Re: non seasonal mating in birds question (2)

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

David Peters writes: 

> Sorry about the truncated message problem. Just discovered the rich/plain text button on my new email program. 
>
> The question was: Do any birds mate in the wild more than once a year?  

Since there are no real seasons in the tropics (except for 'wet' and 'dry'), 
I *suspect* that seasonal breeding cycles are far more relaxed close to the 
equator. 

Certainly song birds in mild temperate climates (like here in southeastern 
Australia) can raise several clutches in a row. European blackbirds seem to 
love our climate, and in fact are more prolific in parts of Australia than 
they are in their original European homes. Nectar feeding birds could 
probably breed all year round down here, given the number of winter 
flowering plants (whether they actually do or not is another question). 

As long as conditions are right, there is nothing to stop some species from 
having mutliple broods per year. A quick google search using the words 
"multiple brooded birds" got a lot of hits. One that caught my eye was: 

Multiple Breeding in the Great Tit. A Trade-Off between Successive 
Reproductive Attempts? S. Verhulst, J. M. Tinbergen, S. Daan
Functional Ecology, Vol. 11, No. 6 (Dec., 1997), pp. 714-722 

(Now stop that childish sniggering...) 

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Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist              http://geo_cities.com/dannsdinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia             http://heretichides.soffiles.com
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