The dark-eyed junco is a species of junco, a group of small, grayish New World sparrows. The species is common across much of temperate North America and in summer it ranges far into the Arctic. It is a variable species, much like the related fox sparrow, and its systematics are still not completely resolved.
The white-crowned sparrow is a species of passerine bird native to North America. A medium-sized member of the New World sparrow family, this species is marked by a grey face and black and white streaking on the upper head. It breeds in brushy areas in the taiga and tundra of the northernmost parts of the continent and in the Rocky Mountains and Pacific coast. While southerly populations in the Rocky Mountains and coast are largely resident, the breeding populations of the northerly part of its range are migratory and can be found as wintering or passage visitors through most of North America south to central Mexico.
The Sardinian warbler is a common and widespread typical warbler from the Mediterranean region. Like most Curruca species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male has a grey back, whitish underparts, black head, white throat and red eyes. Plumages are somewhat variable even in the same locality, with the intensity of a reddish hue on upper- and/or underside that varies from absent to pronounced. The female is mainly brown above and buff below, with a grey head. The Sardinian warbler's song is fast and rattling, and is very characteristic of the Mediterranean areas where this bird breeds.
The eastern screech owl or eastern screech-owl, is a small owl that is relatively common in Eastern North America, from Mexico to Canada. This species resides in most types of woodland habitats across its range, and is relatively adaptable to urban and developed areas compared to other owls. Although it often lives in close proximity to humans, the eastern screech owl frequently avoids detection due to its strictly nocturnal habits.
The swamp sparrow is a medium-sized New World sparrow related to the song sparrow.
The white-throated bee-eater is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. It breeds in semi-desert along the southern edge of the Sahara, Africa. The white-throated bee-eater is migratory, wintering in a completely different habitat in the equatorial rain forests of Africa from southern Senegal to Uganda.
The black-throated gray warbler or black-throated grey warbler is a passerine bird of the New World warbler family Parulidae. It is 13 cm (5.1 in) long and has gray and white plumage with black markings. The male has the bold black throat of its name, and black stripes on its head, as well as black streaks on its flanks; the female is a paler version of the male, with a white throat and less distinct black markings on the flanks and wings. It breeds in western North America from British Columbia to New Mexico, and winters in Mexico and the southwestern United States. The habitats it prefers are coniferous and mixed forests and scrubland, especially those with pinyon pines, junipers, sagebrush, and oaks. Its nest is an open cup of plant fibers lined with feathers, built a few metres from the ground in the branches of a tree or shrub. Three to five eggs are laid, and young are fed by both parents. Common in its breeding range, it does not seem to be seriously threatened by human activities, unlike many migratory warblers.
The pauraque – also called the common pauraque to distinguish it from similar species – is a nightjar species, one of two birds in the genus Nyctidromus. It breeds in the subtropical and tropical regions of the New World, and except for northernmost birds it is largely resident all year round.
Assortative mating is a mating pattern and a form of sexual selection in which individuals with similar phenotypes or genotypes mate with one another more frequently than would be expected under a random mating pattern. A majority of the phenotypes that are subject to assortative mating are body size, visual signals, and sexually selected traits such as crest size. The opposite of assortative is disassortative mating.
A supergene is a chromosomal region encompassing multiple neighboring genes that are inherited together because of close genetic linkage, i.e. much less recombination than would normally be expected. This mode of inheritance can be due to genomic rearrangements between supergene variants.
The golden-crowned sparrow is a large New World sparrow found in the western part of North America.
Harris's sparrow is a large sparrow. Their breeding habitat is the north part of central Canada, making it Canada's only endemic breeding bird. In the winter they migrate to the Great Plains states of the United States, from southern South Dakota to central Texas. The common name of this species commemorates the American amateur ornithologist Edward Harris (1799–1863).
The black-throated sparrow is a small New World sparrow primarily found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is the only member of the genus Amphispiza; the five-striped sparrow, formerly also classified in Amphispiza, is now thought to be in the monotypic genus Amphispizopsis.
The black-breasted weaver, also known as the Bengal weaver or black-throated weaver, is a weaver resident in the northern river plains of the Indian subcontinent. Like the other weavers, the males build an enclosed nest from reeds and mud, and visiting females select a mate at least partially based on the quality of the nest.
The white-throated tapaculo is a species of bird in the family Rhinocryptidae. It is endemic to Chile.
Nelson's sparrow is a small New World sparrow.
Elaina Marie Tuttle was an American behavioral geneticist and biology professor whose academic research focused on ornithology and study of the white-throated sparrow. During her graduate and post-doctoral work, she investigated how bird sexual selection has evolved and the trade-offs in reproduction that have occurred alongside sperm competition mechanisms in sparrows and in the fairy wren.
