Yellow Warbler Research Articles

Influence of the Privacy Bird ® user agent on user trust of different web sites

With increasing growth of Internet commerce, online fraud accounts for as much as 20% of identity theft cases. The present study evaluated Privacy Bird ®, a computer program that warns users of privacy preference violations by displaying a colored bird. Users rated their trust of, and willingness to give financial information to, web sites in three categories (financial, retail, and social networking) before and after using Privacy Bird. Privacy Bird improved participants’ privacy practices, increasing their trust in (and willingness to provide financial information to) web sites that yielded green birds, reducing it for sites that yielded red birds, and inducing further consideration of policies for sites that yielded yellow birds. These results suggest that e-commerce sites should address the privacy concerns of users and make salient the cues that inform users that their privacy is protected.

Yellow Bird klepak and Polish Traces of Mechanical Life

Yellow Bird klepak and Polish Traces of Mechanical Life

Immortality Lecture, and: From inside the Avalanche

136 KEVIN PRUFER IMMORTALITY LECTURE There is a way to be both here and not here. The cartoon cat stands just out of sight with the mallet. The cartoon mouse peers from his hole into the living room. Then yellow birds circle his head as he rises to heaven on angel’s wings. Your children have been watching tv for hours. The cat peels the mouse from the floor, drapes it over a piece of bread, and opens his mouth. The sun butters the windowsill on a Saturday morning in the summer before someone will die. On the birthday cake, a single candle sputters like a fuse the cat can’t blow out. The tv decorates their eyes with explosions of blue light. Their heads are like little rooms in which the mouse sits at his desk designing a rocket. They will always remember you like this, at your desk. And so, the cat soars above the house and explodes. Then the cat is in their heads designing a catapult. I have implied that someone soon will die. 137 All morning, dead relatives have marched through the room toward their rewards. The mouse is drawing a door on the wall with chalk. Now he is opening the door and stepping through it. The cat has drawn a tunnel on the wall that flattens him. Your children are bored. They’ve seen this one before and are changing the channel. You can never vanish from their world. 138 KEVIN PRUFER FROM INSIDE THE AVALANCHE Three months I’ve curled here like a yolk and they might not find me until the snow melts. My bent arm could tumble up a skier, or my cracked legs slip and pull me farther down the slope. + But for now I have made myself a dome to curl inside. I have made a cold, cold womb. And when the sun comes out, it fills me with a pale blue glow I can see my frost-bit fingers by. In this filtered light, my brain is a nimbler thing, and strange. It loves the slow derangements distance brings. Nights I cannot tell which way is up. + Such wine I drank to bring me to a place like this. And then I sobered up. Such pills I took, and down to the depths with them. And films and books to snuff my dull mind out— I turned the music up until my eardrums burst and flapped, and always I came back, back, back— 139 + Above, I hear the whoosh and swerve of skis, the thump of children and the creak of gears. Once or twice I poked numb fingers through and felt the cool winds tumble down the slope. + I suppose I could dig myself out. I suppose I could shamble down the hill and find the ski lodge where a warm fire burns. (And how the boys would gawk at my return! And how they’d shout!) Ice-encrusted, black where my thin skin froze, where my wrist-bones snapped and my nose fell off, I’d steam and pool, safe in the drama of my fine disgrace. ...

Indigenous social work around the world: towards culturally relevant education and practice

