Clever Cowbirds

This spring the Brown-headed Cowbirds returned to my neighborhood within a day or two of when they’ve returned in past years—not that I keep track or anything.

I want to hate cowbirds for laying eggs in other birds’ nests, but I can’t. They are very polite at the feeders, and they are one of the first birds to return in the spring so a sighting always means the weather will soon get better.

Of course I hate to see cardinal parents exhausting themselves trying to feed a hungry bird that isn’t their own, but if the cowbirds are more clever, who’s really to blame?