Outdoor Ontario

Request for Information => Bird ID => Topic started by: Scout on May 08, 2007, 06:40:24 AM

Title: RFI
Post by: Scout on May 08, 2007, 06:40:24 AM

Not sure about these ones:

(http://www.donnamacinnis.ca/images/brownbird-sm.jpg)

(http://www.donnamacinnis.ca/images/blackbird-sm.jpg)

Thanks for your help  :)

www.donnamacinnis.ca (http://www.donnamacinnis.ca)

Title:
Post by: Kin Lau on May 08, 2007, 07:46:53 AM

Brown headed Cowbird.

Title:
Post by: Bruce Colvin on May 08, 2007, 08:43:29 AM

Cowbirds. Top photo female. Bottom photo male. Great photos.

Title:
Post by: Walter Sobchak on May 08, 2007, 10:53:27 AM

Yep, Cowbirds.  The most evil birds in these parts....  :evil:

Title: Why?
Post by: Axeman on May 11, 2007, 07:35:59 PM

Why is the brown headed cowbird the most evil bird in these parts? As a newbie, I would have thought that dubious honour belonged to the starling and the double crested cormorant....

Title: cowbirds
Post by: Joe on May 11, 2007, 09:39:50 PM

From what I understand they are known to be parasitic on other birds; at least that's what one of my guides tells me.  Is this a well known trait of brown headed cowbirds?

Joe

Title:
Post by: Kin Lau on May 11, 2007, 10:13:13 PM

Yes, cowbirds lay their eggs in the nest of others and have other birds raise their chicks.

Title:
Post by: Walter Sobchak on May 14, 2007, 10:54:38 AM

Perhaps one of the most evil birds would be more accurate...Build your own nests!!!

From Wiki

Quote

Brown-headed Cowbird females can lay 36 eggs in a season. Over 140 different species of birds are known to have raised young cowbirds. Host parents may sometimes notice the cowbird egg. Different species react in different ways. Gray Catbirds destroy the egg by pecking it. Some species may simply build a new layer over the bottom of the original nest. Brown-headed cowbird nestlings are sometimes expelled from the nest. This rejection, however, may trigger a "mafia" reaction, according to a study by the Florida Museum of Natural History.[1] When the parasitic egg was removed from the host nest, the cowbird returned to ransack the nest about 56% of the time. In addition, the cowbird also destroyed nests in a type of "farming behavior" to force the hosts to build new ones. The cowbirds then laid their eggs in the new nests 85% of the time.