Check out I and the Bird #126

I and the Bird edition #126 is now up over at Coyote Mercury. It contains the word "Bird" are remarkable 30 times and is a great way to find about other nature writers online. Head on over for twenty five links to recent stories about birds. ~Kirk

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Ruby throated Hummingbird Gorget

We put a new hummingbird feeder up at work and within a day there were two male hummers fighting over it. One of them came to a rest on the wooden railing outside our volunteer lounge and I was able to take these shots. I love how the ruby red gorget only appears when the angle is just right with respect to the sun.

Incidentally, where on Earth does a word like gorget come from? It turns out that a gorget is a collar made of a leather or steel that protects one's neck. They are common on suits of armor. The word itself is from the Old or Middle French "gorge" meaning simply "throat."



~Kirk

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Have you seen a Breakdancing Skunk?

Spring is well upon us and skunks are out and about so I thought it was time to drag out this video I discovered over the winter. This is a spotted skunk found in Europe but apparently the local Striped Skunks do hand stands as well. Luckily I've never been close enough to discover for myself. If you do happen to get too close to a skunk and get sprayed there are all kinds of weird ways to remove the smell and most of them don't work. Tomato juice? Nope, won't do a thing.

The best recipe for removal of smell from you or your too curious dog was developed by Paul Krebaum and printed in the October 1993 edition of the Chemical and Engineering News.

Mix 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide and 1/4 cup of baking soda with a teaspoon of liquid detergent. Apply and let sit for five minutes. Repeat if necessary. This actually chemically changes the smell molecule.

If you are really interested in the chemistry behind the skunk smell be sure to check out this link.

~Kirk

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Orchard Oriole Banded (with photos)

Banding today turned up some fun birds. I felt vindicated when I heard over the radio that this guy had been caught in the nets. I had caught a glimpse of what I was sure was an Orchard Oriole a couple of days ago. The banders caught and banded a female Orchard Oriole yesterday so it looks like we have a pair of birds on site. Here's the photos.

In this shot the lead bander is checking out the wing. You have to look at various parts of the body to tell how old the bird is.


The deep black color of the tail tells us this bird is "after second year" or in non-bander lingo, he was born more than two springs ago.


Orchard orioles are very pretty but don't get much attention since their cousin the Baltimore Oriole is so much brighter. Still a handsome bird though.


In this shot the bander is putting the band around the birds foot. The tool has special holes in the jaws so that the band can be attached firmly but at he same time not crush the bird's fragile leg. If you look closely you can see the band in the tool.

That's all for now, more migrants on the way though!

~Kirk

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Mayfly Hatch Photos

These spectacular photos were taken at Big Marine Lake in northern Washington County, MN yesterday evening.

There was an enormous mayfly hatch at the end of the day. Ron Lawrenz, Director of the Lee & Rose Warner Nature Center happened to be there with his camera. He said of the event, "I stopped by the south eastern landing, off May Avenue, about sunset last night and witnessed a spectacular mayfly hatch. There were millions (honest!) of mayflies in the air and perched on the vegetation."

The insects were so numerous they even landed on and covered Lawrenz as he stood there. The hatch had apparently not escaped the attention of dragonflies, birds and frogs all of whom were present as well feasting on the mayflies according to Lawrenz.

Though they can and do cover everything in sight, if you do have a mayfly hatch you can be reassured by two things. First off, the adult mayflies live anywhere from 30 minutes to perhaps a day at the most. The exact length of their life depends on the species. The adults hatch out, mate and then die. They don't even have functioning mouths or digestive systems though, interestingly, the males do have two penises! I suppose that makes some sense if your sole function in your short existence is to mate. If you find them a bother don't worry, their short life means they won't be around for long. Second, you should be really proud to have mayflies on your lake. Mayflies are extremely pollution insensitive and can only survive in the cleanest of lakes. If you have a large hatch on your lake you must be doing something right.

