Bluebirds and Cowbirds, or Sialia sialis and Molonthrus

This piece is made with hot sculpted and blown glass.

The surface of the bottle is engraved with drawings of cowbirds. Cowbirds belong to the genus Molonthrus. Cowbirds are brood parasitic, which means they lay their eggs in the nests of others for the host birds to raise. Like voyeurs, the cowbird will often watch the nest to assure that the host birds raise their young. If the host birds detect and eradicate the cowbird's egg, the cowbird will destroy the entire host brood. This bottle should be a Bluebird (Sialia sialis) sanctuary, but the egg that is present inside of the nest is that of the Cowbird, which puts an interesting twist on this bluebird preserve.