Cowbirds-Lorraine Feather

[ti:Cowbirds] [ar:Lorraine Feather] [al:Tales of the Unusual] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]Cowbirds - Lorraine Feather [00:24.48]I wake up to the sound of the cowbirds [00:35.58]Their burbling beautiful cry [00:44.20]You can see them all day at the cherrywood feeder [00:54.99]They started appearing in early July [01:07.78]They are stocky and glossy [01:13.65]Certainly bossy [01:16.40]But no more than the jays [01:23.32]As they finish their feeding [01:28.81]I begin reading [01:32.25]Of their curious ways [01:39.55]They gather no moss [01:42.54]They carry no leaves [01:45.10]To fashion fine homes [01:48.09]In the trees or the eaves [01:51.21]A cowbird roams the woods until [01:56.58]She finds a nest that fills the bill [02:03.07]Snug in a tower of green [02:08.37]She stays awhile but doesnt brood [02:14.30]She wont return to offer food [02:20.24]But simply flees the scene [02:30.72] [02:31.90]Her young one hatches quickly [02:37.27]And does what hes wired to do [02:44.38]With a purposeful thrust of his juvenile legs [02:52.37]He starts to dispose of the resident eggs [03:01.60]Make short work of the slumbering finches or phoebes [03:13.21]Who drop to the ground without any sound [03:24.63]Or he leaves them quite alone [03:31.18]Soon a stranger arrives to fill his gaping beak [03:40.73]As if he were one of her own [03:50.53]The tale will be told in the course of a week [03:58.71]The latecomers fragile and small [04:06.87]Will get little or nothing at all [04:17.71]The dusk is alive with the call of the cowbirds [04:30.70]The striking display of their wings [04:40.12]I watch them hold court by the cherrywood feeder [04:49.98]And quietly ponder the nature of things [05:03.76]How stars that have died can collide in the night [05:12.20]Make such a grand show as they spatter [05:21.55]How sunsets that bring up a groan of delight [05:30.10]Are filled with particulate matter [05:40.46]How it hardly seems fair [05:43.54]That some birds get the boot [05:46.84]So others can live and grow fat [05:52.83]Theres a metaphor there [05:56.45]But its low-hanging fruit [06:00.19]So maybe Ill leave it at that [06:11.30]As a stout baby cowbird falls asleep [06:20.54]To the piteous cheep of a ghost [06:28.15]And the sound of his mamas mantra: [06:36.52]May we ever outnumber our host