~Kirk

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Sex in a Tent

Since we're getting into Camping Season it may be time to add to your gear.

I was hunting around online for books about nature and I stumbled into this gem.

Sex in a Tent: A Wild Couple's Guide to Getting Naughty in Nature

I was sure all you nature lovers would all appreciate it.

~Kirk

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Is Raw Cookie Dough Safe to Eat?

On a Tuesday evening, our toddler quietly tucked into bed upstairs, my wife called to be from our study, "You know what would really make my day?"

I paused and considered my limited options before answering. I've been married long enough to know this is a trick question. What she was really saying was, "You know what I'd really like you to do for me?"

After careful consideration of my options I said that I was reluctant to answer but that my best guess was that she wanted a massage. "A close second," she answered. "I want a big bowl of cookie dough."

My first thought turned to eggs.

You see, I work with a lot of volunteers in my capacity as a naturalist. Earlier this month was Volunteer Appreciation Week so every day we had baked a fresh batch of cookies in gratitude. Naturally, the topic of eating raw cookie dough came up as we scooped round balls of gooey egg, flour and butter onto a baking sheet. It turns out a majority of the staff (myself included) enjoys eating the raw dough as much or even more than eating the baked cookies. Since we couldn't spend large amounts of time making cookies every day of the week while on the company dime we were using pre-made dough out of a tub. I pointed out the warning in red all capital letters on the lid. "DO NOT CONSUME RAW COOKIE DOUGH."

It turns out there was an e-coli outbreak related to uncooked premixed dough last July and the companies have beefed up their warnings. (It was still a tiny warning though.) While the outbreak last summer was e-coli, the normal concern with eating any product with raw eggs is salmonella.

My first thought turned to eggs because I've been thinking a lot about eggs lately what with it being spring. I've been eager to monitor our Eastern Phoebe nest at work but this year it has been a bit of a fiasco. The Phoebe laid three eggs and a brown-headed cowbird destroyed them all. She laid more and the cowbirds dumped their own eggs into the nest for her to incubate.

"You know," remarked a co-worker as we weighed the risks of eating the raw dough, "the salmonella is all on the outside of the eggs." I hadn't heard that and as I thought about it I realized I really didn't know much about salmonella in eggs. Being such a big fan of cookie dough I figured I had better do some investigating. My mother was a home economics teacher back in the 1970s and she had diligently taught her students to not consume raw eggs while at the same time teaching her toddler how to lick the raw egg filled batter from the electric beaters. I asked her some questions about raw eggs first and then sought out answers online.

It seems contamination on the outside of the egg is a thing of the past as new washing techniques have eliminated that problem. Not grinding your egg shells up and adding them to your cookies is still probably a good idea though. The real problem these days is salmonella in the inside of the egg. According to several sources, it seems that in the US, about 1 in every 20,000 eggs are internally contaminated with salmonella. That's a 0.005% rate of contamination. Given average American egg consumption you're likely to encounter a contaminated egg once every 84 years. Keep in mind cooking kills the bacteria so the odds of that one in 20,000 egg being in your raw cookie dough are very low. There are two eggs per batch usually so the odds are then one in 10,000 that each batch of dough will be infected. Interestingly though, it appears that rates of internal contamination with salmonella differ across the country. It is more prominent in the Northeastern US where, according to the CDC, the rate is one in 10,000 egg so I guess one in every 5000 batches of dough out east will have salmonella.

So in terms of the eggs sitting in my fridge right now, yeah, the odds are really low they have salmonella. If you are really worried about the odds, you can use pasturized eggs and that eliminates the problem completely. This weekend I threw caution to the wind and whipped up a fresh batch of dough with regular old eggs.

The dough is all gone now and not a single cookie was ever made. It tasted great.

~Kirk

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I and the Bird #125: North with the Spring

Welcome to the 125th edition of I and the Bird. I and the Bird is a bi-monthly roundup of bird writing and photography on the web. Each edition is hosted by a different website. I hosted edition #111 last autumn and called it "South with the Fall" Now that it is spring in the Northern Hemisphere, I can complete the journey by presenting North with the Spring. Admittedly, south of the equator the world is sliding toward autumn but humor me as we follow birds around the world.

