Need help ID'ing bird with his head in my chickadee house...

[kokanee]

Hi all,

A few weeks ago I built a little bird house and put it up in our backyard.  Since then there have been Black Cap's in and out of it with nesting material, so I am anxiously hoping
Yesterday though the bird below flew into our yard and stuck his head into the house for a few seconds and hopped onto the fence after.  I managed to get a few shots, not all that great, but wasn't sure what kind of bird this was.  We were more keen to get him away from the bird house





Thanks!
Mar

[strimackus]

I'm guessing female Brown-headed Cowbird, but it's a guess so don't take my word for it. I'm sure someone more experienced will post a more reliable reply.

[Cody]

It looks like a Female Cowbird,.

If there is a Chickadee nest in that nestbox, and the Cowbird has been around, there may be a cowbird egg with the Chickadee eggs.

[Brian Bailey]

Yes, that's a female cowbird.  Have a peek inside.  If there's one egg that's not like the others, I suggest you remove it.  Some people might disagree with that, but that's what you should do if you want your chickadees to raise young chickadees.

BB

[Pat Hodgson]

Do you think the cowbird got in?  It looks like a good nest box with nice small entry hole, which hopefully kept the cowbird out.

[kokanee]

Thanks everyone for help on ID'ng.  

First time seeing a cowbird in our backyard. From what we saw she just stuck her head in. I made the hole to specs for Chickadees, etc.
We tried to just take a peek inside but when we knocked, someone was home, so we just left them alone...
I haven't had a chance to watch it too much today to see if there is any activity around.

Mar

[Halton Hills]

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You'll need to look inside to see what's up......and keep checking afterwords too.

She could be just checking it out at this time and return when the host birds eggs have been layed.

It's always a good idea to have a door on any bird box to provide access for cleaning and monitoring.

Below is a Chipping Sparrow nest with 2 Cowbird eggs (from my yard last year)

Cowbirds lay an average of 40 eggs in a season in other birds nests.


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[mr.sharp-photo]

why would one remove the cowbird eggs?

[Luv2Bird]

I don't think I'd like it if someone dumped their kids in "my"  house!!   :lol:

[kokanee]

Hi,

Thanks, we did manage to take a peek last Friday when no one was home, and it was empty, just nesting material.  I have built it so that I can open the roof for cleaning, etc. We did see both a male and female cowbird around that evening but we kept them away from the house. We were away for a few days this week so not sure what's been going on in our absence, but I went to check today and someone was home...
We've also got some robins nesting in a Blue Spruce near the house and looks like their eggs have hatched already as they have been busy feeding them.  I guess Black Cap's lay their eggs later.

Cheers,
Mar

[Cody]

Here is the difference between the Male and Female Cowbirds.


Male is on Left. Female on Right.