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Down with cuckoos

May 12th, 2026 at 08:40 pm

Uh I don't want to make it sound like all I ever talk about are guns... even though I do handle them nearly every day, but I promise I have a quick point to make here.  Similar to what could have been any endeavor for anyone else in life, this has been a decades-long journey of discovery and learning for me.  And now, as of last night, I believe that journey has officially come to an end.  It's just a strange, bittersweet feeling, when you've spent 30+ years of your life working on something, and now you are stopping it.  You know what I mean?

Now that I've been able to sell most of my accursed P320 pistols, I was finally able to install what is intended to be my retired, forever-home holster for my retired, forever-home Glock pistol last night.  As I was doing so, I was also watching bird videos.  When I am working on something, or eating dinner, I typically run some YouTube video or show in the background.  For this particular night, YouTube has somehow decided that I would be very interested in cuckoo birds.  Before, I almost never watch bird videos, but YouTube turned out to be right about me!  I was totally engrossed by these bird videos.

For example, cuckoo birds really burn my bacon for no good reason.  The mothers would lay their eggs in other bird nests, expecting these other birds to raise their young for them.  When they hatch, their first instinct is to push out the original bird eggs and fellow hatchlings, so that the parent birds will direct all of their food and energy into taking care of them.  And when they grow up, they have also been known to eat the hatchlings of other birds, including the same species as the ones they used to push out of the nest when they were young!

So here I am, late into the night, just getting too emotionally invested against these cuckoo birds.  I mean, it's not like cuckoo birds are like humans, who can consciously choose to do evil.  I know that's just their instinct driving them towards survival, so I really shouldn't be all that upset about it.

Still though, I've been binge watching bird videos since.  YouTube just keeps suggesting them!  From chickadees to wood ducks, the babies are just so cute!  Hmm, I don't know where any of this is going, but I do wonder if having bird houses and feeders are a good way to control mosquitos in my backyard?

3 Responses to “Down with cuckoos”

  1. PatientSaver Says:
    1778674965

    I did not know that about cuckoos, which are not commonly seen in my neck of the woods, but I do know that about brown-headed cowbirds! They are known as "brood parasites" since they abandon their parental duties. Not only that, but they may destroy the nest and/or eggs of birds that reject their own eggs!

    I don't watch much on YouTube, but there is one show I always liked. It's about a woman named Cecelia who lives with her boyfriend in a small home in Longyearbyen, Svalbard (Norway). It's the Arctic, where polar bears outnumber people, so you have to walk around armed, just in case. It's very interesting!

  2. DK62565 Says:
    1778684265

    Your bird videos sound addicting. Glad you are enjoying them.

  3. Tabs Says:
    1778690561

    I was just watching a video where a heron was eating duck chicks with impunity. They are just so big that there’s really not a whole lot even the parent ducks can do about it. I know that’s just the nature of nature, but I am not so sure if I should keep watching these, especially if I am just trying to relax.

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