In 1951, naturalist Edwin Way Teale wrote the book North With the Spring as he drove 17,000 miles north through North America following spring as it brought warmth back to the land. Teale wrote of the spring, "The seasons, like greater tides, ebb and flow across the continents. Spring advances up the United States at the average of about fifteen miles a day. It ascends mountainsides at a rate of about a hundred feet a day. It sweeps ahead like a flood of water, racing down the long valleys, creeping up hillsides in a rising tide. Most of us, like the man who lives on the bank of a river and watches the stream flow by, see only one phase of the movement of spring. Each year the season advances toward us out of the south, sweeps around us, goes flooding away into the north. We see all phases of a singe phase, all variations of the one chapter in the Odyssey of Spring."

In homage to his great journey, let us too travel North With the Spring.

• Gippsland, Australia: 37° South •
We start things off far in the south with the only entry this month from a person where it is Autumn and not Spring. Duncan of Ben Cruachan Blog gives us a peek into the beginning of Australian autumn.

• Near Chemor in Perak, Malaysia: 4° North •
Now we're north of the equator, but just barely. As an appropriately spring topic, Yeow Chin Wee of the Bird Ecology Study Group tells us all about the nesting of the chestnut headed bee eater.

• Panama City, Panama: 9° North •
Once again, Jan Axel makes me realize I absolutely MUST visit Panama.. We travel only 5° more north but we're on the other side of the world.

• Ranthambore Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India: 26° North •
Swinging around the globe again we find ourselves in India with Ambika Chandrasekar of Madras Ramblings. Does this peacock realize he's displaying in front of the ladies toilet?

•Big Springs, Texas: 29.8° North •
Inching northward with the spring, Tony Gallucci of the Milk River Blog gives us a nice roundup of what's being seen at Big Springs this spring.

• Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory, Texas, US: 30° North •
Just two tenths of a degree to the north of Tony, James Brush tells us that down around 30° North it is already seeming like summer with temperatures in the 90s Fahrenheit. Since it is 50° F with cold rain as I write this up in Minnesota that sounds pretty sweet. So does the lifer Painted Bunting that made his day.

• Carlsbad, California: 33° North •
Like a migrating bird we can't seem to sit still so we're off to California again but this time a little further north at Carlsbad where Wren of Wrenaissance Reflections found a cooperative and photogenic Heermans Gull.

• Fort Yargo State Park, Georgia, US:33° North •
At the same latitude but on the other side of the North American continent, Joan Knapp had an encounter with a Brown-headed Nuthatch at Fort Yargo State Park.

• Lake Köyceğiz in SW Turkey: 36° North •
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, we find that Sarah Koschak and Andrew Skeoch of the Listening Earth Blog have been on the road for the last 2 months in Turkey. They captured a soundscape from the forest that includes the song of a Chaffinch.

• Opossum Creek Resort, West Virginia: US: 38° North •
Two degrees further north in West Virginia, Vickie Henderson attends her first birding festival and absolutely loves it.

• Broomfield, CO, US: 39° North •
One more degree north but further west, David Alcock starts his day out right with a fallout of migrating warblers in Colorado.

• Indianapolis, Indiana: 39° North •
Same latitude, different location, Rue Mapp of Outdoor Afro has a wonderful interview with Douglas "Birdman" Grey.

• Near Red Bluff, California, US: 40° North •
There seemed to be a lot of action at 40° North this month. Maybe something about this latitude just inspires writers. In California, Larry Johnson of The Birder's Report kicks things off at 40° by bringing a healthy dose of much needed sex (with photos) to I and the Bird. He has an excellent post on extra pair coupling in cliff swallows.

• New York City, US: 40° North •
Winging all the way across the continent we find Melissa Cooper pondering bird neck appreciation day from her home in New York City.

