to see hummingbirds getting bigger. Giant hummingbirds.
One group of birds has become dependent on handouts and the other, self reliant birds, no longer wish to associate with them. That seems right. That seems to be the way of it among some other creatures, too.
The Brown Nosed Antelope can run as fast as the Black Nosed Antelope, but they can't stop as fast!
As long as they don’t go all Hitchcock on us...I’m good with this.
Ya know, for a guy named after poultry... ;-)
bird-loving bump
We noticed most of our hummingbirds are overweight now, and walk around a lot instead of hovering...We noticed Their pointed beaks seem to have grown slightly longer, probably so they can just walk up to flowers and feed.
Do they still hum?
No, it seems like more of wheezing sound.
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Thanks decimon. See? Lysenko was right. :') |
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