How many eggs do Cowbirds lay?

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I ran the photo above in a blog, over a month and a half ago, when a male Cowbird showed up at the feeders at the end of January.   It was followed by two females a week later.   I've always pretty much taken migrant Cowbirds for granted but these newest arrivals were so early and have become such regulars, along with the other winter birds, that I have found myself becoming more interested in this species.   I have done some reading about the parasitism for which Cowbirds are famous and have come upon some interesting things, some of which are downright unpleasant.   But the information that surprised me the most was the fact that Cowbirds lay from 36 to 40 eggs in the breeding season.   I guess I had always assumed that Cowbirds just laid a few eggs in the spring and moved on to enjoy the rest of the summer at their leisure.   Now I realize that there is a heck of a lot of effort in producing  40 eggs, one at a time, in 40 different nests.   It certainly seems to indicate that the Cowbird has some intelligence about the challenge it faces in propagating it species, when so many of its eggs are abandoned or destroyed, by unwilling hosts.   It also seems this bird understands that it can be indiscriminate about whose nest it lays its eggs in, because Cowbird eggs have been found in hundreds of bird species nests and young Cowbirds have been seen being fed by hundreds of different kinds of surrogate bird parents.   Quite remarkable, all and all.   In the  smaller  photo one Cowbird egg is seen  with five Eastern Phoebe eggs.  (Egg photo by Galawebdesign/Wilipedia)
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BtheB