Being out in the yard and watching out the windows of my home, I have made three observations that are new to me. The bluebirds, which every year nest in the bluebird house, this year are nesting in different houses. Now they specifically sell a type of house for bluebirds and even the botanical gardens have them set up specifically to attract them. I keep watching the bluebird house but still see no activity.
Cowbirds. I first noticed them a few years ago when one came to the feeder. I looked in my Virginia bird handbook and they ere easy to identify and find. I think they are pretty birds, all black with a brown head. I learned that is all there is to like about them. I haven’t seen them for a few years and now I see one at the feeder again. Cowbirds will lay their eggs in another birds nest and will remove existing eggs to make room for her own They hatch earlier than the other eggs and often thrive at the expense of the host’s own babies. Once they leave the nest they return to their parents. That sounds like something out of a horror movie. They are also classified as bullies and they will chase smaller song birds away from the feeders. Regardless of all that I feel sorry for them but I guess they deserve it. I am now chasing them away from the feeders.
Now onto the cardinals. I love them and we have a bunch of them, and they are the state bird of Virginia. This year I have noticed them chasing each other around the yard. I’m assuming its mating season. I have also noted a cardinal that is a bit smaller and not as red as the males. They do not have the coloring of the females. At first my mind goes to, “are you a transgender cardinal?” But of course upon further thinking about it I think that they are younger male birds who haven’t got their full color yet. I could look it up but I don’t want to.