Blame Caltrans

In your article, “Caltrans Hit Man” (April 15), they would have us believe that it is the lowly cowbird that threatens the endangered Bell’s vireo rather than habitat-destroying Caltrans.

It has long been known that the cowbird will lay its eggs in other, smaller birds’ nests, including Bell’s vireo, but nature has always adapted to that, just as it has to the predations of eagles, coyotes, wolves, ‘gators and all other forms of wildlife. Never has one wild species eliminated another. Only man can do that.

The cowbird may not, by human standards, be a great neighbor, but it is by no means the vireo’s only “enemy.” If Caltrans wants to capture and relocate cowbirds, that is one thing. Scapegoating them and killing them is another.

ROBERT and MARY ANN MELVIN

Solana Beach