Contents: Preface Introduction, Mel Gray, John Coates and Michael Yellow Bird Part1 'Indigenization' as an Outmoded Concept: From 'indigenization' to cultural relevance, Mel Gray and John Coates Promoting reciprocal international social work exchanges: professional imperialism revisited, James Midgley. Part 2 Indigenous Social Work: A Just Cause: Towards an understanding of indigenous social work, Mel Gray, Michael Yellow Bird and John Coates Indigenous people and the language of social work, Michael Yellow Bird and Mel Gray Indigenous social work in the United States: reflections on Indian tacos, Trojan horses, and canoes filled with indigenous revolutionaries, Hilary N. Weaver Decolonizing social work in Australia: prospect or illusion, Linda Briskman. Part 3 Towards Culturally Relevant Social Work Practice: The development of culturally appropriate social work practice in Sarawak, Malaysia, Ling How Kee The past, the present and the future: the New Zealand indigenous experience of social work, Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata Tongan social work practice, Tracie Mafile'o Critical reflections on an Aboriginal approach to helping, Michael Anthony Hart Homemade social work: the 2-way transfer of social work practice knowledge between India and the USA, Jayashree Nimmagadda and Diane R. Martell Localizing social work with Bedouin-Arab communities in Israel: limitations and possibilities, Alean Al-Krenawi and John R. Graham. Part 4 Culturally Relevant Social Work Education: Reconfiguring 'Chineseness' in the international discourse on social work in China, Rick Sin A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step: the development of culturally relevant social work education and fieldwork practice in China, Angelina Yuen-Tsang and Ben Ku Re-envisioning indigenization: when bentuhuade and bentude social work intersect in China, Miu Chung Yan and A Ka Tat Tsang Developing culturally relevant social work education in Africa: the case of Botswana, Kwaku Osei-Hwedie and Morena J. Rankopo Missing the 'flight from responsibility': tales from a non-indigenous educator pursuing spaces for social work education relevant to indigenous Australians, Susan Gair Picking up what was left by the trail: the emerging spirit of Aboriginal education in Canada, Gord Bruyere Indigenous social work education: a project for all of us?, Erika Faith Hearing indigenous and local voices in mainstream social work, Mel Gray, John Coates and Tiani Hetherington Conclusion, Mel Gray and John Coates Postscript: terms of endearment: a brief dictionary for decolonizing social work with indigenous peoples, Michael Yellow Bird References Index.

Does nesting habitat predict hatch synchrony between brood parasitic brown‐headed cowbirdsMolothrus aterand two host species?

Nestling brown‐headed cowbirdsMolothrus atertypically hatch earlier and grow faster than young of the many host species of this generalist obligate brood parasite. However, a cowbird chick also benefits from the presence of some host nest mates as the parasite is provisioned disproportionately more with increasing brood size. Since asynchronous hatching affects both cowbird and host nestlings’ growth and survival, mechanisms that optimize the timing of egg‐laying by female parasites should be prevalent. Several habitat features might facilitate optimal timing of parasitic egg‐laying and we examined whether aspects of host nesting habitat predicted cowbird hatching synchrony. We tested whether synchronous nests were less concealed, closer to perches, and located in areas of higher host density than asynchronous nests using a broad‐scale information theoretic approach. There was no support for these predictions regarding song sparrow (Melospiza melodia; n=55) or yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia; n=67) nests parasitized by brown‐headed cowbirds at Mono Lake, USA. For example, the best statistical models for predicting hatching synchrony in yellow warbler nests included nesting‐patch width and nest‐substrate shrub species. However, these relationships were relatively weak: both synchronous and asynchronous nests were in patches with statistically indistinguishable widths and the two dominant shrub species at our site contained similar proportions of synchronous and asynchronous nests. We conclude that the variability of host nesting habitats does not contribute to a biologically consistent effect on hatching synchrony by this generalist brood parasite.

