News from the designer — birds

I saw this handsome fellow in my front yard this afternoon.....had never seen one of these before so after befriending him until he grew bored with me, I ran inside to do some research and identify him. This is a Cowbird!  I had never heard of one although they apparently are quite common.  It is interesting that they use the old nests of other birds.   He let me get amazingly close while I gently tossed safflower seeds toward him.  The sound that he made as he was apparently calling his mate was very unusual....I have definitely not heard one of...