[EBB Sightings] White-throated Sparrow and Band Tail Pigeons a tally

On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 00:12:53 -0800, "Richard Cimino"

>The total is 23 east bay White throated Sparrows this winter.

Some might be interested in the historical perspective of the status of
White-throated Sparrows in the West offered by Wythe in 1938:

http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v040n03/p0110-p0117.pdf

Wythe concludes that the increasing number of White-throated Sparrows in
California is an example supporting Grinnell's hypothesis in which vagrants
seek out new migration routes, or new breeding or new wintering areas.

Unfortunately, this hypothesis is based on "group selection" in which
individuals may sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the population.
This model is essentially refuted by our modern understanding of natural
selection in which the target of selection is the individual, not the
population nor the individual genes; works such as "The Selfish Gene" by
Richard Dawkins not withstanding.  



-- 
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044  jmorlan (at) ccsf.edu 
Birding Classes start Feb 7 in SF  http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/
California Bird Records Committee  http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/