Phase or morph is very confusing to me; your explanation makes sense to me,
but at the same time, for example, Hawks in Flight by Pete Dunne, David
Sibley and Clay Sutton, uses phase routinely in a way that seems to suggest
subspecies....e.g., p173 "Adult Wester Red-tailed Hawk (*calurus), light
phase but still darker than the average Eastern Red-tialed Hawk..."
Betsy True
Alexandria, VA
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-------Original Message-------
From: Icepeep@xxxxxxx
Date: 11/5/2007 7:46:34 AM
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Va-bird] phase or morph
Hi List,
A phase in a bird is an occurrence of a plumage in a recurring cycle of
changes. When a bird is in a plumage that it is going to keep, such as blue
in a Snow Goose, it is not a phase. They call that a morph. David Sibley
refers to light or dark birds, such as Rough-legged Hawks, as simply light
or dark. That is even easier.
Bob Abrams
Head of English Department
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
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