Nest Sanitation Plays a Role in Egg Burial by Yellow Warblers

AbstractSome hosts of the brown‐headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) possess defences that eliminate all or most parasitism costs. Yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia) bury cowbird eggs, possibly to clean nests rather than serving strictly as an anti‐parasite defence, as non‐egg‐shaped objects have been ejected, buried, or deserted by other hosts. With two experiments, we tested the ‘nest sanitation’ hypothesis by recording warblers’ responses to objects (1) similar in volume, mass, and colour to cowbird eggs, and (2) half the mass and volume (more easily ejected), placed into nests before and during incubation. We compared outcomes at control nests with responses to objects that were dissimilar (stars) and moderately similar (dumbbells) to eggs, and to real cowbird and warbler eggs. We tested whether rejection (1) declines from stars through dumbbells and real eggs, (2) is similar between stages, and (3) non‐egg‐shaped objects are ejected because this is the least costly rejection method. Large stars were rejected (most buried) significantly more frequently (43.8%) than cowbird eggs (16.3%) in pre‐incubation, suggesting that warblers reject objects shaped unlike their own eggs to rid nests of debris. Objects spent less time in nests the more they diverged from eggs. Warblers rarely rejected large stars and dumbbells, and cowbird eggs during incubation, possibly because burial and desertion are too costly by this time. Responses to small stars and dumbbells, and to foreign yellow warbler eggs did not differ between stages; also warblers rejected stars, mostly by ejection and selective burial, more frequently (28.8%) than dumbbells (1.3%) and warbler eggs (0%). Rejection by yellow warblers, especially burial, may keep nests clean, but also functions in rejecting cowbird eggs.

Short-term effects of hurricane disturbance on food availability for migrant songbirds during autumn stopover

Abstract Understanding the consequences of hurricanes on the food resources available to neotropical-nearctic migrant songbirds may provide important insight into the effects of hurricanes on migratory populations. During autumn migration 2006 we investigated the foraging ecology of two species of insectivorous migrants, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) and Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia), and the availability of their foraging substrates and arthropod food resources in two coastal forests in western Louisiana, which were impacted to different degrees by Hurricane Rita in autumn 2005. Both migrant species attacked prey on bark substrates significantly more frequently, and on live foliage less frequently, in severely damaged forest than in lightly damaged forest (χ2 tests, P < 0.05). However, both species attacked prey on bark less than expected given its availability (i.e., migrants avoided bark), and attacked prey on live foliage more than expected given its availability (i.e., migrants se...

&lt;i&gt;The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder, and Other True Stories from the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns&lt;/i&gt; (review)

Reviewed by: The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder, and Other True Stories from the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns Jeanette Palmer (bio) Stew Magnuson. The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder, and Other True Stories from the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns. Plains Histories Series. Lubbock: Texas Tech UP. ISBN: 978-0-89672-634-5. 324 pp. In Gordon, Nebraska, a man named Raymond Yellow Thunder (Lakota) was murdered in cold blood. His killers were not hardened violent criminals, but they were hardened racists and they were drunk. A young woman and three young men were the perpetrators of this crime; in their view, they were just having “good fun” with an Indian. How anyone could think that throwing an elderly man into the back of a car and driving around for hours and then throwing him in a broken-down car lot half-naked in the winter is “having good fun” seems incomprehensible to right-minded people; [End Page 81] yet, this is how Raymond Yellow Thunder was abused. These young people were the product of a racist, lawless environment. Raymond Yellow Thunder was just trying to walk home. Generations of violence, broken treaties, squatting settlers, and lawlessness contribute to the tenuous relationship between Native peoples and Euroamericans in Nebraska and South Dakota; this text addresses all of these issues. The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder, by Stew Magnuson, is a microcosm representing the macrocosm of relationships between Euroamerican homesteaders, the U.S. government, and Native nations for centuries. What happened to Raymond Yellow Thunder, sadly, is not unique; however, Magnuson shows that destructive and prejudicial relationships in border towns and among their citizens are more common than most people may know. Often, border towns near reservations are largely overlooked by law enforcement and the general population. Magnuson deftly unravels the intricacies that led up to the death of Yellow Thunder. This spiderweb of interrelationships, misunderstandings, prejudice, and government negligence combined with the will of Native people to survive are the parts that make up the whole. Magnuson begins with the inability of the U.S. government to protect the Black Hills from gold speculators and land grabbers in the late 1800s. He continues through time to illustrate that the U.S. government has consistently been unreliable in its role to enforce its own laws and treaties regarding sovereign Native nations. Magnuson recounts the plight of John Gordon (the name-sake of Gordon, Nebraska) and his confrontation with the U.S. Army. Gordon was trying to illegally lead a party of gold speculators into the sacred Black Hills, or Paha Sapa. Although the army was successful in foiling Gordon’s trip and he was clapped in irons, Gordon was made a hero by the townspeople because he was just a common man trying to get rich and make good. Magnuson also gives a good background of the Native Lakotas, their connection to the land and their removal from it to the Pine Ridge reservation, as well as background on Red Cloud and other prominent Lakota people. A common thread of the text is the white man’s historical disrespect for Native people’s land, culture, and rights. [End Page 82] Magnuson traces the history of Native people, non-European immigrants, and Euroamerican settlers who came to the area in the late 1880s. He questions the motives and biases of some news reporters, throughout the decades, regarding what they reported about the history of Gordon and the trial of Yellow Thunder’s murderers, versus actual historical events. Many stories of European settlers are intertwined with the story of the establishment of the small Nebraska border towns. Some settlers were friendly with the Native peoples while others were not. Magnuson includes a short history of Mari Sandoz and her father Jules, who was a friend to the Lakotas. When discussing the actual trial of Yellow Thunder’s murderers, Magnuson gives a fair accounting of all the parties in attendance, from the wife of the murderer to the American Indian Movement (AIM) activists, including Russell Means and Bob Yellow Bird. Magnuson’s fair and neutral reporting coupled with his immense amount of research gives the reader an excellent perspective on the trial. He...

