Never again would birds' song be the same
From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: It isn’t often that ornithologists get to document an abrupt change in the song of an entire species of bird, but this is exactly what happened less than four years ago. Moreover, it happened with a very common bird, the White-throated Sparrow. This beautifully marked native sparrow nests across the eastern two-thirds of Canada and parts of the northeastern United States, winters commonly in most eastern states, with small numbers throughout the west. It’s a backyard bird for literally millions of bird watchers. You would expect that a sudden change in its song would command the attention of legions of birders. But as far as I know, only one reference book has documented this change in vocal pattern. That reference (I must admit) was my own field guide. It was published in 2000 as the Kaufman Focus Guide to Birds of North America , with a brightly colored cover featuring a Scarlet Tanager. In 2004, however, the marketing department at the publishin...