Sunday Funnies: Starling Sex Change Results, Big Pictures

I don't know if this is good news or bad news: from wired.com, a study is showing that male starlings who have been exposed to certain sex changing chemicals that make them more female (?) are being more highly favored by female starlings:

Male starlings with the highest levels of endocrine disruptors in their bodies also possessed unusually developed high vocal centers, an area of the brain associated with songbirds' songs. Scientists have previously shown that estrogen drives HVC development; its mimics apparently have the same effect.

Accordingly, the polluted male starlings sang songs of exceptional length and complexity -- a birdsign of reproductive fitness. Female starlings preferred their songs to those of unexposed males, suggesting that the polluted birds could have a reproductive advantage, eventually spreading their genes through starling populations.

Hmmm. Don't know if this is good or bad for the male starling. On the one hand, the attention from the females has to be a plus; on the other, it looks like it drives down his testosterone level, or increases his estrogen level, which may drive down his ability to make little starling babies. Now that's not for sure yet, more studying has to be done on that aspect of it. But my guess is that is exactly what will happen: you starling guys want to be more favored? then become more like us female starlings: kick up the estrogen level, lower the testosterone level. Might even help out in our neighborhood if the starlings become both less populous and more pleasant in their song - right now they swoop down in something that is kind of like a fluttering cackle that is followed by the sounds of gun shot as locals try to shoo them on their way by firing blanks. If I were a male starling, I'ld be wary.

A note on my posted pictures: recently I've been throwing pictures straight from my camera onto the blog without reducing them or changing them in any way. This has made for a very big picture and one that if opened in another window overlaps that window by a bunch. Now I know there is something out there that reduces-to-fit such pictures but I don't know what that thingee is yet. So, in the interim, if you are interested in seeing a bigger version of the posted pictures without the overlap, I would suggest downloading it to your computer which will give you a more manageable size. (Hope somebody out there with the appropriate expertise will respond in some way pointing me in the direction to find and install the 'reduce-to-fit thingee'.)

Sun is peeking through the clouds, temperatures are already in the nice range, wind is up a little. Best get myself over to the golf course. Golfers are getting antsy. Me too.