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Index of Subjects 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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