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This is the first summer in a long time where I haven’t seen a Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal or House Finch parent working itself exhausted to take care of a cowbird baby. Cowbirds don’t raise their own young and instead sneak eggs into other birds’ nests.
My feeders were full of cowbirds this spring, so I thought I might see a bumper crop of babies, but there hasn’t been a single one. Their cousins, on the other hand, are everywhere…
Grackle parents and youngsters have been raiding my feeders. They snatch every last peanut and splash all of the water out of the birdbaths which I have to refill daily.
I wonder if cowbirds ever sneak eggs into grackle nests?