• Blue Lake, California: 40° North •
Time for another cross-country journey. Also at the same latitude, Jill Wussow of the blog Count Your Chicken! We're taking Over! ventured to Blue Lake in California and tracked down spotted Owls.

• Farmington, Connecticut, US: 41° North •
Creeping North with the spring we find Diane Tucker, Estate Naturalist for the Hill-Stead Museum who writes the Hill-stead Blog. She tells us that hope is a thing with feathers as she writes about the American Kestrel.

• Magee Marsh, Ohio, US: 41° North •
A little to the west, Mike Bergin of 10,000 Birds is hanging out at the same latitude and enjoying the spring migrants at The Biggest Week in American Birding. I've been wondering where all the warblers are this spring and clearly they are all over in Ohio.

• Near Menomonie, Wisconsin: 44° North •
Minnesota Birdnerd, Roger Everhart makes his long overdue debut on I and the Bird by defecting to Wisconsin to band both spring migrants and local birds.

• Minneapolis, Minnesota, US: 45° North •
Just a tick to the northwest, Greg Laden writes about the popular American Kestrel that has taken to hunting moths in the bright lights of the new Twins baseball stadium much to the delight of fans.

• Bozeman, Montana, US: 45° North •
Continuing our westward track we find Radd Icenoggle experienced a great fallout day of birding while showing another birder around his stomping grounds.

• Point Roberts, Washington, US, 49° North •
At exactly 49° North, Susannah a.k.a. Wandering Weeta also crosses a border for birds. She crosses from Canada to the US to bird at Point Roberts. It is a piece of land included in the US mostly due to poor map making. Luckily, the birds don't use maps and she spots a Black Oystercatcher.

• Frankfurt, Germany: 50° North •
Back across the ocean again, GrrlScientist asks, "How will You Celebrate International Migratory Bird Day?" and she provides plenty of great suggestions.

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you enjoyed this installment of I and the Bird please consider becoming a follower of the Twin Cities Naturalist through one of the free subscription services. You can click the follow me tab on the left hand side of the page to subscribe to the Twitter feed or you can choose to follow though either Google Reader or Networked Blogs both of which have widgets on the left as well. If you prefer email, you can subscribe to get posts in your mailbox by entering your email address in the field at the top of the page.

Submissions for the 126th edition of I and the Bird need to be to Coyote Mercury by May 25th.

~Kirk

(Edwin Way Teale photo credit: Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE)

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American Robin Nest has a 36 Volt Solar Array!

Today I taught our Solar Energy class which is a once in every two years affair we do for a local twin cities school. We teach about photovoltaics, bake cookies in a solar oven, demonstrate the heat power of concentrated sun energy and have the kids design and build their own solar ovens. My part this time around was to explain photovoltaics and take kids for a ride on the Water Strider, the worlds first solar powered pontoon boat. We built it about ten years ago and it just underwent a complete re-build with new engines, decking, seating, joystick control and expanded deck hatches for lowering equipment and underwater viewing. We also converted from a 24 to a 36 volt solar system. It is better than ever. Something caught my eye when I headed toward the craft though. What's that below the array on the right hand side?


Sure enough, that's an American Robin nest. The pair had just started to build it and they chose to do so right under the three panels that make up our solar array.

This is probably the only robin nest in the world right now that comes with a dedicated 36 watt-three panel solar array. The nest wasn't finished yet and lucky for the birds we probably won't need to use the boat until summer camp starts just after the young have fledged from the nest. Hopefully this nest attempt will be better off than the nest I described about a week ago. That robin laid three eggs and something raided and destroyed the nest a few days later. Rotten luck.

~Kirk

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Twin Cities Urban Birding Festival May 13-16

Pull out your binoculars and clear your schedule. This weekend is the fifth annual Twin Cities Urban Birding Festival. This is one of those events that makes living in such an outdoor oriented city so cool. The event runs May 13-16, 2010 and there are 22 events including bird hikes, bird banding and more.

