I think they are diabolical. The cowbird chicks are bigger and stronger than other chicks and will almost always out compete their "siblings" for food to the point they starve them. The poor adoptive parents end up caring exclusively for the cowbirds. On the other hand, how amazing that the instincts of the cowbird are so different from all other birds (that I know of) and they have no nesting behavior at all. Martha

thank you....I struggle mostly right now with the loss of my son. The healing of surgery is sort of taking a back seat. Over the years as many here know, I've had a lot of trouble with injuries to back, cartilage and tendons and have discovered that I have a connective tissue disorder. I will be seeing a rheumatolgist in June so we can discover which kind it is....meantime, I lay in bed listening to the birds calling outside. I have four hummingbird feeders up and saw the early nesting Anna's bringing a baby to them, and later, the Selasphorus hummers visited as well. Looks like we have a few stay-over Selasphorus, which with the weird weather isn't too unusual, I guess :) The Violet-green Swallows returned on schedule and the Osprey, too...there have been a lot of California Brown Pelicans flying north; adults and first-year birds. An intermediately plumaged (winter to breeding) Common Loon has been frequenting the point and bay at Laguna Point up in MacKerricher; MarieMom and I were there on Monday (day before my knee surgery) and got to watch it diving and catching fish.....a rare treat for here :o)

There is a park, a small field that is regularly mowed, and a sort of a wet-weather slough that runs between four properties (one of which is ours). It's basically what's left when a developer is too lazy to properly landscape when they build a plat on uneven terrain. There may be only one of the females; We've been away for awhile and I've not yet seen her again since we got back. Apparently my female house sparrows have lost their itty-bitty minds and have taken to scattering the seed from the window feeder far and wide, which has finally given the grackles something they can get at. The grackles are making things a little more difficult for everyone else and I wonder if they've driven her off. So I'll not be filling the window feeder any more - then we'll see if Ms. RWBB comes back or no, LOL!

Isn't that beautiful ....love these wild Turkey's!! Thanks for sharing, Rachel. Konrad