Assessing Landbird Monitoring Programs and Demographic Causes of Population Trends

Abstract: Population trend data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) have been used to identify conservation priorities and justify major conservation initiatives. Yet the BBS has been criticized for potential habitat bias and reliance on abundance indices to estimate trends. We compared 1992–2003 BBS trend estimates to trend estimates derived from bird‐banding data collected as part of the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program for 36 wood warbler species. Similarity in trends between the 2 monitoring programs at the survey‐wide and program‐wide scales suggested that each program can provide accurate trend information. The MAPS program, however, was designed primarily to complement (rather than duplicate) count‐based efforts, such as the BBS, by providing estimates or indices of demographic rates. Demographic data from MAPS can be used to lend insight into proximate (demographic) causes of population trends and inform management. We illustrate this with analyses of 1992–2003 MAPS data for yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia). We used reverse‐time capture‐recapture models to evaluate importance of new recruits (including immigrating adults and young from the previous year) relative to surviving adults in explaining variation in trend among BBS physiographic strata. We included the number of young per adult captured (an index of productivity) as a covariate in models to assess effects of productivity on trends. Survival was the key demographic driver of recent population trends. Comparison of MAPS productivity indices and adult apparent survival rate estimates to BBS trend estimates largely confirmed this inference. We suggest that increased MAPS coverage, better coordination between MAPS and the BBS, and continued development of analytical methods that link the 2 programs will enhance the value of these monitoring efforts to land managers and conservation planners working at a variety of spatial scales.

A game-theoretic model of interspecific brood parasitism with sequential decisions

The interaction between hosts and parasites in bird populations has been studied extensively. This paper uses game-theoretic methods to model this interaction. This has been done in previous papers but has not been studied taking into account the detailed sequential nature of this game. We introduce a model allowing the host and parasite to make a number of decisions which will depend on various natural factors. The sequence of events begins with the host forming a nest and laying a number of eggs, followed by the possibility that a parasite bird will arrive at the nest; if it does it can choose to destroy some of the host eggs and lay one of its own. A sequence of events follows, which is broken down into two key stages; firstly the interaction between the host and the parasite adult, and secondly that between the host and the parasite chick. The final decision involves the host choosing whether to raise or abandon the chicks that are in the nest. There are certain natural parameters and probabilities which are central to these various decisions; in particular the host is generally uncertain whether parasitism has taken place, but can assess the likelihood of parasitism based upon certain cues (e.g. how many eggs remain in its nest). We then use this methodology to model two real-world interactions, that of the Reed Warbler with the Common Cuckoo and also the Yellow Warbler with the Brown-headed Cowbird. These parasites have different methods in the way they parasitize the nests of their hosts, and the hosts can in turn have different reactions to these parasites. Our model predictions generally match the real results well, and the model also makes predictions of the effect of changes in various key parameters on the type of parasitic interactions that should occur.