Work and family commitments prevent me from taking part in any of the events this year which is killing me as they look fabulous. I'm disappointed to not even be able to attend the hike at Como Park since it is practically right in my back yard and usually turns up some fun things. I'll be showing live raptors to kids at a school that day so hopefully I'll be making some new birders in my own way. If you can only do one hike be sure to check out some of the hikes at the Arden Hills Army Training Site which is usually closed to the public.

No registration is required for these events, simply show up. The only event with a fee is the catered lunch on May 15.

Check out all these events!

Date	Event	Time	Location
5/13	Bird Hike	8:00-9:00 am	Rice Creek
5/13	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Vento Nature Sanctuary
5/13	Bird Hike	7:30-9:00 pm	Tamarack
5/14	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Como Park
5/14	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Locke Park
5/14	Bird Hike	10:00-11:30 am	Roberts Bird Sanctuary
5/14	Bird Hike	10:30-11:30 am	Mississippi Regional Park
5/14	Osprey Nest	11:30-1:00 pm	Josephine Park
5/14	Peregrine Aerie	11:30-1:00 pm	Lock & Dam 1
5/15	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Reservoir Woods
5/15	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Innsbruck Park
5/15	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Crosby Park
5/15	Activities	9:00-3:00 pm	Springbrook Nature Ctr
5/15	Lunch	Noon	Springbrook Nature Ctr-registration required
5/16	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Battle Creek Park
5/16	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Mississippi River Gorge
5/16	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	St. Paul Campus
5/16	Bird Hike	12:00-1:30 pm	Arden Hills Army Training Site
5/16	Bird Hike	1:00-3:30 pm	Arden Hills Army Training Site
5/16	Bird Hike	2:00-3:30 pm	Arden Hills Army Training Site

If the events seems a little "east of the river" centric that is because the event is largely organized by Saint Paul Audubon, Ramsey County Parks and the Minnesota Ornithological Union. I'm happy to see such great representation of sites on the East of the River but I'd love for something like this to be more Twin Cities wide in the future. Still, there's already so much to attend. If you're more of a Minneapolis type don't be afraid to cross the river, we don't bite. (usually)

The full schedule is posted at www.urbanbirdingfestival.org.

~Kirk

(photo credit: MPF)

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Do Owls Use Humans as Hunting Tools? (w/photos)

Last Tuesday I taught an aquatics class for my job as a naturalist at the Lee & Rose Warner Nature Center. After lunch, I stopped my rowdy, sugared up boisterous group of nearly thirty third graders and explained to them that we should walk quietly to the lake as there was a chance we just might see an owl. It was possible but I didn't think probable. They quieted down about as much as you would expect and sure enough, just a little down the trail an owl sprung up from the ground near the trail. It perched in a tree and watched us walk on by. It didn't bother to fly away, it just sat there until we left. I wish being a naturalist was always so easy and I could conjure up any species just by declaring we would see it on our hike.

Back in the dead of the winter, my co-workers and I started to see and hear Barred Owls in the woods. Hearing owls on site, especially Barred Owls is not unusual. Seeing them is slightly less common. Most of the staff saw the owl before breeding season set in but I missed out. Once breeding began the owls quieted down and were less conspicuous in general. The owl on Tuesday was the first one of the year I'd seen.

In the past month, sightings have increased and in particular one type of sighting. People are seeing owls hunting. Two groups of school kids walking the same trail saw a Barred Owl swoop down and catch a mouse or vole directly in front of them. A week later, two staff driving a small maintenance vehicle down the same trail saw what I would assume is the same bird land right in the middle of the trail and catch a rodent. It just stood there watching them before it flew to a nearby tree to eat. Word drifted in of other encounters as well. This was the same area I saw the owl with the kids this week.

Yesterday, to up the ante as it were, the owl appeared right in front of our building and didn't seem to care as kids walked past and cars drove by. That's when I snapped these photos.


