Cowbirds and Cactus Flowers

 

For months now I have walked around looking at the weathered cacti found throughout the area. At first, I thought they were kind of ugly. After a while, their rustic appeal came to grow on me. But now that the beautiful cactus flowers are popping out all over, I am really drawn to them!

And speaking of rustic appeal, there's a bird about that is not getting nearly as much attention as the beautiful and colorful songbirds - the cowbird. In fact, it's a bird that's fairly unpopular. 

I couldn't understand why until I learned that the cowbirds are considered a brood parasite, as it likes to lay its eggs in the nests of other birds and leave the raising of the offspring to others. This has pushed someof the host birds to dangerously low numbers. For this reason, some of the popular birding spots are not feeding the birds right now, so as to discourage these invaders to stay away. 

One of the birds I am seeing all over the place, despite the lack of feeding, is the mourning dove. 

It's soft and gentle-looking bird with interesting markings and eyes that just pop out. 

I'm really looking forward to the migration season to see what else shows up.