Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 12:40:35 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Elise Kreiss Subject: Fearless (read "stupid") Cowbird Fledgling Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit The birds have gotten desensitized from my husband's scraping paint on the feeder side of the house. Still, when I came out to fill the feeders Sunday, it was surprising to see a Cowbird fledgling keep up its rolling cowbird walk, pecking along the ground. I kept an eye on it so that I wouldn't step on it. It had a pretty, scaley back; feathers edged in tan. I saw it later resting on the suet feeder. It got a bit of a bumpy ride when a Downy Woodpecker came to peck suet right out from under it; but wasn't troubled enough to leave. I went to put out seed Monday evening, and this time the Cowbird did fly. It flew all six feet to the main hanging feeder, where it waited until I was close enough to pour seed on its head. I didn't, of course, but scattered some on a piece of flagstone that serves as a ground feeder. This was a big mistake. Paul asked me to help him take down the extension ladder for the evening. I was holding the base as he backed up. Clang, clang! Bang, bang! "DON'T STEP ON THE COWBIRD!" I shouted. It was about 2 ft. in back of him, and totally unconcerned. Paul sort of maneuvered to avoid it. Now, you may tell me that it is fine to step on a Cowbird - - but you really can't step on something that you've fed . . . Elise Kreiss Baltimore, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================