The owl was perched in a small maple and had been there for much of the day. The tree was only ten feet or so from the driveway.

This was a gorgeous bird. I am a raptor handler for outreach programs and I take our captive Barred Owl on the road for shows. If I had to guess I'd say this was a female owl simply based on size. Female raptors are generally larger than males.


I also noticed that this owl seems to be a bit more fulvous colored (that beautiful rustyness) than other Barred Owls I have seen. I also admired how beautiful the tail was on this bird. Captive birds tend to have more beat-up looking tails.


With so many people seeing this bird so often it got me thinking. What if the owl has simply learned a new hunting strategy? What if the owl is seeking out humans? It may be as simple as this:

People scare rodents.

We aren't just seeing a barred owl in the woods, groups are repeatedly and somewhat regularly reporting seeing an owl catch food. I can't help but wonder if this owl has learned that when groups of people, especially kids, walk through the woods they tend to scare mice and voles into darting out into the open. The area where the owl was when I took the photos was where a school group ate lunch the day before. Any crumbs of food on the ground have likely attracted rodents.

I shared my thoughts with some of our veteran bird banders and they shared a similar story about Barred Owls learning novel hunting strategies in the past. To understand, it helps to know a little about bird banding. A bird band is a small metal band placed around a birds leg (technically their foot) by researchers. The band has a unique ID number on it. If other people re-capture the bird then scientists learn about migration, longevity, etc. by looking up the info on that particular bird. In order to catch the birds, banders put out long, nearly invisible nets in the woods. We've been banding at the nature center for over forty years.

About 15 years ago, the banders found large holes in one particular net. They discovered something was eating the caught birds right out of the net before they could get to them. Watching carefully, they noticed that every time they set up that particular net, an Barred Owl would come and watch it. The bird would swoop down and eat the birds as soon as they got caught in the net. The owl had learned that food was easy to get when humans showed up at this location.

I'm curious whether or not a similar thing is happening here. As spring progresses, it will be interesting to see if this owl continues this curious hunting behavior.

~Kirk

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Call for "I and the Bird" Submissions

The current edition of I and the bird, which is number 124, is over at Birds, Words and Websites. Host Laura Kammermeier has compiled the most recent content about birds online. I'll be hosting the 125th I and the bird on May 13th. Submissions need to be sent to me by May 11th. Send me a link to your website that features a cool story, photos, poems, etc of or about recent bird activity and you'll be included in the next edition. You can contact me at kirkmona (at) yahoo (dot) com. ~Kirk

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Common Spring Flowers on a Cold Day

On such a cold blustery day thought I would remind everyone it is still spring. Flowers are blooming now everywhere you look. I took those photos on a much warmer day about a week ago. The first one is familiar but often overlooked.

Take a second to think where you've seen it before. These beautiful purple flowers are on Creeping Charlie a.k.a. Gill -over-the-ground, Ground ivy, Ale hoof and more. The scientific name is Glechoma hederacea and it is a member of the mint family. It makes a nice tea. Those who desire a perfect green monocrop of grass in their yards tend to hate creeping charlie but it is a wonderful little flowering plant that grows in many areas that are not optimal for grass.

Nest up is the common violet. Another flower that loves my yard and I have no problem with that. These are beautiful spring flowers. Unlike creeping charlie, Viola sororia is native to the United States.



I'll think I'll finish things off with the much maligned Dandelion. When I was a kid I assumed the name was simply Dandy-lion. The yellow flower looks a bit like the golden mane of a lion. Apparently though, the name comes from the leaves not the flower. The common name comes from the French "dent de lion" or literally "teeth of the lion" and refers to the shape of the leaves, not the flower.

~Kirk

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Kids Birdwatching Fair - May 8

Don't forget, this weekend is the Kids Bird Watching Fair and celebration of International Migratory Bird Day. Festivities will be at the Bloomington Visitor Center of the Minnesota River Valley National Wildlife Refuge. (Directions here.) The event is co-hosted by Audubon Minnesota and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. the event runs from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm.


