Evening Grosbeak Research Articles

Respiration, oxygen consumption and heart rate in some birds during rest and flight

Pulmonary ventilation (tidal volume, frequency) and oxygen content of expired air were measured in separate flights for 3 species of birds — Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina), Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), and Black Duck (Anas rubripes). Heart rate was measured in flight or immediately after landing in 12 species. Respiratory frequency and tidal volume were greater in flight than during rest. As the O2 content of expired air did not change appreciably, the increase in O2 consumption was similar to the increase in ventilation and averaged more than 10 times basal. The influence of body weight on metabolism during flight was similar to that previously observed under basal conditions. Heart rates during flight (10 species), immediately after landing (12 species), and maximal rates from various authors (15 species) were in close agreement, and were 2–4 times as high as during rest. The heart rate decreased with increasing body weight according to the equation HRf=25.1 BW−0.16 (HR per sec, BW in g). In flight there was much less variation and there was a smaller decrease with increasing weight than during rest. Although the estimated stroke volume and heart size appear larger in birds, the ratio of these functions was similar to that in mammals.

An Interesting Recovery of a Banded Evening Grosbeak during the 1968-69 Winter Incursion into East Texas

An Interesting Recovery of a Banded Evening Grosbeak during the 1968-69 Winter Incursion into East Texas

The Evening Grosbeak in Eastern Texas

The Evening Grosbeak in Eastern Texas

Power spectral density and probability analysis of electromyograms in shivering birds.

The spectral analysis of electromyograms from evening grosbeaks, Hesperiphona vespertina, and common grackles, Quiscalus quiscula, revealed a statistically significant higher upper cut-off frequency during shivering in the former species. There was also a statistically significant decrease in the upper cut-off frequency with lowering of temperature in the evening grosbeak, but not in the grackle. The frequency of occurrence of various amplitudes during shivering followed the normal distribution closely in both species. The presence of frequencies in the range from 6 to 600 c.p.s. necessitates the use of wideband instrumentation for fidelity in measuring species differences.

Incursions of the Evening Grosbeak in Northeastern Ohio, 1860-1967

Incursions of the Evening Grosbeak in Northeastern Ohio, 1860-1967

Bilateral Gynandrism in an Evening Grosbeak

Bilateral Gynandrism in an Evening Grosbeak

Preliminary Life Tables for Pine Sawflies in the Neodiprion Fulviceps Complex (Hymenoptera: Diprionidae)

Three populations of one or possibly two species of sawflies in the Neodiprion fuliceps complex were followed in detail from the egg stage to adult emergence in a brush—field pine plantation near Mt. Shasta, California. All observed mortality factors were quantitively assessed and preliminary life tables and survivorship curves were formulated for the 1960—61 generation. Total mortality was of such a magnitude that the populations were shown to be declining. High egg loss could not be explained but mortality from cold temperatures was suspected. Cold temepratures were also felt to be a major factor in high early first instar larval mortality in two other areas. Mortality of feeding larvae exceeded the early first instar larval mortality only in one area due to evening grosbeak predation. Generally, mortality of the feeding larvae was low, Prespinning larval mortality was considerable but the causes were not determinable. The heaviest losses occurred during the cocoon stage which is the most vulnerable stage in the life cycle. However, the full impact of cocoon predation was not realized in this study due to the time of sampling. Other mortality factors are discussed and biological information is given on several of the parasites.

