[NatureNS] Re: Why do male hummers...

Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:18:48 -0300
From: Peter Payzant <pce@accesswave.ca>
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Hi, Angus et al-

Yes, I'm aware that the males do leave earlier than the females. My thoughts 
were more along the lines of "Why are there still any males around now, at 
the end of June?" The females presumably are now all mated, and the males 
don't help in nestbuilding or care of the young.

I like Andrew's conjecture that there is little cost to the species in 
having the males linger, and that they use the same cuing system (i.e. day 
length) to tell them when to hit the road. If there was any advantage to 
leaving earlier, they would of course be doing it. An alternative cue for 
that might be several weeks of little change in day length, but that might 
run a risk of them leaving too soon. It's a lot easier to detect a change 
than it is to detect a steady state.

Peter 

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