Cowbirds, Etc. at feeders (1 Viewer)

The last few weeks my feeders have not been as busy but there is still a steady stream of birds. The last few days several cowbirds have been coming. Of course the goldfinches are still faithful, as are the woodpeckers. The Juncos are still here in very small numbers, as are the White-Throated Sparrows. All the birds are singing. Other than that there isn't much going on at my feeders.



This photo shows a female Cowbird snatching a quick snack.

I've been seeing two female and one male brown-headed cowbird at my feeders since I first saw them late last month. the male is quite striking, and one time, all three of them were on my feeder.

Have you seen my Snapping Pics At the Feeder thread? I've been keeping track of visitation frequencies of each bird to our feeders. And there's at least ten species a day.

There seems to be some bonding going o with cowbirds this time of year. Do they stay together for any length of time as a pair?

Hey Gthang - I have. Great job! I snap a lot of photos at my feeders too. One day I got up three times during my lunch to photograph a bird!

Hope you get to see some male Cowbird threat behavior -- it's positively hilarious!!

I watched a male perch on the window ledge in front of some one-way glass at a nature center several years ago -- I could watch him, inches away from me, but he couldn't see me, just himself. So he tried to intimidate the 'other male'. He'd slowly 'blow' himself up a couple of sizes, by slowly raising his feathers all over, then give a shake and a head dip, while giving this odd call that sounded like a big oily plop of something into a pool of something oily (wierd explanation, I know, but just listen for yourself, if you get the chance).

He did this 4-5 times before flying off.

I was on the other side of the glass having a major giggle fit!

In reply to Tero's post (#3): I'm really not shore... most of the time, I see one of them (either male or female), and after a few minutes, the opposite sex drops by, and they dine together, and often fly away before I get to my camera. This also applies to the Common Grackles we get (One of them had lost an eye).

However, I'm a little unsure of where I stand regarding the Brown-Headed Cowbirds. In case you don't know, cowbirds have a fetish for laying their eggs in another bird's nest. This has gotten the attention of various conservation groups, and in some places, especially where endangered and/or rare species of birds nest, you can shoot and kill the cowbirds to keep the rare species safe from the cowbirdlets. I've heard that when the cowbirdlets hatch in the host's nest, the cowbirdlets typically are more bossy (wants more food, etc.) and thus the host's babies usually starve to death. Some other species of parasitic birds have babies that actually push the host's eggs out of the nest and *splat!* the eggs go when they hit the hard ground...

But really, don't shoot them at all, we're all conservationists here. Passenger Pigeons were plentiful, and some states voted to not pass bills protecting them, and people shot and killed them into extinction.....

EDIT: Internet connection was disrupted at 12:30AM eastern time while typing.

Well I don't want to shoot birds either, but it does annoy me to see 30 or 40 cowbirds ransack my feeders and displace the others. When they come, I just pull the seed feeders for a couple of days until they leave. The locals come back the next day.

bob

I see the cowbirds hanging out in groups, several males follow one female. She chases them away from time to time.

I am sorry but cowbirds remind me of "gangs" and they bully the other birds and kill the young to take over the nest or am I wrong to think that way. I don't shoot them or anything like that I just dont let them get comfortable at my feeders
When I first started getting into the bird thing I thought they where really cool looking then when I read more about them I had a different opinion

You'll dislike them even more once you see a tiny warbler or finch feeding a fat yound Cowbird chick. While I was at the Kirtland's Warbler area, I saw cowbird traps. They seemed to be working well, since there were several cowbirds captured!