It's all word of mouth. You have to know the right people who know the right people. There are some items that are best left alone and forgotten.

Less dangerous (but still unlawful) items can be had through the Thieves' Guild.

I've seen some footage where a female cowbird attacks a nest if the forced adoptive parent ejects the cowbird egg. They might kill a chick, smash an egg, but I don't think it's wholesale slaughter.

However, I've seen other footage where a female cowbird lays an egg high enough to crack the shell of any host parent's egg to prevent it from developing.

Lastly, there was a really good video where a pair of bluebirds caught the cowbird in the nest box...let's just say if the owner of the nestbox hadn't (foolishly) intervened, the cowbird would have suffered a long, slow, painful death of a thousand pecks.

I have heard that cowbirds do very poorly in finch nests due to what the parents feed their young.

If they were fake, the only crime would be gross tackiness. This is absolutely pointless.

PROW, PRAW, HOWR, HOWA, COGR, CAGO, PIWA, PIWO, YBCH, YBCU, RTHA, RTHU. Learning these bandcodes really helped me since I do a homebrew shorthand for my birdwatching (two, sometimes 3 letters). Having birds that have similar initials can get very confusing. My additions to those abbreviations only made it messy.

At least, not on the river, anyway.

Quite possibly. The book does not say. Either way, OP has a little more wait time.

I second r/Flasking for more information. My reference book says it's about 110-120 from fertilization before harvesting, though that might be for a ripened pod. I would get confirmation at the flasking sub.

I love it! What kind is it...aside from the obvious nodosa-derived hybrid.

Normally bag babies come with a tag. But, for a basic ID, yours is a Dendrobium, of the Phalaenopsis-type. NOTE: It is in NO WAY related to the genus known as Phalaenopsis.

That is sunburn. Not a lot you can do. The leaf will photosynthesize from the undamaged parts, but ultimately the leaf will fall off. Resist cutting it, manually removing it.

I did that once. I played the display call of a male ruby throated hummingbird. BIG mistake. Do you have any idea what it's like to be attacked by a glittering 3 inches of pure anger? I swear if I didn't know any better, he was using profanity.

What cat?

No Order:

Red-Headed Woodpecker

Indigo Bunting

Hooded Warbler

American Redstart

Barn Swallow

My parents had a cat who had vision problems....he tried getting romantic with an opossum.

Until you came along.

Ow.

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What kind is this? Almost looks like a seedling Cattleya of some sort.

But they're both so different...

Wood Thrush. Hands down.

Song Sparrows are a very close second.

Only the best bird. Indigo Bunting.

I agree. Barn swallows' nests are more bowl-shaped.