My question is - I do know of a Robin's nest that is current;y on about the same schedule. Since Cowbirds are native, should I try to place this egg into her nest - I figure the sizes are roughly the same and a baby Cow won't endanger baby Robins. Thoughts?

Elly - LOL!! I thought that's what people might say. Just trying to do the right thing. I think I'll probably coat the egg with nail polish or modge podge and keep it as a pretty decoration. You're right, of course, about the Robin's nest - just having a momentary surge of guilt...

But every year there are different studies with different conclusions. Neotropical migrants are so fragile, and little is being done to help them. I doubt destroying eggs in your backyard will make a difference, since the birds that need help are so remote.

And I feel bad in the fall when HUGE, pulsating, yard-covering flocks of literally hundreds of Cowbirds drive my 12 or so finches away away from their feeders for days at a time. I feel REALLY bad.

Laws are meant to protect the innocent and the helpless while keeping our society balanced on the side of sanity and reason instead of anarchy and cruelty. I am incredibly law abiding - but not every law is entirely well thought-out and fair, and not every situation is entirely black and white.

Today, I protected the innocent. If you read my post, I even considered placing the infernal egg into the nest of a bird whose babies would have had less of a chance of being destroyed by it. I saved three lives today by putting aside one egg which, at this point in it's existence, amounts to little more than yolk. So how about you get off of your very high horse and come on down here where the rest of us have to deal with painful and very difficult decisions everyday.

Or you could go, as you've threatened, to find yourself "greener" utopian pastures on another forum. Either way, I wish you the best of luck. Life is not a fairytale.

In regards to House Finches, in all my years of bird watching, I have never seen a House Finch or an American Goldfinch, ever feeding a cowbird chick. This is most likely because House Finches and goldfinches feed their chicks a diet of seeds, no insects at all. Based on this, I highly doubt a cowbird chick would have survived in a House Finch nest as they need a diet primarily of insects to grow and develop normally.

Finally, I don't think there is a documented case of a parent bird dying from attempts to feed a cowbird chick.

Cowbirds are not just native to Texas, they are "native" to anywhere where bison historically roamed, that includes all the plains states (N. and S. Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, etc., etc.). They only began increasing their range when bison were decimated and we began farming cattle and clearing areas of the eastern U.S. for agriculture. Like any species that expands it's normal range, it is still considered native. I don't here anyone killing Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and any other native species that has expanded it's normal range. And, if you want to get "technical", House Finches aren't "native" to the eastern United States, so a "non-native" cowbird laid an egg in a "non-native" House Finch nest. :-)

Passerine species that dwell in forested habitat have seen the greatest impact from BHCO because they never experienced this species before. Forest fragmentation has made it easier for cowbirds to enter interior forest to parastize nests of woodland species such as the Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, Ovenbird, etc. However, some species that occur in the east are capable of dealing with eggs of cowbirds. Some examples are Baltimore Orioles (pierce and remove the BHCO egg), Yellow Warbler (builds new nest on top of old nest containing BHCO egg), American Robin (ejects cowbird egg), Northern Mockingbird (ejects cowbird egg), and many of the kingbird and flycatcher families are so aggressive they are capable of driving off a cowbird from it's nest (Western Kingbird, Eastern Wood Pewee, etc.).

The cowbird issue is indeed a complex one, however, if one is really concerned about the welfare of Neotropical migrants and/or resident species, they should look at donating money or belonging to organizations that preserve large tracts of forested breeding habitat, preserving migratory stop-over habitat, and preserving wintering areas. This will go a lot farther than worrying about destroying a cowbird egg (which, no matter how you look at it, is still illegal) you notice in a nest.

I think people should just refrain from posting these types of topics. Every year there are topics on many species that people feel are undesirable such as cowbirds, grackles, red-winged blackbirds, sharp-shinned hawks...you get the idea. If people are going to watch birds and attract them to their yard, they should be able to deal with what nature shows them. If not, don't post about it because it just gets people irritated and results in obnoxious posts. No matter how many times people on this and other forums try to educate people to make them more informed, it is usually met on deaf ears anyway and they are in turn, told how wrong they are. I am sure many of those types of posts will follow this one...but I hope I am wrong.

BN

The migratory bird act does not distinguish between birds which are regionally native to certain areas of the country. It is not legal to destroy cowbird eggs. Personally I feel that if cowbirds are taking over your yard and you don't like seeing them at the feeders, then the responsible thing to do is to take down the feeders. After all, you are the one attracting them by providing the free food. That in turn keeps them in the area where they can find nests to lay their eggs. I am all for management of non-native species, but tampering with native species that are not "desirable" by human standards has no justification either legally or morally. Particularly when they are being attracted there through human action.

What I don't love is needless suffering. Philosophically, I am a "greater good" kind of person. I don't go out of my way looking for Cowbird eggs to destroy. This is actually the first time I was ever faced with such a dilemma. But there it sat in that little nest and my heart sank, because I knew that that one egg meant that any babies born in that nest, be they Cowbird or Finch, would be born simply to suffer and then die in some really painful way. By the rule of greater good, I chose - and not without some sadness - to give three a chance to live instead to four a certainty to die.

And I reiterate, the original question in my original post was not "How do I kill the evil Cowbirds, will egg smashing do the trick?" but "Should I try placing this little egg into a different nest where it and it's nestmates will have a better chance at surviving each other?" Other than the (fanfare here) MIGRATORY BIRD ACT - which, by the way I am fully aware of and on the whole support, thanks - What on earth is wrong with trying to make sure the birdies in our world don't have to suffer? Isn't that what you devote you life to, DEE?

I really have nothing else to say. I'm not evil, mean or cruel. I am not a law-breaking hooligan. And I have never killed a bird, EVER! So please stop flaming me and take a deep breath. Let's move on, folks.

Anyway, kind of reminds me of when I was a little kid I would "save" little bugs that were trapped in spider webs...