Lisa Explains Brain-Damaged Males

Since we started off with a bird theme at the beginning of this blog, I want to add a few tidbits for local birdwatchers:

These pictures are of peach-faced lovebirds that were nesting a couple months ago in the saguaro at 103rd and Charter Oak.  They are not native to Arizona, coming here from South Africa by way of an aviary owner who set his flock free.  They can be seen all over the neighborhood in the spring, traveling in groups of 15-20.  They squawk as they fly, and when in trees they sing, a distinctive sound once you have heard it.  They survive well in this dry climate, and especially love many of the other plants that have been imported to Arizona.

And another saguaro-nesting non-native species is the European starling.  (Someone brought every bird mentioned in Shakespeare's plays to America.  The starlings seem to love the USA!!)  They have been ingesting hormone tainted earthworms which have caused brain damage to the males.  This has made them more attractive to the females, as the females pick their mates based on the male's song, and the brain-damaged male starlings apparently sing quite an exciting song.  Hum . . . what does that say of male rock stars?  Or are the females also brain-damaged?  

Your neighbor, Lisa