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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

- AWARDS & HONORS -
Mantis Tech received the 2018 Caliber Award for Best Accessory at the NASGW Awards Dinner. The award is determined by an expert panel of 18 members of NASGW and POMA.
- BIRDING -
To celebrate the addition of the Forever Wild Wehle Tract in Bullock County to the Wiregrass Birding Trail, a dedication ceremony will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2018, at 9 a.m.
- COMPETITION -
Krieghoff International announces that its Pro Staff Shooter Kayle Browning won the women’s trap event at the Championship of the Americas late Monday in Guadalajara, Mexico.

- CONSERVATION -
John Deere and Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever announced a new joint effort Wednesday to help improve wildlife habitat acres across the country and provide discounts on select models of new John Deere equipment to Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever members.
- EVENTS -
Firefield is ready to attend the 39th Annual Dallas Safari Club Convention in 2019. The show will take place at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, Texas on January 17 – 20.
Dallas Safari Club is honored to host NRA President Oliver North as the Saturday night banquet speaker during the 2019 DSC Convention, Mogambo: Dagga Boy Danger.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s Hunter & Outdoor Christmas Expo begins its 10-day run in conjunction with the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR) December 6-15 in Las Vegas. It will take place in the South Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, upstairs from Cowboy Christmas.

- FISHERIES -
The Catch a Florida Memory program has been so successful, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has created a new honor, the Triple Threat Club, for those who participate in all three Catch a Florida Memory programs, including Saltwater Grand Slams, Saltwater Fish Life List and Saltwater Reel Big Fish.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission stocked 900 rainbow trout at Crystal Springs Park in Fairbury on Nov. 6.
Commercial harvest of king mackerel in federal waters of the Western Zone will reopen for seven days at at 12:01 am, local time, on November 12, 2018, and close at 12:01 am, local time, on November 19, 2018.
- FISHING TOURNAMENTS -
B.A.S.S. officials announced Wednesday that the field for the 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series has been set. The circuit will consist of 75 anglers (about 40 fewer than last year), including three who have won both the Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods and the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year award.

- HUNTING -
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is offering free hunter safety courses in Liberty and Bay counties in November.
More than 60,000 acres of wetland habitat are available for waterfowl hunters through Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wildlife management areas, nearly all of which is open on a first-come, first-served basis.
High water on the White and Cache rivers has forced the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to temporarily close deer season in some wildlife management areas of eastern Arkansas, as well as some private land in the Cache River basin.
Memorialize that unforgettable first Arkansas deer with a printable certificate from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

- INDUSTRY -
Swanson Russell recently promoted four people in its Lincoln and Omaha offices: Shelton Crouch, Courtney Geyer, Morgan Nebbia and Katie Scherer.
- JOBS -
Quickfire is seeking a motivated Video Editor to provide leadership and play a key role on their Creative Team out of Aurora, Ohio.
- NEW PRODUCTS -
Hogue Incorporated is proud to announce the latest addition in their line of HandALL Beavertail Grip Sleeves with a model precisely designed to fit micro-compact sized SIG SAUER P365s.
Outdoor Life editors put some of the best goose decoys to the test, and Avian-X's AXF Honkers Walker Pack aced the test.

TWN Industries has partnered with A-TACS to release a new line of urban camouflage called Ghost. A-TACS (Advanced Tactical Concealment System) designed this pattern as a tactical option for urban operations.
- ORGANIZATIONS -
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms congratulated three new pro-Second Amendment senators who replace anti-gunners and strengthen the Republican majority, which will be important to confirming federal court nominees and prevent House Democrats from pushing extremist gun control laws.
The Outdoor Writers Association of America’s mailing address has changed. Due to no staff in Missoula, Montana, the board and executive director have elected to shutter the OWAA offices.
- PARTNERSHIPS -
Pope & Young feels strongly about embracing its partnership with Wilderness Attitude Podcast and growing its reach to the men, women and children of the bowhunting community.

