We also have a large group of cowbirds and DW says her birding group traps/extinguishes them.
While camping at Falcon S.P. last weekend we saw huge flocks of them… I’d never seen so many.
I may have to delve into my .22LR cache….
[Side-step: Another magical performance by Mother Nature was witnessed on that camping-trip: At State Parks, dog-poop MUST be picked up by the pet-owner and properly disposed… a very reasonable rule, IMO. But as our dog did her ’ “business’…. I walked back 20 feet to our camper to retrieve a plastic bag for the purpose….but before I could return to the “dump-spot” …we observed a small “flock” of about 8 bugs suddenly flew-in and landed on it. In only a minute, the dung-beetles had broken it into marble-sized balls and began rolling them away toward the East where they’d flown-in from.
It was an amazing demonstration and in less than 5 mins there was absolutely No evidence of the ”crime” our dog had committed. Those little guys had backed those balls completely out of the area…rolling them more than 50’ into the prairie to wherever they went….where they were out-of-sight and no longer a menace.
Our next camping-site neighbors came over to observe what we had found so fascinating… and we began to joke about it , Thusly: Did I violate the rule by not picking up after my dog? Did I owe a fee to the state park for the self-service from the dung-beetles.…? or was I subject to a penalty for “feeding the wildlife”…? Or did I compensate the beetles in some way that I now owe employment-taxes and IRS FICA…? <edit> Or would I be violating the “don’t interfere with wildlife” rules if I picked up the poop?