Michael Price wrote: >. At Iona this summer I observed
a female Red-winged Blackbird, an unlikely host
species, feeding a juv cowbird at the Iona
settling ponds >

Michael, in researching brown-headed cowbirds for an
educational presentation, I learned that red-winged
blackbirds are quite regularly parasitized by cowbirds.
The interesting thing is that they are among the few
species that would be physically able to eject
cowbird eggs without puncturing them (thereby
messing up the nest), but do not choose to do so.
Their populations appear to be withstanding the
threat nicely also. Perhaps there is plenty of chow
to go around, or their own nestlings are more
competitive.

Chris Maack
Anchorage, AK
CMaack at compuserve.com