The Parasite Problem

Cowbird and Warbler Eggs

Outside my window, I’ve been watching a warbler’s nest take shape in the branches of my hanging fuchsia.

I was excited to watch the mama with her baby birds until first flight. 🐣 Curious, I took a picture of the eggs in the nest. That’s when I noticed something strange - two sets of distinctly different eggs. 🪺

One set of eggs are the warblers, and the other set was put there by a cowbird.

Cowbirds don’t raise their own young. They sneak their eggs into the nests of others—outsourcing responsibility to unsuspecting hosts.

⚠️ It’s called brood parasitism. ⚠️

Most times, the host birds fight back—reject the egg, build a new nest, or abandon ship.

But sometimes, they don’t. 👀

Some scientists believe host birds tolerate the cowbird chick out of fear. Because when birds reject cowbird eggs, the cowbirds often return and destroy the nest in revenge.

Instead of risking total loss, the warbler accepts the burden and takes responsibility for something that doesn’t belong. She swallows the cost to keep the nest intact.

Sound familiar?

• Leaders do this.

• Co-parents do this.

In leadership, it might look like keeping the peace with a high-performing but toxic team member because rocking the boat would capsize the entire operation.

In co-parenting, this might be walking on eggshells with an ex to avoid another fight; allowing them to weaponize the kids or create daily dysfunctional chaos.

Either way, Peace at any cost isn’t peace at all.

Because the truth is this:

👉 Other than being birds, there is a tremendous difference between the cowbird and the warbler.

Cowbirds move through the world on instinct — lay eggs, hijack nests, then move on. Outsource the burden. No evolution, no responsibility. [We call this “below the awareness line” behavior.]

But warblers? They’ve adapted and evolved.

First, they're learning to re-shape their nests to make it more difficult for the cowbird to drop their eggs.

Second, they've developed a specific “seet” call, like a bat signal, warning other birds of danger and enlisting the help of red-wing black birds to keep the cowbird at bay. [source: University of Illinois Urbana.]

Third, if the cowbird egg is spotted early, the warbler might desert the nest, build over it, or smother the invader eggs in twigs and grass.

Only when options are limited do they tolerate the egg. Not because they agree, but because they've discerned that it’s the wisest path forward to survive. [We call this “above the awareness line” behavior.]

There’s something deeply human in this.

Let’s Unpack It! 💼

In leadership, and in co-parenting, we’re often handed situations we didn’t choose — extra weight, dysfunction, burdens or responsibilities that don’t belong to us but land squarely in our lap.

We don’t always get to reject or smother what’s been dropped in our nest. Not without risk or consequence, anyway.

So where the Cowbird takes, the Warbler transforms.

And that’s the call to us to:

• Move beyond instinctual or ego-motivated reflex and into conscious creation.

• Evolve, even when the world keeps dropping chaos into our carefully built *nests*

• Be intentional about collaboration and connection.

• Live in light — not just survive in the shadow.

So we must ask ourselves, honestly:

Are we protecting what truly matters — or preserving dysfunction out of fear⁉️

Because survival might keep the *nest* standing, but it’s evolution [powerful perspectives] that lets you, your people, your children, and your soul THRIVE.

Sometimes the bravest move isn’t accepting what was dropped in your nest, it is:

• Flying higher.

• Building again.

• Setting new boundaries.

• Collaborating and calling out for help.

In leadership, the lesson’s the same.

• Not everything placed on your plate deserves your energy.

• Not every inherited problem is yours to solve.

• And not every crisis calls for compliance.

• Leaders evolve by choice, not instinct.

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📌 [The Powerful Perspective] Survival might keep the *nest* standing, but it’s evolution that allows you, your people, your children, and your soul THRIVE.

Caught in default survival?

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