Not Welcome Here

The dreaded

brown headed

cowbird. 

Wouldn’t fly away

even when

I clapped and shouted. 

Even when I left and

came back with camera.

You promiscuous parasite you.

You don’t have the decency

to build your own nest

or raise your own young.  

How despicable that your one-time mate has no place to lay her eggs and must place them in the nests of other species, causing that species to feed your greedy big babies to the peril of their own. 

Your photograph today, for just a few minutes,  had me admitting to your glossy beauty, until I read this from Wikipedia:

“Brown-headed cowbirds seem to periodically check on their eggs and young after they have deposited them. Removal of the parasitic egg may trigger a retaliatory reaction termed "mafiabehavior". According to one study the cowbird returned to ransack the nests of a range of host species 56% of the time when their egg was removed. In addition, the cowbird also destroyed nests in a type of "farming behavior" to force the hosts to build new ones. The cowbirds then laid their eggs in the new nests 85% of the time.^[22]”

You are unwelcome here, Mr. Cowbird, not that it makes a difference to you, not that I can do anything about your pillaging behavior. I feel as helpless about protecting my beautiful songbirds from you as I do about protecting Ukrainians from Russian invasion. You are the Putin of bird world, you are. 

~dkm  

Night Prowler

OR

Why the Bird Feeders Keep Getting Emptied Overnight

Night 1:

So, we filled a lid with peanut butter, set a cage trap on the deck near the feeders, and were awakened in the night by a terrible scraping sound followed by a deck-shaking rumble. I sat straight up in bed. Moe said, “ Caught him,” and went to investigate. Our thief had somehow dragged the cage across the deck to his entry point, and fallen all the way down the stairs to the patio below.   

Next morning:

We learned they have good memories for unpleasant experiences and avoid repeats. How pleasant could it be to fall down the steps and spend the night in a cage? Thought we’d seen the last of our thief. 

Night 2: 

Maybe he/she liked the thrill. 

Online advice said cayenne pepper is an effective deterrent. I bought a tub of it and spread a thick layer on banister under feeders. 

Days 3, 4, & 5: Feeders emptied again. 

He even tried to unhook it. 

And, for the record, I saw a squirrel sniff the cayenne, bat his nose with his front paw a few times, and climb right onto the feeder. So much for that theory. 

 Don’t want to take the feeders down and deprive the birds during mating/nesting season, but our seed bill is out of control, as in $150/month. Don’t want to relocate caged raccoon in case she's feeding young. 

Next best option: Bring all four feeders inside at bedtime. Wonder how long I’ll have patience for that?

Whole thing reminds me of an old New Yorker cartoon with a picture of a woman standing on a chair in her plant room and the husband saying, “If you’re going to live in a jungle, you’ve got to expect snakes.”

~dkm 4/15/2022