There will be lots of kid-friendly activities geared toward those in grades 6 and below. There will be live birds of prey, bird banding, interesting displays, videos, as well as food. Each child will receive a sticker book of common birds that can be seen in the area, and all attendees will get a free lunch. This is a wonderful free event to attend with friends and family.

Check out these activities they have lined up:
• Binoculars, spotting scopes, and cameras – National Camera Exchange
• Developing bird identification skills – Nature Neighbors/Henderson Feathers
• Waterfowl identification –Minnesota Waterfowl Association
• Bird banding station – MN Valley National Wildlife Refuge staff
• Live raptors – Audubon Center of the North Woods
• Bird feeders/food/baths/nest boxes – All Seasons Wild Bird Store
• Nature Neighbors – Henderson Feathers
• Purple Martin Conservation – Minnesota Purple Martin Working Group
• Nature places to explore around the metro – Various Parks represented
• Activity Station - Jr. Ducks Stamp Contest display, computer with electronic range maps, migration display, and more
• Bird Identification assistance- Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter
• Videos- Red-breasted merganser and Greater prairie chicken videos by Steven Furman
• Book Signing – Judy Bridell Author of Thip! Thap! Shhiup!
• Backyard Habitat – Minnesota Master Naturalist – Paula Suchy
• Free food - Visitor Center (Healthy snacks donated by General Mills)

See you there!

~Kirk

(photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)

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Phoebe Nest is a Total Loss

On the morning of the 28th the Eastern Phoebe that we have on our webcam at work laid a third egg early in the morning. I grabbed this image on my way out the door at 6:53. It is hard to see as the camera was in infrared mode but there are three eggs in the nest.


When I got to work at 8:00, things had changed. There were only two eggs in the nest. The web cam caught this Brown Headed Cowbird stealing one of the phoebe eggs at 7:33.

This was sad to see but even more frustrating was when she came back the next day and destroyed the two remaining eggs. Here's what the nest looks like now.


There is just a little piece of broken shell. Cowbirds have gone after this nest in past years but they have always just added their eggs to the clutch and let the phoebe raise them. Cowbirds are brood parasites. They do not create their own nest, they lay their eggs in other birds nests and let the other birds raise their young.

A first I wondered if what we're seeing here could be an example of Mafia behavior. Research by Jeffrey P. Hoover and Scott K. Robinson shows that cowbirds will retaliate against other species for rejecting their eggs. The researchers showed that birds who rejected a cowbird egg had their own eggs destroyed 56% of the time while those who accepted them only had their eggs destroyed 6% of the time. This is actually a really interesting example of evolution in action. This behavior of the cowbirds helps drive evolution of other bird species in a direction beneficial to cowbirds. They are selecting for those birds who can't tell the cowbird eggs are in their nest while destroying the offspring (and genetic material) of those birds that have figured out what the cowbirds are up to.

This doesn't seem to be what happened in this nest though since it appears that the cowbirds just came in and destroyed the eggs having not laid any of their own first. This could be an example of what Hoover and Robinson call "farming." The cowbirds are trying to create more opportunities to parasitise the nest by making the phoebes start over. We'll see if they do.

I'm very conflicted about this. Nest parasitism is natural. I don't have a problem with it. However, the Brown-headed Cowbird is an edge species. It is a bird that historically hung out on the edge of the forest. It does not like the thick middle of a heavily wooded habitat and so those birds that do not live in edge areas have not had to compete with cowbirds. The problem is that humans simply adore edge. It is our favorite habitat probably owing to our own genetic heritage. We're slowly turning everywhere to edge as we open up forests while at the same time planting trees in open areas. We've allowed the cowbird into areas where it historically has not been and we've pet it into contact with species who have not had to deal with it in the past.

Cowbirds are just doing what they have always done, it is becoming a problem though because we've changed the playing field.

~Kirk

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