Outdoor Ontario
Discussion => Behaviour => Topic started by: momofjbsl on June 24, 2008, 09:51:41 AM
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We were in Quakertown, PA on June 21st when I saw an unusual sighting (for me, anyway). In preparing to make this post, I may have answered my own question! I saw a bird moving around and saw that it was a chipping sparrow. It was being followed by a considerably larger bird that was very nondescript and gray in colour. (It was a cloudy day and the setting was in a heavily-treed trailer park with lots of hills and valleys.) I sensed that there were light bars on the wings perhaps, the bird walked (as opposed to hopping) and there were faint stripes on the breast. I could not really see an eye ring but something seemed light in the eye area. If the chipping sparrow flew onto a rock, the other bird did as well. It seemed to keep it's head low as it walked. In my mind it was about the size of a cowbird (so I just now checked in Sibley's - earlier having thought some sort of a thrush) and realized that a juvie cowbird looks very much like the bird I saw. Then I remembered that cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds' nests. Would I have been witnessing a young cowbird hatched in a chipping bird nest? Or is there some other explanation for this unusual behavior?
Also, just wanted to say that I was surprised how many different birds I saw in that backyard: tufted titmouse (3), lots of downys, a catbird, chickadees and a bluebird pair (amongst the regular stuff). That one surprised me because I didn't expect bluebirds in that setting, although there are open areas nearby.
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Yes, it sounds like the Chipping Sparrow was raising a Cowbird. I saw a Song Sparrow doing the same thing last weekend.
BB
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Juvie cowbird certainly seems to be the most logical explanation. It's really odd to see a bird twice the size of it's parent being fed.
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Thanks Brian.
I never saw the CHSP actually feed the other bird or perhaps this scenario may have occurred to me earlier. I'm glad to have had this opportunity to see something like this!