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Cowbird Invasion (1 Viewer)

janine13

Well-known member
The last few weeks have brought several cowbirds to my garden. It was sad to see a cowbird fledgling being fed by a red wing blackbird. Here are some pics I took this morning of the Brown Headed and Shiny Cowbird.
 

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This is the second year in a row, I have watched a daddy No. Cardinal feeding a juvie cowbird. Tsk, tsk.
 
Nice pics, Janine. I hope you'll put the Shiny Cowbird in the Gallery - there's only one other pic of the species there.

I get the impression Americans really don't like cowbirds. I can understand why. Over here I can't help feeling sorry for warblers and pipts feeding young Cuckoos four times their size, but I think we're more tolerant of Cuckoos because the song of the adult males is the traditional harbinger of our spring.
 
Hi Jason,

I guess it's also because cuckoos aren't so damn common as well. The problem with the bh cowbird is that through the fragmentation of habitat in the US the cowbirds have spread into areas and using birds as host which haven't previously had to develop strategies to deal with them - as per usual it's our fault .

Personally I can't stand them but as long as they're using common species nests such as cardinal or red-wing it's ok - just depressing when you see them using cerulean warbler nests etc.
 
Thanks Jason. If the shiny returns tomorrow I will try to get a better pic of him for the gallery. It was funny because I didnt even notice him for quite a while- was busy watching the comical display of the brown headed.

I guess the brood parasitism thing is part of nature and all that, but it still saddens me to see it. They deserve to live just as much as anyone else... think about it, how many species have gone extinct because of human activity? There is so much talk about cowbirds affecting so many threatened bird species- but who made those species threatened in the first place, destroying and fragmenting their habitat. Anyway it is late and I am rambling... time for bed.
 
For anyone keen to read an excellent book try out "Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats" by N. B. Davies (Pub T. & A. D. Poyser) - a classic, full of amazing facts, theories and background info on all types of parasitic behaviour.
 
I did not want to start a whole new thread. My yard is invaded by a fledgling cowbird. It must have come from a nearby nest, but all I find is a house sparrow nest. Hah, our worst birds suffering from each other.

But of course I feel slight pity for the clueless bird. It flies some now, not that far.
 
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A pair of house wrens are building a nest in our yard, and the Shiny Cowbirds are sticking around and watching their progress. Last year I put up a box for the wrens, but this year I decided to let them find their own place, so they are making their nest in the end of a large pipe.


Bluetail said:
there's only one other pic of the species there.

There actually are a few more than that in the gallery, see here.
 
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