So, this evening, after getting lawn mowed & garden tended, I was sitting on deck, doing some birding. Saw my first juvenile Cedar Waxwings of the season flycatching, so they’ve left the nest. And juvenile BH Grosbeaks are hitting the seeds, now. Young Robins are busy in the lawn going after worms. The adult BC Hummingbirds are busy at the feeder & juveniles should show soon.

Then, for only my 2nd time in 30 yrs here, I watched a female Yellow Warbler frantically trying to keep up with the appetite of her juvenile BH Cowbird. And it made me wonder, how does a Cowbird know it’s a Cowbird, if raised by a surrogate. So, I Googled it. Turns out, this has been studied. Lab raised Cowbirds by a surrogate mom, eventually adopt characteristics & try to mate with the surrogate species. Wild ones, don’t.

Through transmitter studies, it’s been determined that the female Cowbird that laid her egg in a surrogate’s nest, never disappears. Hangs around & at about 20 days of age, the juvenile Cowbird sneaks out at night from surrogate’s mom roost & takes up with real mom! Learning Cowbird ways, only to return by morning, and get fed all day by the surrogate. I have an entirely new appreciation for Cowbirds! That’s pretty slick…someone else does all the work & mom Cowbird gets to do fun stuff with junior, teaching the ins & outs of Cowbird-ism.

Now, if I could only convince my son & daughter-in-law to let us have our grandson all day, everyday & they could take him back at night. He would still be theirs…and we could do all the “hard” stuff…spoil, feed him wrong foods, play, etc!

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot