There is a post doc working for my adviser who is from Glasgow, Scotland, named Lindsay. She and I have been comparing birds in North America to their counterparts in Europe. One especially interesting example to me was the Northern Harrier of North America and the Hen Harrier of Europe. These birds are considered different species by some and different subspecies of the same species by others. The reasons for having some kind of distinction between the two populations usually rests on the fact that they are separated by an ocean and also on slight differences in size. However, we being students of behavior, Lindsay and I were talking about behavioral differences between the two, and there was one that really jumped out at us. She was surprised to see so many harriers in the agricultural land around the town of Davis. In Scotland, the Hen Harrier generally keeps to more natural landscapes of moor and meadow. Here in the U.S. The Northern Harrier is a common sight in human dominated landscapes such as empty lots and agricultural fields. In fact, they even breed in these fields fairly frequently which was quite a surprise to my Scottish friend. This demonstrates how important the study of behavior can be. The outward, physical differences between birds from these two populations are slight, but they have these distinct behavioral differences in where they hunt and where they breed. Surely this kind of information could , and should, be used when defining species!
I want to collect such differences in behavior between different populations, so do you know of any? They can be from any continent or any combination of continents, and involve any species.
Reblogged this on urbanperegrines.