Courtyard house in Zhangye- many of the houses have beautiful tiled murals above their doorways Once we found evidence of hybridization between rustica and gutturalis in Jiuquan, we needed to map the width of the hybrid zone. We set out on our zigzagging plan: after 3 nights of catching birds in Jiuquan, we hopped the high-speed train to Zhangye. Again, we found excellent stretches of old courtyard-style houses, and again, we found birds that looked like both rustica and gutturalis nesting close to each other. The birds in Zhangye were early in their breeding cycle- only a few had begun laying eggs, and most were still building their nests. Luckily they were sleeping on their nests, and we managed a big sample size over 3 nights of work.
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