Hi, I think it may be useful to define adaptation and habituation as it relates to birds and bird behavior. Adaptation is generally considered to be an alteration in the genome resulting in change in morphology or physiology which enables a species to exploit some aspect of the ecology, resulting in higher reproductive success. Darwin's finch beaks being the cardinal example Habituation is a change in behavior but not morphology or physiology. Is considered to be learned, eg British Great Tits learning to remove the caps from milk jugs. It may take multiple generations for this behavior to be spread widely in a population or it can happen very quickly as with the British Great Tits. There is most certainly a genetic element to behavior and it can be selected. Like the tame Russian foxes who were selected and breed based upon response to a hand being brought quickly to the cage near the foxes face. Why are Wood Duck's so skittish? Most likely because only the skittish survived when they were hunted to near extinction, so has this behavior has become encoded in their DNA? Why are Ivory-billed Woodpeckers so good at hiding from people? Most likely a similar reason. I think one of the reason's Williams found Piliateds to be rare was because they were also very good at avoiding people. When I was a boy I remember the old hands at birding, saying that seeing anything other then the distant white flashes of a Piliated flying away was a rare treat. However during my lifetime I have seen this species become habituated to human presence. When a diverse and intelligent species are confronted with a problem there may not be any genetic component. Crows nesting in sub urban settings may be cultural. I am currently doing some work with Canada Geese and have learned how quickly they change their behavior and responses in reaction to certain conditions. It is actually quite astonishing. Eastern Bluebirds come to feeders offering hulled sunflower. This is something that just began in the last decade and is most certainly learned and cultural. Overall this is a fascinating subject and requires abandoning the creationist notion that intelligence suddenly sprang into existence when our species showed up on the planet. When it comes to Ohio's avafauna behavioral changes may be rapid, like our bluebirds, or may take generations. It is always interesting to observe these changes over time and make note of them. When it comes to the range of bird species, such as our Fish Crows, this will not be the first time in my lifetime such a rapid expansion has occurred. It is impossible to assign causality to these changes and these may be part of a normal range of variation which is spread over centuries. Haans Petruschke Kirtland ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]