Deceptive...

Hubs and I were out the door before the sun came up this morning and back several hours later in time to see a flock of at least 50 Brown-headed Cowbirds converging on the feeders in the yard.  

But first...thanks for the good thoughts.  Hubs procedure went well and he's been declared to be A-okay.  He is upstairs at the moment sleeping off the anesthesia.  

Now, a little bit about this deceptively attractive bird...this is, to my knowledge, North America's only parasitic nesting species.  The female of the species lays one egg in as many as 36 different nests each summer, usually choosing a species that is smaller than she, thus guaranteeing that her offspring will out-compete the other nestlings and survive (often at the cost of the host-species own babies).  The European Cuckoo shares this same unpleasant behavior and neither species is particularly popular with birders.  That said, if you take them purely as seen, you'll have to agree that this is a very handsome bird.  The male has glossy, nearly iridescent black feathers on it's body and the namesake chocolaty brown head.  And their song reminds me of nothing so much as chimes under water.  

Interestingly, I've never seen a more than a dozen at any one time, so to arrive home and find so many in the yard was surprising.  Most left when I went out to try to get closer; but there are still 15 or so hanging around.  Temps are in the low 20's today with wind gusts to 40 MPH so it's very cold outside.  Both of the heated bird baths are doing a landslide business (drinking, not bathing) and the feeders are also busy.  In addition to all the usual birds, I also spotted one starling, one grackle and one American tree sparrow.  And my little red-breasted nuthatch continues to stay.   All comers welcome.

Cheers, people.  Ten more days until... you know what.

xo
Debbi