Those interested in blaming the cowbird for all our woes regarding
songbird decline may first want to actually do some research:

BRITTINGHAM, M. C., and S. TEMPLE. 1983. Have cowbirds caused
forest songbirds to decline? Bioscience 33:31-35.

ROTHSTEIN, S.. 1993. Cowbird's invasion of the far west: history,
causes and consequences experienced by host species. A Century of
Avifaunal Change in North America. Studies in Avian Biology No.
15:301-315.

TERBORGH, J. 1989. Where Have All the Birds Gone? Princeton
University Press, Princeton, NJ.

While cowbirds can be directly implicated in the declines of
Kirtland's Warbler and Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, it is not that
easy to blame them for other declines, many of which are more
appropriately blamed on habitat loss, forest fragmentation, and
introduced "urban" predators (meow). And even Kirtland's Warbler
the gnatcatchers were first victims of habitat loss with cowbirds
merely an aggravating secondary factor.

And it is appropriate to remind would be vigilantes that Brown-
headed Cowbirds ARE native to North America and protected by the
North American Migration Treaty. One needs a permit to "manage"
them. Starlings and House Sparrows are not protected.

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

Half-a-bee, philosophically must ipso-facto half not-be.
But half the bee, has got to bee Vis-a-vis its entity...
d'you see?
But can a bee be said to be or not to be an entire bee
When half the bee is not a bee due to some ancient injury?
-Monty Python

http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html