- RADIO -
America Outdoors Radio has a special Veteran's Day program featuring Trinity Oaks and Wounded Warrior Outdoors, two non-profit groups doing great things for our combat wounded soldiers and veterans.
- SHOOTING GEAR -
Part of Galco's Concealed Carry Lite line of holsters, the WalkAbout 2.0 offers all the benefits of the Tuck-n-Go 2.0 – with the addition of an attached speedloader carrier.
- SPONSORSHIPS -
Industry Day at the Range is pleased to announce that firearms manufacturer Sol Invictus Arms will be the exclusive Media Lunch Sponsor at the 2019 range day event.
- STATES -
The ranks of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police grew by 44 officers—the largest increase in manpower in 13 years – in recent graduation ceremonies.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will host five open house events to solicit public input to help develop a work plan for the new State Lakes Protection and Restoration Fund, which will provide $1 million for each of the next three years to improve state-owned lakes.
The City of Lake Park, Wenck Engineering, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will host a public meeting at 6 p.m., Nov. 14, at the Lake Park Community Center (903 S Market Street) to discuss plans for improving water quality and recreational opportunities at Silver Lake in Dickinson County.
The public is invited to cut certain downed trees in designated areas at Mississinewa Lake for firewood.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission this fall is offering both a wild birds and a wildlife calendar to raise money for wildlife conservation among residents who normally don’t contribute to wildlife’s wellbeing in the Keystone State.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission completed a major revision to its long-standing mobile app last week to catch up with recent changes to the AGFC’s licensing and checking procedures.
- TELEVISION -
This week on Guns & Gear, Barnes Bullets celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the all-copper X bullet. Plus, the 22/45 Lite rimfire from Ruger, ASP airgun rifles from Sig Sauer , the Micro Stainless Raptor from Kimber, and ATN's ThOR 4 scope.
- TRAINING -
SIG SAUER Academy announced a new course offering for 2019 with the addition of Pistol Mounted Optics Instructor to the SIG SAUER Academy course line-up. The first offering of this class is January 31, 2019 at the SIG SAUER Academy in Epping, New Hampshire.
- WILDLIFE -
Arizona’s bald eagle population continues to soar as the number of breeding areas expanded statewide and a record 87 young hatched during the 2018 breeding season, according the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s annual survey.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department confirmed a buck white-tailed deer has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Deer Hunt Area 32. The deer was harvested west of Kaycee.
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officials have confirmed that a mountain lion reported within the city limits of Gordon was killed by the Gordon Police Department on the evening of Monday, Nov. 5.
- WORKSHOPS -
The Civilian Marksmanship Program’s (CMP) Advanced Maintenance Clinics will return in 2019 for those firearm enthusiasts interested in assembling his or her own vintage rifle with the help of hands-on, knowledgeable instructors.
 

Two views of a rare triple-hybrid warbler (Golden-winged Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, and Chestnut-sided Warbler). Photos by Lowell Burket.

Declining population of one species may play a role
 
Ithaca, NYScientists have shown that a bird found in Pennsylvania is the offspring of a hybrid warbler mother and a warbler father from an entirely different genusa combination never recorded before now and which resulted in a three-species hybrid bird. This finding has just been published in the journal Biology Letters.
 
"It’s extremely rare," explains lead author and Cornell Lab of Ornithology postdoctoral associate David Toews. "The female is a Golden-winged/Blue-winged Warbler hybridalso called a Brewster's Warbler. She then mated with a Chestnut-sided Warbler and successfully reproduced." 

Graphic shows predicted family tree of warblers leading to the three-species hybrid. Blue-winged, Golden-winged, and Brewster's Warblers by Liz Clayton Fuller; Chestnut-sided Warbler from del Hoyo et al.(2018) Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive; new hybrid by Jillian Ditner. Graphic courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.


A dedicated bird watcher and contributor to eBird.org in Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania, first noted the oddity in May 2018. Lowell Burket says he spends time birding and relaxing in the woods on family-owned property where he also likes to take photos and video of birds. In one piece of video he noticed a male bird that sang like a Chestnut-sided Warbler but had some of the physical characteristics of both Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers. Burket saw the bird again a number of times, reported it to eBird, and got in touch with researchers in the Cornell Lab's Fuller Evolutionary Biology Lab.

"I tried to make the email sound somewhat intellectual so they wouldn’t think I was a crackpot," Burket recalls. "Having the photos and video helped. Within a week researcher David Toews came down. We found the bird again and collected a blood sample and measurements. It was a very interesting and exciting morning for us. A few days later I got a text message from Dave saying, 'You were right!!!'"

The key to identifying the triple-hybrid's parents came from genetic analyses.

"We looked at the genes that code for different warbler colors," Toews explains. "This way we could recreate what the hybrid’s mother would have looked like—the avian equivalent of a detective’s facial composite, but generated from genes. We confirmed that the mother would have looked like a Brewster’s Warbler and the father was a Chestnut-sided Warbler."
 
Hybridization is common among Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers, and this has been of particular concern for Golden-winged Warblers which have declined dramatically in some populations. But hybridization has never been recorded between these species and Chestnut-sided Warblers. This kind of rare hybridization event may also occur more often in the declining warbler populations of Appalachia, because there is a smaller pool of mates from which to choose.

"That this hybridization occurred within a population of Golden-winged Warblers in significant decline suggests that females may be making the best of a bad situation," says Toews. "It also tells us that wood-warblers in general have remained genetically compatible long after they evolved major differences in appearance.”
 
Will the bird’s mixed ancestry confuse potential mates and make him a pariah or will he be able to find a mate and successfully produce offspring? Scientists are going to keep an eye on this location to see what the future may hold for this very rare bird. And Lowell Burket declares he's a bird watcher for life.

"I had literally zero knowledge about birds until seven years ago," he says. "And now I end up discovering what appears to be a first-of-its-kind bird. It can happen to anybody!"


Reference: Toews, D., H. Streby, L. Burket, S. Taylor. (2018) A wood-warbler produced through both interspecific and intergenetic hybridization. Biology Letters. 

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Editors: Download images and graphic for use with stories about this research. All images credited to Lowell Burket. Graphic should be credited as shown in the release above.

Embed a video clip of the new hybrid: After opening the link, click on the “embed” text below the image to get code needed from the Cornell Lab's Macaulay Library archive to use the clip on your website.

Media Contact:
Pat Leonard, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, (607) 254-2137, pel27@cornell.edu

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