PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 15, 2023
I have learned about a remarkable hybrid of a Rose-breasted grosbeak and a Scarlet tanager. A hybrid should not be able to produce viable and fertile offspring. But we have situations where hybrids are sometimes fertile. We still treat the parent species as separate species in some cases but not others. It’s no wonder that many biologists are moving away from interbreeding as a definition of species to morphological or genetic definitions of species. Nature has no interest in being pigeon-holed. ~ Herb Wilson