GENETIC STRUCTURE OF GALÁPAGOS POPULATIONS OF THE YELLOW WARBLER

Abstract Sequence variation of control region mitochondrial DNA, phylogenetic reconstruction, and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) were used to determine the degree of genetic structure of Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) in the Galapagos Archipelago. When the Galapagos population was partitioned into subpopulations (by island), AMOVA indicated a nonsignificant level of genetic structure. The presence of the same haplotype on more than one island also indicated low genetic divergence among subpopulations. Using these sequences and those available in Genbank, we also determined the degree of divergence between the Galapagos Yellow Warbler population and other New World populations. Mean sequence divergence between the Galapagos population and Latin American populations was 3.7%, and between the Galapagos population and North American populations was 6.7%.

Do Hosts Discriminate between Sexually Dichromatic Male and Female Brown‐headed Cowbirds?

AbstractFemale brood parasites are recognized as threats to reproductive success by many host species. Male brood parasites may accompany females while they search for nests to parasitize and males depredate nests throughout the nesting cycle. Hence, selection may also favour recognition of males. We examined whether two common host species perceive male brown‐headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) as brood parasites, as nest predators, or neither. We quantified visits of male cowbirds to nests of yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia) and red‐winged blackbirds (Ageliaus phoeniceus) to assess the frequency with which these host species interact with male cowbirds. Males were observed near nests during hosts’ laying and incubating stages, although less frequently than female cowbirds. No visits by cowbirds occurred while parents cared for nestlings. We then presented models of male and female cowbirds plus a non‐threatening control to yellow warblers and red‐winged blackbirds during laying and nestling periods. If hosts perceive males and females similarly, they should respond more intensely to the cowbird models during the laying period, when nests are most likely to be parasitized. Both species responded similarly to male and female cowbird models during laying, which suggests that hosts view cowbirds of both sexes as threats. The responses of yellow warblers with nestlings to male cowbirds were strongly influenced by the order of model presentation. Warblers first presented with the male cowbird gave much reduced anti‐parasite responses than those that first interacted with the female then the male cowbird. These results suggest that yellow warblers recognized male vs. female cowbirds, but that discrimination was not expressed during laying. By contrast, red‐winged blackbirds did not discriminate between male and female cowbirds at either nesting stage.

BREEDING ECOLOGY OF THE MANGROVE WARBLER (DENDROICA PETECHIA BRYANTI) AND COMPARATIVE LIFE HISTORY OF THE YELLOW WARBLER SUBSPECIES COMPLEX

It is widely accepted that tropical birds differ from temperate species in life-history traits and social behaviors, yet baseline ecological data are lacking for most tropical species and comparative studies often fail to control for phylogenetic influences. Within the Americas, the Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) is ideal for such comparisons because its subspecies encompass a range of life-history strategies; the subspecies include long-distance migrants, temperate–tropical migrants, and tropical residents. We collected baseline data on the breeding ecology of Mangrove Warblers (D. p. bryanti) from southern Mexico (2001–2003) and compared their life-history traits with those of temperate and other tropical subspecies using existing data. Mangrove Warblers actively defended territories year-round during both nonbreeding and breeding seasons. The timing of breeding varied by year, and clutch size averaged 2.9 ± 0.5 [SD] eggs, with both a median and a mode of 3 eggs. Annual estimates of nesting success ranged from 18% to 33%, and nest depredation was the primary cause of nest failure. Annual survival was significantly higher for males (0.65) than for females (0.52) and, given our data, did not vary by age or year. On the basis of a comparative analysis of life-history data from published studies on the Yellow Warbler subspecies complex, we found that most life-history traits differed between tropical and temperate latitudes. Specifically, compared with temperate Yellow Warblers, Mangrove Warblers exhibited longer breeding seasons, smaller clutch sizes, longer incubation and nestling periods, lower nesting success, higher rates of nest depredation, and higher annual adult survival rates.