Xanthochroism in the Cape May Warbler and Evening Grosbeak

Xanthochroism in the Cape May Warbler and Evening Grosbeak

Supplementary Notes on an Evening Grosbeak Nesting Area Study

Supplementary Notes on an Evening Grosbeak Nesting Area Study

INTERACTION OF EVENING GROSBEAK (HESPERIPHONA VESPERTINA) AND SPRUCE BUDWORM (CHORISTONEURA FUMIFERANA (CLEM.)) IN A LOCALIZED BUDWORM OUTBREAK TREATED WITH DDT IN QUEBEC

Control of a localized spruce budworm outbreak in southeastern Quebec was achieved through the combined effects of chemical treatment with DDT and natural control factors. Amongst the latter, predation by evening grosbeaks was suspected to have been of considerable importance. It appears that the birds were attracted to the outbreak area in unusually large numbers during their spring migration. The yearly influx of the grosbeaks in the area occurred when the budworm was in the late larval and the pupal stages, an especially critical period with respect to generation survival of this insect. In 1963, the year following collapse of the outbreak, very few grosbeaks were seen in the area. There was no direct evidence that the birds suffered ill effects from the spraying operation.

Summer Record of Evening Grosbeak at Denare Beach

Summer Record of Evening Grosbeak at Denare Beach

The Comparative Feeding Behavior of Wintering Evening Grosbeaks and Purple Finches

The Comparative Feeding Behavior of Wintering Evening Grosbeaks and Purple Finches

Some Notes on a Trip to an Evening Grosbeak Nesting Area

Some Notes on a Trip to an Evening Grosbeak Nesting Area

The Evening Grosbeaks in Northern Virginia

The Evening Grosbeaks in Northern Virginia

The Evening Grosbeak Incursion in the Northeast Winter of 1957-58

The Evening Grosbeak Incursion in the Northeast Winter of 1957-58

Relation of Oxygen Consumption to Temperature in the Evening Grosbeak

Relation of Oxygen Consumption to Temperature in the Evening Grosbeak

Commensal Feeding of Evening Grosbeak and Hermit Trush

Commensal Feeding of Evening Grosbeak and Hermit Trush

A Yellow Mutant of the Evening Grosbeak

A Yellow Mutant of the Evening Grosbeak

A Juvenal Evening Grosbeak Appears in Northampton, Massachusetts in Late October 1957

A Juvenal Evening Grosbeak Appears in Northampton, Massachusetts in Late October 1957

Nationality Names for American Birds

THE USE OF THE NAME Of a nation as the adjectival part of a bird appellation sometimes indicates the country of origin, but much more frequently it has a different meaning. In such combinations as English sparrow, European starling, Chinese pheasant, and Hungarian partridge, at least part of the homeland of an introduced bird is designated. And where acclimatization activities were conspicuous, a bird might acquire a name that would not be thought of elsewhere, as for example, German finch for the evening grosbeak at Portland, Oregon, since this unfamiliar species, when noticed at all, was deemed one of the importations of the bird cranks. Nationality modifiers prevail also among facetious names for birds, but that is another story. More common uses are to convey approbation or to label a species obviously distinct from familiar representatives of its group. Dictionaries incline to the view that the prefix English indicates something met with in America with which the people had previously been acquainted in England. Among American bird names there is some support for, but more evidence against, this hypothesis. English duck (N.C., S.C., Ga., Fla., Ala.) specifies the mallard, a well-known bird of the Old World, as also of the New, but the term is extended to the black duck and the mottled duck, which are strictly American species. Some of the names involved are, for the black duck, black English duck (S.C., Ga., Fla.), English black duck (La.), English duck (N.C., Ga.), and English mallard (Fla.); and for the mottled duck, English duck (Fla.). The generally employed appellation English snipe, for Wilson's snipe, the American subspecies of the common snipe of Europe, gives partial corroboration of the dictionary opinion, but English snipe (Nova Scotia) for the American woodcock tends in the opposite direction. English lark (Del.) is a natural reference to a bird legitimately known as the English starling. English woodpecker (N.Y., Newfoundland) has been applied to the yellow-shafted flicker because of a fanciful resemblance of the bird to the European green woodpecker; the principle we are discussing, in this instance, leading people astray. In every other 'English' name on hand, the purpose of the prefix is recognition of the distinctness of the bird from relatives, real or assumed. For compactness they are here tabulated: