From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Wed Jul 21 16:06:14 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i6LN3COQ012181 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 21 Jul 2004 16:03:12 -0700 (PDT) Received: from imo-m15.mx.aol.com (imo-m15.mx.aol.com [64.12.138.205]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i6LN1iMR012136 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 21 Jul 2004 16:01:44 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [[email protected]] by imo-m15.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v37_r2.6.) id t.1e6.258704c9 (3657) for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 21 Jul 2004 19:01:36 -0400 (EDT) From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 19:01:36 EDT Subject: Re: [SBB] Cowbirds To: [[email protected]] MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5113 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5b1 X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5b1 Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] In a message dated 7/21/04 7:07:57 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [[email protected]] writes: I was wondering how the Cowbird could have laid an egg in such a nest! Perhaps it was fly-through!! All, Jean Myers has asked an interesting question for which I have an answer that I hope is not too far off base. Just after I found House Finch nest with the first egg in it I commented to my wife that the House Finches were doing a distinctly different song. I like to think that this is a "Come see what I've got" song (for the male?). This song may actually result from the fact that the female has laid an egg. (Glad that's over with!) Previously I have noted that Mourning Doves have a distinctive call when they start to build a nest. My feeling is that female Brown-headed Cowbirds imprinted on House Finches recognize this call. The female Cowbird then only needs to establish where the nest is and wait until the House Finch leaves the nest at some point during the day, for any of a variety of reasons, she then checks the nest for at least one egg and quickly lays her own. From then on I assume that she ignores activity in the nest (unless she should once again hear that special song). Take care, Bob Reiling _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]