ECOLOGICAL CORRELATES AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF A GENERALIST BROOD PARASITE

Abstract Parents inluence the phenotype of their offspring by determining the environment in which early development occurs. The many factors that affect growth in avian brood parasites provide an excellent context in which to examine how ecological variables and sex differences influence plasticity of early development. We used a model-selection approach to determine the most important variable(s) for explaining patterns in growth rate of the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater). Using published growth-rate estimates across various host species, we found that the age-adjusted size of Brown-headed Cowbird chicks increases with increasing hatching synchrony between host and parasite chicks. We also quantified Brown-headed Cowbird growth rates in nests of Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) and Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia), two common host species at Mono Lake, California, to examine the role of variation in hatching synchrony in broods within host species. Statistical models to explain variation in ...

American Indian Studies Association–Student Association

American Indian Studies Association–Student Association Ki-Shan Lara (bio) Many generations ago, along the Klamath River, there lived a wise woman who wove the most beautiful baskets known to mankind. Her baskets were woven so tight that water could not penetrate them. She was aging and had many experiences to share. Through prayer, she began to weave a basket for the people. The wise woman worked day after day, weaving, praying, and singing. As her strong hands moved gracefully over her materials, she shared a story to be retold, a song to be sung again, and a lesson to be learned. When she finished, she had created a large beautiful basket bowl. She placed the basket in the river at Weitspus, where two rivers join together, and stood silent as the basket began its journey. The basket seemed to tip-toe across the gentle breakers, it moved along more quickly as it hit the swift currents, and swirled ever so purposeful into the eddies. Round and round, the basket turned through the trials and tribulating water and then burst free into the swift, shallow flow of the river. At times, the basket glided gently atop the deep holes of the river. All life that swam below watched with great interest. Although the villagers lived within their own unique environment, each village anticipated the basket's presence. The old woman understood the human need for knowledge and contribution. As such, the people picked up the basket, rejoiced in the lessons, and they too added prayers and allowed the basket to continue its journey. After many stops, the basket reached Requa, the mouth of the Klamath River. It made three final spins, reflecting a ceremonial journey, and drifted its way over the rough water of the mouth and into the belly of [End Page 103] the Pacific Ocean. All that the basket had to offer made its final journey into the sunset, where it exists eternally. This story has been with the Yurok people since time immemorial. As with many oral traditions, we are constantly learning from these intricate pieces of knowledge. In one of the many interpretations of this story, the river mirrors time and the villages symbolize each generation with its own unique environment. When listening to this story, one must ask, "What might have been if villagers would have sat back and watched the basket travel by? What would have been missed if there was neither learning nor contribution?" This story serves as a challenge to "pick up the basket," to learn, to contribute, and to protect our history while nurturing our future. With this philosophy in mind, the American Indian Studies Association–Student Association (AISA–SA) was formulated. We would like to acknowledge our ancestors who fought for our survival, our grandparents who fought for our inherent rights, our parents who fought to maintain those rights, and scholars such as Elizabeth Cook Lynn, Gregory Cajete, James Riding In, Michael Yellow Bird, and the late Vine Deloria Jr. who have dedicated their lives to contributing to the field of American Indian studies. We value the strength, resilience, experiences, and knowledge of these generations. We recognize the importance of the flow of information from one generation to the next, as well as the significance of learning and contribution. Therefore, it is the goal of the AISA–SA to learn, to contribute, to support undergraduate and graduate native scholars, to identify individuals who believe in the ideals and goals of American Indian studies/Native American studies, and to establish a national community of like-minded scholars. At the American Indian Studies Association Conference held at Arizona State University, the Student Association nominated and elected a chairman: D. J. Worley (full-blooded Dine'/Mescalaro/ Ilokanos/German/Irish) from the University of California–Davis; a vice-chairman: Jerold Blain (Benton Paiute) from the University of California–Davis; a board member representative: Ki-Shan Lara (Hupa/Yurok) from Arizona State University; and five board members: Elise Boxer (Dakota) from Arizona State University, Leo Kills Back (Northern Cheyenne) from the University of Arizona, Dina Barajas (Hopi) from the University of Arizona, Lori Laiwa (Pomo) from the University of California–Davis, and Amber Bill (Pyramid...

