Hi all,
I wrote the following and attached 5 photos (good on the new list serve for
allowing this!) but it was too big. I'm going to try it with just one shot, if
that works I'll send the rest along separately. It's a tad harder to follow,
but not the end of the world:
I thought I'd add my 2 cents. Last month I saw a female Cowbird skulking in the
bushes and a minute later she flew out with an egg in her bill. The first four
shots are from 5/9/07. Note in the first that the shell is broken (when it hit
the ground?) but the membrane is intact. She proceeded to break it up and eat
the yolk, then fuss with the shell for a good minute, moving it around with her
bill and kicking it with her foot. I could not find a nest in the bush or
nearby.
The last shot is a Song Sparrow nest from 5/26/04. I thought at least the egg
at
5 o'clock was a Cowbird but I really didn't know and didn't interfere. But a
few
days later only the three dark eggs were still in the nest. I saw the adults
bringing food to the nest but didn't note any other activity or the fledging
success.
I won't speculate on what was going on (though I have a theory, of course).
Maybe someone who knows more than I will comment.
John Fox
Arlington
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
