Cowbird Eggs?

[Tom Sawyer]

Was wondering how many other bird lovers out there have removed Cowbird eggs from nests? Just came across 2 Chipping Sparrow nests while pruneing hedges in the yard with 2 Cowbird eggs in one nest and 1 in the other.

Officially, the answer is that it is illegal to remove a brown-headed cowbird egg from a nest. They are a native species and therefore protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty–unless you have a depredation permit from the federal government to remove them as in the case of Kirtland’s warblers - See more at: http://www.birdchick.com/wp/2010/05/should-you-remove-a-cowbird-egg/#sthash.Y0Jovko0.dpuf

Officially....... they never last long in my yard after I find them

[eyeguy 54]

cool, I always wondered why sometimes the house finches chicks were so stinkin big. Now I know. lol

[Hawg]

Might be a dumb question but in case I find some, which is which? I've got cowbirds around this year for the first time. Are they bad?

[Hawg]

I just did some reading up on these things, they lay up to 40 eggs a year on other birds nests and then many times kill the host chicks! Looks like pellet gun time again, between these and the Blue Jays it's probably the reason my good birds are dwindling.

[eyeguy 54]

speckled eggs are the cowbirds

[bobbymalone]

cowbirds have been brood parasites since forever.

not sure why one would feel the need to interfere. let nature happen.

Are they bad?

they aren't pretty. that's the real problem.

bird people are a strange bunch. they complain about house cats being an artificial predator while they artificially sustain more birds with their feeders. And they go on about "good" birds and "bad" birds.

[eyeguy 54]

some birds suck just like some people. b birds dump all over everything. wild cats kill way too many birds. I caught 13 of them a few years ago. I don't think house cats are a big issue around here.

[Tom Sawyer]

I don't think house cats are a big issue around here.

Give a house cat a chance to find a ambush spot next to a water source. They become trouble fast, but nothing a BB sting can't solve quickly.

[eyeguy 54]

or a pellet to the brain.

[Hawg]

My pellet gun shoots at 1100 ft per second but it's sighted in to a feeder 20 feet from my garage door!Lets give the naturalist something to complain about; I can shoot the beaks off a blackbird, then they fly into the woods an die so I don't have to pick them up. That oughta get em going

[eyeguy 54]

blackbird with no beak will succeed in life