The Future of American Indian Studies in the Time of Global Warming

The Future of American Indian Studies in the Time of Global Warming Michael Yellow Bird (bio) Good afternoon. I am honored and pleased to be here today participating with the esteemed members of this panel to discuss my views on what I believe the future of American Indian studies must be. I want to thank the members of the conference planning committee who invited me to be a part of this panel and the American Indian studies program at Arizona State University for hosting this conference and putting together an excellent program that features several notable American Indian studies scholars. I also, in advance, graciously thank the members of the audience for your participation, questions, suggestions, and comments over these next two days. I am a member of the Arikara and Hidatsa nations of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota. I grew up on our reservation for a good part my life and continue to keep a close association with my community by voting in tribal elections, attending ceremonies, and consulting with community members on the topics of health and well-being, the environment, youth, and tribal governance. In my academic life, I am the former director of the Center for Indigenous Nations Studies at the University of Kansas (2004–2006) and was one of the founding members (and innovators) of this program, which began in 1997. Our program at the University of Kansas is unique because we offer a master's degree that focuses on the issues and concerns confronting Indigenous peoples within and beyond the borders of the Americas. I believe we are the only global Indigenous studies graduate program in [End Page 91] this hemisphere. Indigenous peoples within the borders of the United States (American Indians) are one of our main areas of focus. I presently serve as a full-time associate professor on our faculty. My academic training is in the discipline of social work with an emphasis in American Indians, health, and quantitative research methods. Since becoming a faculty member in our program, I have investigated and published on a number of topics related to American Indians and Indigenous nations. I presently teach graduate courses in global and American Indian health, Native American oppression, resistance and liberation, research methods and Indigenous peoples, and applied Indigenous leadership. Like many of my colleagues in American Indian studies, I have spent a good part of my academic career theorizing and writing about the effects of colonialism upon our communities. More recently, many of us with an applied agenda have engaged in the study of the intricate, tricky processes of decolonization, which we believe will serve as antidotes to the various oppressions that confront our communities. I have enjoyed examining these topics and feel fortunate to have been able to contribute my humble works and opinions to this growing literature within our discipline. As for the future of my work, I am in the process of developing a research agenda that will enable me to operationalize several key variables embedded within these two topics to empirically verify the significance of their effects on our communities. I am anticipating that this second stage of work will lead to reliable and valid models that will enable our students and discipline to assist American Indian/Indigenous communities to implement validated decolonization strategies to enhance and ensure Indigenous nation-building and empowerment. Regarding the future of American Indian/Indigenous studies, I believe that concepts such as colonialism, empowerment, nation-building, sovereignty, and decolonization must be clearly laid out within testable parameters so we can institute curriculum to help our students harness the power and grasp the consequences of these concepts. I believe that while our scholarly theorizing on these topics has been important it has now reached its upper real limits and we are now badly in need of tangible, realistic solutions. Indeed, along with the imparting of knowledge must come the responsibility to take intelligent, informed, and effective action. To that end, as a social scientist who relies on quantitative, empirical methods to examine and test what is true and what is hyperbole, I am of the opinion that we (in American Indian/Indigenous studies) are more than a bit light...

Rabbit's Gift: A Fable from China (review)

Reviewed by: Betwixt April Spisak Smith, Tara Bray Betwixt. Little, 2007488p ISBN 978-0-316-06033-2$17.99 R Gr. 9-12 When another snowfall is poised to fall on the already blanketed countryside, Rabbit digs up a couple of turnips to fill his larder. Once he's home and nibbling, he begins to worry that his friend Donkey won't be so fortunate, and he drops off the second turnip by her door. When Donkey, prepped with a potato, returns, she passes the turnip on to her neighbor Goat, who gives it to Deer, who thinks that she should take it to . . . Rabbit again. This is a gentle tale, personably told; the universal warmth and fondness means there's not much tension, but wee listeners may be genuinely surprised by the circular turnip journey, and they'll appreciate the convivial turnip-sharing of the end. Dronzek's acrylics echo the softness of the tale with cushiony mounds of snow and sweetly rounded animals; decorative borders that begin with the Chinese character for each new animal detract from the visual simplicity, but the recurring figure of the little yellow bird gives youngsters additional hunt-and-point pleasure. The straightforwardness of the message and the warmth of its delivery will make this a storytime natural any time of the year. A note explains the folktale's general history but gives no specific source. Copyright © 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Are Nestlings the Cue for Reduction of the Adrenocortical Response to Stress in Male Yellow Warblers Breeding at High Latitude?

AbstractAbstract. Acute corticosterone secretion helps individuals survive perturbation, particularly when faced with unpredictable conditions. However, elevated corticosterone is often incompatible with reproduction. Male Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) breeding at high latitude avoid this conflict by exhibiting a reduced adrenocortical response while provisioning nestlings. To determine if this reduction is cued by nestlings, in June 2000 we switched clutches between nest pairs to manipulate hatching date. We sampled males with early-hatching clutches for the adrenocortical response 24 hr after nestlings hatched, but 24 hr prior to the premanipulated (original) hatching date. Similarly, we sampled males with late-hatching clutches 24 hr after the original hatching date, but prior to nestlings hatching. Males with early-hatching clutches (n = 6) showed no reduced adrenocortical response, while males with late-hatching clutches (n = 6) appeared to show a reduced response even without nestlings, suggesting that nestlings do not cue the reduction. An endogenous clock, day-counting mechanism, or hormonal changes may be associated with the reduced adrenocortical response.

Genetic diversity of local geese of varying productivity and feather color in Kars

The local geese in the transition region between the Caucasus Mountains and Anatolia have economically significant differences in productivity and are identified by four feather colors, white, black, piebald, and yellow. This study was undertaken to determine the genetic structure, evolutionary relationships, and genetic diversity among these birds. DNA samples were obtained from 100 animals, and 50 random primers were screened. Genetic relationships were determined by random amplified polymorphic DNA polymorphisms obtained from a total of 48 loci, showing 40 bands (83.33%) that were polymorphic among all the populations investigated. A dendrogram constructed for this study revealed a close relationship between the white and the black birds. Additionally, the piebald birds showed close similarity to white and black geese, and the yellow birds displayed a clear distance from the other three populations.

Differences in Song Rate in Two Populations of Yellow Warblers

The Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) has a mating system characterized by monogamy and biparental care, and has the broadest breeding distribution of any Dendroica species. When faced with a short breeding season and unpredictable conditions at high latitude, they display physiological responses to help optimize the tradeoff between individual risk and reproductive success. Because these circumstances may also affect behavior, we measured the song rates (songs/hr) of subArctic- and temperate-breeding males during the nestling period. Temperate males sang at higher rates when compared to subArctic males. Maintaining a high song rate while provisioning nestlings may be advantageous if a second brood is attempted. Our results suggest behavioral plasticity as a result of differing constraints on time and reproduction.